Word: bensons
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...political mist enshrouding U.S. farm policy, doughty Ezra Benson emerged last week with a plan for shrinking overproduction. His plan would keep flexible price supports but would go beyond them by paying farmers to switch from surplus-making crops to soil-building grass and trees. Apart from its agricultural soundness, which came first with stubborn Ezra Benson, the "soil-bank" proposal looked like a political convincer. It was not a new plan; the New Deal put a similar scheme into effect from 1936 to " 1943. But coming from Benson, it was evidence that the Secretary's inflexible opposition to inflexible...
...soil-bank proposal was one of six points that Benson, addressing the Republican National Committee in Chicago, outlined as the basis of his legislative program in 1956. The others...
...Said Benson: "Its impact will be chiefly in areas where topsoil is being wasted in growing crops not needed by today's markets. It will mean better soil and water conservation [and] added income." While the last item was the key for farmers, the emphasis on conservation was a key to the plan's legality. Not forgotten was the adverse Supreme Court ruling in 1936 on the early Agricultural Adjustment Act, held unconstitutional because it paid farmers outright to restrict production...
...Going to Pot." The soil-bank plan, Benson warned his fellow Republicans, is "no nostrum." He called it a constructive "move in the direction we must go with a many-sided program." Indications of the pressure on Benson were evident enough last week, when hog prices dropped to the lowest point in 14 years, and U.S. farm economists met in Washington for an annual "outlook" conference that expressed much long-range confidence but brought little news of immediate cheer. For 1956, they foresaw a continued cost-price squeeze, though not so serious a one as the 10% farm decline...
...also. How can we buy the items needed and economize? We can -by working 18 hours a day, as many do who show the 11% profit, and use 12-and 13-year-old children to work as unpaid labor. Your city labor is working for shorter hours. Mr. Benson tells the farmer to work longer hours for less hourly wage. The farm situation is dangerous because the farmer and his family are damn...