| Abstrakt: |
This article presents information on economic aspects of U.S. agriculture. The tempest over what Henry A. Wallace was supposed to have said about the present farm price support law reached the author even before the author had a chance to read what Wallace actually said. As fans of the periodical "New Republic" may or may not know, the tempest started with a cover-blurb ballyhooing Wallace's article, "Why Flexible Price Supports Will Best Serve American Farmers." That cover-blurb, the author told himself, doesn't sound like the Henry Wallace the author knew 20 years ago. Wallace feels that for the long pull, a reasonable price for corn should be closer to a ratio of $1.30 a bushel, with $17 a hundred for hogs. On the basis of cost sheets the author has for wheat and other grains, the author doubt very much if a lower support price would be desirable for the agricultural economy. The concept of parity is too sound to have it abandoned overnight. Rather than compromise it by saying 80 percent of parity is a fair price for corn, and thus weakening the entire parity concept and structure, it would be much sounder to revise the parity formula for crops that seem out of line so as to accurately reflect current agricultural requirements. |
