Today in World War II History—April 28, 1942: US Office of Price Administration freezes prices of 60% of food items and all essential items, including tobacco, medicines, toiletries, and infant food.
Obviously, the war was becoming a strain on resources in the U.S., as everywhere else. President Roosevelt gave a speech on the topic.
April 28, 1942: Fireside Chat 21: On Sacrifice
The text of the speech, if you prefer to read it, is as follows:
MY FELLOW AMERICANS: It is nearly five months since we were attacked at Pearl Harbor. For the two years prior to that attack this country had been gearing itself up to a high level of production of munitions. And yet our war efforts have done little to dislocate the normal lives of most of us.
Since then we have dispatched strong forces of our Army and Navy, several hundred thousand of them to bases and battle fronts thousands of miles from home. We have stepped up our war production on a scale that is testing our industrial power, our engineering genius and our economic structure to the utmost. We have had no illusions about the fact that this would be a tough job—and a long one.
American warships are now in combat in the North and South Atlantic, in the Arctic, in the Mediterranean, in the Indian Ocean and in the North and South Pacific. American troops have taken stations in South America, Greenland, Iceland, the British Isles, the Near East, the Middle East and the Far East, the continent of Australia and many islands of the Pacific. American war planes, manned by Americans, are flying in actual combat over all the continents and all the oceans.
On the European front the most important development of the past year has been, without question, the crushing counter-offensive on the part of the great armies of Russia against the powerful German Army. These Russian forces have destroyed and are destroying more armed power of our enemies—troops, planes, tanks and guns—than all the other United Nations put together.
In the Mediterranean area matters remain, on the surface, much as they were. But the situation there is receiving very careful attention.
Recently we have received news of a change in government in what we used to know as the Republic of France— a name dear to the hearts of all lovers of liberty—a nameand an institution which we hope will soon be restored to full dignity.
Throughout the Nazi occupation of France we have hoped for the maintenance of a French Government which would strive to regain independence to re-establish the principles of "liberty, equality and fraternity," and to restore the historic culture of France. Our policy has been consistent from the very beginning. However, we are now greatly concerned lest those who have recently come to power may seek to force the brave French people to submission to Nazi despotism.
The United Nations will take measures, if necessary, to prevent the use of French territory in any part of the world for military purposes by the Axis powers. The good people of France will readily understand that such action is essential for the United Nations to prevent assistance to the armies or navies or air forces of Germany or Italy and Japan.
The overwhelming majority of the French people understand that the fight of the United Nations is fundamentally their fight, that our victory means the restoration of a free and independent France—and the saving of France from the slavery which would be imposed upon her by her external enemies and by her internal traitors.
We know how the French people really feel. We know that a deep-seated determination to obstruct every step in the Axis plan extends from occupied France through Vichy France all the way to the people of their colonies in every ocean and on every continent.
Our planes are helping in the defense of French colonies today, and soon American Flying Fortresses will be fighting for the liberation of the darkened continent of Europe itself.
In all the occupied countries there are men, women and even little children who have never stopped fighting, neverstopped resisting, never stopped proving to the Nazis that their so-called "new order" can never be enforced upon free peoples.
In the German and Italian peoples themselves there is a growing conviction that the cause of Nazism and Fascism is hopeless—that their political and military leaders have led them along the bitter road which leads not to world conquest but to final defeat. They cannot fail to contrast the present frantic speeches of these leaders with their arrogant boastings of a year ago and two years ago.
And on the other side of the world, in the Far East, we have passed through a phase of serious losses.
We have inevitably lost control of a large portion of the Philippine Islands. But this whole nation pays tribute to the Filipino and American officers and men who held out so long on Bataan Peninsula, to those grim and gallant fighters who still hold Corregidor, where the flag flies, and to the forces that are still striking effectively at the enemy on Mindanao and other islands.
The Malayan Peninsula and Singapore are in the hands of the enemy; the Netherlands East Indies are almost entirely occupied though resistance there continues. Many other islands are in the possession of the Japanese. But there is good reason to believe that their southward advance has been checked. Australia, New Zealand and much other territory will be bases for offensive action—and we are determined that the territory that has been lost will be regained.
The Japanese are pressing their northward advance against Burma with considerable power, driving toward India and China. They have been opposed with great bravery by small British and Chinese forces, aided by American fliers.
The news in Burma tonight is not good. The Japanese may cut the Burma Road; but I want to say to the gallant people of China that no matter what advances the Japanese may make, ways will be found to deliver airplanes and munitions of war to the armies of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek.
We remember that the Chinese people were the first to stand up and fight against the aggressors in this war; and in the future a still unconquerable China will play its proper role in maintaining peace and prosperity not only in Eastern Asia but in the whole world.
For every advance that the Japanese have made since they started their frenzied career of conquest, they have had to pay a very heavy toll in warships, in transports, in planes and in men. They are feeling the effects of those losses.
It is even reported from Japan that somebody has dropped bombs on Tokyo and on other principal centers of Japanese war industries. If this be true, it is the first time in history that Japan has suffered such indignities.
Although the treacherous attack on Pearl Harbor was the immediate cause of our entry into the war, that event found the American people spiritually prepared for war on a world-wide scale. We went into this war fighting. We know what we are fighting for. We realize that the war has become what Hitler originally proclaimed it to be—a total war.
Not all of us can have the privilege of fighting our enemies in distant parts of the world.
Not all of us can have the privilege of working in a munitions factory or a shipyard, or on the farms or in oil fields or mines, producing the weapons or the raw materials that are needed by our armed forces.
But there is one front and one battle where every one in the United States—every man, woman and child—is in action, and will be privileged to remain in action throughoutthis war. That front is right here at home, in our daily lives, in our daily tasks. Here at home every one will have the privilege of making whatever self-denial is necessary, not only to supply our fighting men, but to keep the economic structure of our country fortified and secure during the war and after the war.
This will require, of course, the abandonment not only of luxuries but of many other creature comforts.
Every loyal American is aware of his individual responsibility. Whenever I hear any one saying, "The American people are complacent—they need to be aroused," I feel like asking him to come to Washington to read the mail that floods into the White House and into all departments of this government. The one question that recurs through all these thousands of letters and messages is: "What more can I do to help my country in winning this war?"
To build the factories, to buy the materials, to pay the labor, to provide the transportation, to equip and feed and house the soldiers, the sailors and marines, to do all the thousands of things necessary in a war—all cost a lot of money, more money than has ever been spent by any nation at any time in the history of the world.
We are now spending, solely for war purposes, the sum of about $100,000,000 every day in the week. But, before this year is over, that almost unbelievable rate of expenditure will be doubled.
All of this money has to be spent—and spent quickly— if we are to produce within the time now available the enormous quantities of weapons of war which we need. But the spending of these tremendous sums presents grave danger of disaster to our national economy.
When your government continues to spend these unprecedented sums for munitions month by month and year by year, that money goes into the pocketbooks and bank accounts of the people of the United States. At the same time raw materials and many manufactured goods are necessarily taken away from civilian use; and machinery and factories are being converted to war production.
You do not have to be a professor of mathematics or of economics to see that, if people with plenty of cash start bidding against each other for scarce goods, the price of those goods goes up.
Aims to Keep Costs Down
Yesterday I submitted to the Congress of the United States a seven-point program, a program of general principles which taken together could be called the national economic policy for attaining the great objective of keeping the cost of living down.
I repeat them now to you in substance:
1. We must, through heavier taxes, keep personal and corporate profits at a low reasonable rate.
2. We must fix ceilings on prices and rents.
3. We must stabilize wages.
4. We must stabilize farm prices.
5. We must put more billions into war bonds,
6. We must ration all essential commodities which are scarce, and,
7. We must discourage installment buying, and encourage paying off debts and mortgages.
I do not think it is necessary to repeat what I said yesterday to the Congress in discussing these general principles.
The important thing to remember is that each one of these points is dependent on the others if the whole program is to work.
Some people are already taking the position that everyone of the seven points is correct except the one point which steps on their own individual toes. A few seem very willing to approve self-denial—on the part of their neighbors. The only effective course of action is a simultaneous attack on all of the factors which increase the cost of living, in one comprehensive, all-embracing program covering prices and profits and wages and taxes and debts.
"Every Person Affected"
The blunt fact is that every single person in the United States is going to be affected by this program. Some of you will be affected more directly by one or two of these restrictive measures, but all of you will be affected indirectly by all of them.
Are you a business man, or do you own stock in a business corporation? Well, your profits are going to be cut down to a reasonably low level by taxation. Your income will be subject to higher taxes. Indeed, in these days, when every available dollar should go to the war effort, I do not think that any American citizen should have a net income in excess of $25,000 per year after payment of taxes.
Are you a retailer or a wholesaler or a manufacturer or a farmer or a landlord? Ceilings are being placed on the prices at which you can sell your goods or rent your property.
Do you work for wages? You will have to forego higher wages for your particular job for the duration of the war.
All of us are used to spending money for things that we want—things, however, which are not absolutely essential. We will all have to forego that kind of spending. Because we must put every dime and every dollar we can possibly spare out of our earnings into war bonds and stamps. Because the demands of the war effort require the rationing of goods of which there is not enough to go around. Because the stopping of purchases of non-essentials will release thousands of workers who are needed in the war effort.
As I told the Congress yesterday, "sacrifice" is not exactly the proper word with which to describe this program of self-denial. When, at the end of this great struggle, we shall have saved our free way of life, we shall have made no sacrifice.
The price for civilization must be paid in hard work and sorrow and blood. The price is not too high. If you doubt it, ask those millions who live today under the tyranny of Hitlerism.
Ask the workers of France and Norway and the Netherlands, whipped to labor by the lash, whether the stabilization of wages is too great a "sacrifice."
Ask the farmers of Poland and Denmark, and Czechoslovakia and France, looted of their livestock, starving while their own crops are stolen from their lands. Ask them whether parity prices are too great a "sacrifice."
Ask the businessmen of Europe, whose enterprises have been stolen from their owners, where the limitation of profits and personal incomes is too great a "sacrifice."
Ask the women and children whom Hitler is starving whether the rationing of tires and gasoline and sugar is too great a "sacrifice."
We do not have to ask them. They have already given us their agonized answers.
Urges Will to Win War
This great war effort must be carried through to its victorious conclusion by the indomitable will and determination of the people as one great whole.
It must not be impeded by the faint of heart.
It must not be impeded by those who put their own selfish interests above the interests of the nation.
It must not be impeded by those who pervert honest criticism into falsification of fact.
It must not be impeded by self-styled experts either in economics or military problems who know neither true figures nor geography itself.
It must not be impeded by a few bogus patriots who use the sacred freedom of the press to echo the sentiments of the propagandists in Tokyo and Berlin.
And, above all, it shall not be imperiled by the handful of noisy traitors—betrayers of America, betrayers of Christianity itself—would-be dictators who in their hearts and souls have yielded to Hitlerism and would have this republic do likewise.
I shall use all of the Executive power that I have to carry out the policy laid down. If it becomes necessary to ask for any additional legislation in order to attain our objective of preventing a spiral in the cost of living, I shall do so.
I know the American farmer, the American workman and the American businessman. I know that they will gladly embrace this economy and equality of sacrifice—satisfied that it is necessary for the most vital and compelling motive in all their lives—winning through to victory.
Never in the memory of man has there been a war in which the courage, the endurance and the loyalty of civilians played so vital a part.
Many thousands of civilians all over the world have been and are being killed or maimed by enemy action. Indeed, it was the fortitude of the common people of Britain under fire which enabled that island to stand and prevented Hitler from winning the war in 1940. The ruins of London and Coventry and other cities are today the proudest monuments to British heroism.
Our own American civilian population is now relatively safe from such disasters. And, to an increasing extent, our soldiers, sailors and marines are fighting with great bravery and great skill on far distant fronts to make sure that we shall remain safe.
Tells Stories of Heroism
I should like to tell you one or two stories about the men we have in our armed forces:
There is, for example, Dr. Corydon M. Wassell. He was a missionary, well known for his good works in China. He is a simple, modest, retiring man, nearly 60 years old, but he entered the service of his country and was commissioned a lieutenant commander in the Navy.
Dr. Wassell was assigned to duty in Java caring for wounded officers and men of the cruisers Houston and Marblehead which had been in heavy action in the Java seas.
When the Japanese advanced across the island, it was decided to evacuate as many as possible of the wounded to Australia. But about twelve of the men were so badly wounded that they could not be moved. Dr. Wassell remained with them, knowing that he would be captured by the enemy. But he decided to make a last desperate attempt to get the men out of Java. He asked each of them if he wished to take the chance, and every one agreed.
He first had to get the twelve men to the sea coast— fifty miles away. To do this, he had to improvise stretchers for the hazardous journey. The men were suffering severely, but Dr. Wassell kept them alive by his skill, inspired them by his own courage.
And as the official report said, Dr. Wassell was "almost like a Christ-like shepherd devoted to his flock."
On the sea coast, he embarked the men on a little Dutchship. They were bombed, they were machine-gunned by waves of Japanese planes. Dr. Wassell took virtual command of the ship, and by great skill avoided destruction, hiding in little bays and little inlets.
A few days later, Dr. Wassell and his little flock of wounded men reached Australia safely.
And today Dr. Wassell wears the Navy Cross.
Raised Submarine in Action
Another story concerns a ship, a ship rather than an individual man.
You may remember the tragic sinking of the submarine the U. S. S. Squalus off the New England coast in the Summer of 1939. Some of the crew were lost, but others were saved by the speed and the efficiency of the surface rescue crews. The Squalus itself was tediously raised from the bottom of the sea.
She was repaired, put back into commission and eventually she sailed again under a new name, the U. S. S. Sailfish. Today she is a potent and effective unit of our submarine fleet in the Southwest Pacific.
The Sailfish has covered many thousands of miles in operations in those far waters.
She has sunk a Japanese destroyer.
She has torpedoed a Japanese cruiser.
She has made torpedo hits, two of them, on a Japanese aircraft carrier.
Three of the enlisted men of our Navy who went down with the Squalus in 1939 and were rescued are today serving on the same ship, the U. S. S. Sailfish, in this war.
It seems to me that it is heartening to know that the Squalus, once given up as lost, rose from the depths to fight for our country in time of peril.
One more story that I heard only this morning:
This is a story of one of our Army Flying Fortresses operating in the Western Pacific. The pilot of this plane is a modest young man, proud of his crew for one of the toughest fights a bomber has yet experienced.
The bomber departed from its base, as part of a flight of five bombers, to attack Japanese transports that were landing troops against us in the Philippines. When they had gone about half way to their destination one of the motors of this bomber went out of commission. The young pilot lost contact with the other bombers. The crew, however, got the motor working, got it going again, and the plane proceeded on its mission alone.
By the time it arrived at its target the other four Flying Fortresses had already passed over, had dropped their bombs,
and had stirred up the hornets' nest of Japanese "Zero" planes. Eighteen of these "Zero" fighters attacked our one Flying Fortress. Despite this mass attack, our plane proceeded on its mission and dropped all of its bombs on six Japanese transports which were lined up along the docks.
As it turned back on its homeward journey a running fight between the bomber and the eighteen Japanese pursuit planes continued for seventy-five miles. Four pursuit planes of the Japs attacked simultaneously at each side, and were shot down with the side guns. During this fight, the bomber's radio operator was killed, the engineer's right hand was shot off, and one gunner was crippled, leaving only one man available to operate both side guns. Although wounded in one hand, this gunner alternately manned both side guns, bringing down three more Japanese "Zero" planes. While this was going on, one engine on the American bomber was shot out, one gas tank was hit, the radio was shot off, and the oxygen system was entirely destroyed. Out of eleven control cables all but four were shot away. The real landing wheel was blown off entirely, and the two front wheels were both shot flat.
"Mission Accomplished"
The fight continued until the remaining Japanese pursuit ships exhausted their ammunition and turned back. With two engines gone and the plane practically out of control, the American bomber returned to its base after dark and made an emergency landing. The mission had been accomplished.
The name of that pilot is Captain Hewitt T. Wheless of the United States Army. He comes from a place called Menard, Texas, with a population of 2,375. He has been awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. I hope that he is listening.
These stories I have told you are not exceptional. They are typical examples of individual heroism and skill.
As we here at home contemplate our own duties, our own responsibilities, let us think, and think hard, of the example which is being set for us by our fighting men.
Our soldiers and sailors are members of well-disciplined units. But they are still and forever individuals—free individuals. They are farmers and workers, businessmen, professional men, artists, clerks.
They are the United States of America.
That is why they fight.
We, too, are the United States of America.
That is why we must work and sacrifice.
It is for them. It is for us. It is for victory.
Showing, to an extent, how different the country was at the time, the Secretary of Agriculture delivered a speech to a group of farmers in Enid, Oklahoma, which was broadcast on the radio, on NBC's Blue Network. In it, he stated:
WE are meeting here at a critical point in our worldwide war against dictatorship and aggression. It's our way of life or theirs. We know what their way of life is like for farmers in conquered countries. Look at what is happening in France under Nazi oppression.
Recently, for example, Admiral Darlan told French farmers what the "new order" expected of them. He pointed out that they had to turn over to the government as much of their products as the government demanded. The deliveries had been falling short. The Admiral said this: "If you fail to adapt yourself to that discipline which the government suggests, you will suffer another kind of discipline, which the cruel circumstances of hunger will impose on you."
American farmers aren't used to hearing orders like that and they don't want to hear them. That is one reason why American farmers are going all-out to set new productionrecords. This is their part in the war strategy of the United Nations to overthrow the Axis threat to human freedom.
The United Nations are fighting this war all over the globe. Final victory will come deep in the enemy's territory. In a stream that grows bigger and bigger each day, we are sending to a dozen battle fronts American men, American war materials, and American food.
Yes, victory demands production. The American boys in expeditionary forces in outlying bases must be fed. We can't let them down. Our allies must eat to keep fighting so strongly. Think of the British with their great air offensive and their bold commando raids. Think of the Russians. They are the ones that have stalled Hitler's great war machine. In fact, the Russians are doing more today to defeat the Axis powers than all the rest of the United Nations put together. Every American owes them a debt of gratirude for their great contribution to final victory. We can't let them down, and we won't let them down.
More than that, we won't let our own people down. Farmers will feed the men and women who are turning out war materials, and all of the Nation's families who are carrying the heavy loads of wartime. They will keep on building up food reserves, too, for the conquered nations when they have thrown Hitler out.
The war job of American farmers is to produce more than they ever have produced before. But ft must be more of the things that are needed. Hit-or-miss expansions won't do. There are limits on land, labor and equipment. War requirements are great. Farmers would delay victory by growing things that are not needed.
What are the needed things? It's hardly necessary to name them to a farmer audience. You know that the Nation needs more of the protective foods like vegetables, fruits, meats, eggs and milk to improve the health of soldiers and civilians. You know there is a special need for concentrated foods to be sent to our own soldiers or our allies. They must have high protein foods that pack a lot of food value into a small space—products like meats, cheese, dried milk, dried eggs, dried fruits. Then there is the need for oil crops to make up for loss of imports from the far east. There's no such thing as having too much of many of these products.
On the other hand, we already have large supplies of wheat, cotton, corn, and tobacco. The huge stocks of many of these products, particularly wheat, raise some difficult problems. Of course, we're glad we have enough. It's better to have too much too soon, than too little too late. But now we have put in reserve enough of the basic farm commodities. From here on out, we must use every acre of land, ton of fertilizer and hour of labor for producing the things of which we don't have enough.
To let farmers "got it blind" in producing things we don't need instead of things we do need would be like permitting automobile manufacturers to keep on making passenger cars at the expense of planes and tanks.
We've heard a lot about how industry is converting to war production. Well, agriculture is doing just as big a conversion job, even though there are not many headlines about it.
But a number of people—I don't believe many farmers are among them—still have not grasped the main idea of the farmer's drive to produce for victory. Some even believe that the Government is paying farmers to cut down on the very products it is asking them to grow more of. As you know, the facts are just the other way. The only payments that are being made for holding down acreage this year are in connection with wheat, cotton, tobacco and corn. The main idea of the payments on every one of these four crops is to help farmers use more of their land, labor and equipment on production of things which we and our allies simply must have in order to win the war.
Then, there's another question being asked—and it shows a state of mind that is a threat to the whole drive for wartime conversion. That question is this: If the world needs American farm products so badly, why spend time and money holding down on anything? Why not throw out acreage adjustment and soil conservation and encourage farmers to go ahead and raise more of everything?
That kind of thinking makes sense only to someone who also believes that a shortage of cheese or of soybean oil can be made up by a surplus of wheat or tobacco. That just isn't so, of course. Even if some people don't know it, farmers do, and so their wartime program is based on recognition of this fact. We cannot produce enough of what we need ofsome commodities if we go on producing more than enough of other commodities.
It's hard to change over—to convert. On my own farm there could be quite a temptation to put out more corn and wheat instead of growing more soybeans, more pasture for livestock, and more pigs. But just the same, the changes have to be made, and I'm making them.
The only way in which farmers can do their war job is to put themselves on a war basis. Helping farmers do that is the war-time purpose of the national farm programs.
That goes for conservation, as well as for the other programs. Our great problem is to produce what's needed at the least possible cost in soil destruction. Conservation practices increase crop yields in addition to protecting soil from wind and water erosion. Results of farmers' conservation work of the past few years are showing up now. When the need for greater production came, our farm land was in shape to produce abundantly. Conversion and conservation both are needed in raising Food for Freedom.
Now what about wheat growing in wartime? It is no news to you wheat farmers that you face some of the toughest problems in American agriculture.
We already have more wheat than we know what to do with. We have an all-time record carryover—about 630 million bushels. On top of that, we'll have a new crop, from the way things look now, of around 800 million bushels. That will make a supply of not far from 1 1/2 billion bushels. That's enough to meet all our normal needs, including exports, for about two years. As I said earlier, it's comforting to know that there will be no shortage of such an important food. But on the other hand, how are we going to get all that wheat under cover to keep it from rotting?
Storage space already is crowded. We have a year's requirement of wheat on hand to start with. This makes the outlook much more serious than last year, and you remember how tight the situation was then. With the kind of yields now in prospect there will be a tremendous shortage in storage capacity for the country.
Only last week the president of the Kansas City Board of Trade stopped to see me in Washington and told me that in Kansas City elevators already are filled just about up to capacity. This man told me that all the Kansas City elevators could hope for this summer was to have enough space to handle wet wheat which had to be turned. At the very best, they will not be able to handle more than a few million bushels. Other terminals are in much the same condition. We've never had a storage problem even approaching this one. Just to make matters worse, we are short on burlap for flat sack storage, which usually accounts for about 10 per cent of our stored wheat.
And there isn't any chance of using boxcars for storage this year. You know that's the way we squeezed through last year. But this time, the railroads already have told us that they won't even load boxcars in the country until they know that they can be unloaded promptly at the terminals.
Some people may ask why we don't build more terminal elevators, and more boxcars. The reason is that we just haven't the steel and other materials, and the labor that would be needed. More steel for boxcars and elevators would mean less steel for ships, guns, and tanks. We can't slow down our output of munitions, and I know that farmers wouldn't want us to.
Still, what can we do with all of our wheat this year? We must not let it go to waste. There is only one way out—farm storage. The wheat will back up on farms this year. There isn't any way in the world to get around that. I only hope that there will be enough tight storage space for most of it—that no great amounts will have to be piled onthe ground. The only way you farmers can be sure of keeping your wheat off the ground is to start building more farm storage now. This is not the year to hope that somehow some elevator can take your wheat, or to wait until you're sure you have made your crop.
There are enough nails and enough lumber to build all the farm storage that is needed if farmers start right away. But there are no oversupplies, and few local dealers carry large stocks. If any large numbers of farmers wait until the last minute before building their storage bins, there won't be enough nails and lumber in the right place at the right time to do the job. And wheat will be piled on the ground.
It's the patriotic duty of every farmer to store as much of his wheat on his own farm as he possibly can.
This is no time to waste farm products. Nor is it any time to waste labor and materials in transporting and trying to market wheat that can't be used. This is where marketing quotas come in. Quotas this year will help farmers keep excess wheat on their own farms. A 7-cent per bushel storage allowance will be available if the quota-loan system is continued. This allowance will help farmers finance the needed farm storage space.
Quotas are the only way this year to enable each wheat farmer to receive his fair share of the income from wheat. Quotas will make it possible to have loans this year. These loans will be the only way of getting cash out of a great part of the crop. The law is definite: No loans on wheat can be made unless quotas are approved. If quotas are voted down nothing in the world can stop a sudden and staggering drop in wheat price.
With our present record supplies of wheat there is no telling how low the price of wheat would go without the stabilizing effect of the loan. We can get some idea, though, by looking at wheat prices in other parts of the world. In Canada, the Grain Board will take wheat at a price that averages, at the farm, about 65 cents a bushel in our currency. The Canadian Board will take only 280 million bushels at this price. In Argentina the average farm price is about 44 cents a bushel, and in Australia about 52 cents. And even those prices are maintained by some manner of Government price support. Compare that with what the cooperating farmer will get in this country if we vote quotas. Including the loan and payments, it will average well above $1.25 a bushel.
This is the time for all farmers to stand behind the quotas. Quotas safeguard the whole wheat program. Quotas protect farmers and the Nation from catastrophe.
In spite of the dark outlook for exports, and all the problems of wheat storage, some people who look back to the last war don't believe that it's possible to have too much wheat this time. They remember we were then told that wheat would win the war, that we sent a lot of it to Europe, and that it brought $2 and $3 a bushel. From there on, I suppose, they reason this way: This is a bigger war than that one, so sooner or later the demand for our wheat ought to be bigger too.
There's a flaw in that kind of reasoning. This war isn't only bigger than the last one; it's different. During the first World War the United States was the great exporting Nation. Now Canada, Australia, and Argentina all have large surpluses backed up, just waiting for outlets. Enough of these reserves are piled up, including our own, to supply prewar world export markets for three years. And only a fraction of the prewar export market is left. Most of it disappeared when Hitler overran Europe. Britain is the chief wheat importing nation left, and Canada is more than able to supply all of her needs.
Then there is shipping. We and our allies have to send supplies all over the globe, and the plain truth is that as yet we haven't nearly as many ships as we need. Wheat is a bulky cargo. There are not enough ships to send much wheat anywhere, no matter what the requirements might be.
The outlook for wheat exports after the war isn't encouraging either. We've been taking part in international wheat conferences, to plan how to divide up the world market so as to avoid a price collapse if all the world's stored-up wheat comes on the market. It looks as if our share of the wheat trade after the war will be very small and at a much lower price than parity. It would take many years to work off our surplus at the rate of exports in prospect, even if we only grew enough each year for domestic use.
That kind of situation can't go on indefinitely. What can we do about it? Some people might say to cut wheat acreage still farther—down to a point where all of the crop could find a market as flour for use in this country. There are estimates which show that this kind of crop would not require more than 40 million acres, compared with our present national allotment of 55 million acres, and a 1937 planted acreage of over 80 million acres.
But we ought to take a long look before deciding to take wheat acreage down so far. I believe there is a better way than that. There are large areas in this country than can grow wheat more cheaply than any other crop. A great reduction in wheat acreage would mean real hardships in many parts of the country which are dependent on wheat because they can grow it so efficiently. There are large areas, too, which can grow very little but wheat.
From the way things look now, it seems to me that the best course to begin thinking about would be something like this: Maintain parity for every producer's share of the wheat grown on whatever acreage may be needed to supply our full domestic needs for flour—perhaps 40 million acres—and then have the areas that are especially equipped to grow wheat go ahead and raise considerably more than their domestic flour shares, then sell that excess wheat at a lower price for feed and for industrial uses and exports.
As a matter of fact we are following the same kind of plan now for the wheat which the Commodity Credit Corporation owns. We are selling it for export, for feed and for making alcohol at a lower price than for use as flour domestically. This seems the wisest thing to do now and I think it will be just as wise in the future.
There is need for wheat in industry and for feeding. Industrial alcohol, which is used in making smokeless powder and other military and civilian products today is being made largely from our scarce sugar supplies. This alcohol could be made from wheat, in fact small amounts of wheat already are being used for that purpose. Research scientists may find other practical industrial uses for wheat. They are working on those problems all the time. And I know that we can use a lot more wheat for feeding. Everyone knows what a valuable feed wheat is.
But there is no way to move large amounts of wheat into feed and industrial use at the same price we can maintain for wheat milled into flour.
I believe in parity for agriculture. I've fought for it, and I'll fight to keep parity—and keep it on the widest scale possible. We must fight for parity along realistic lines, for we want to win. We just can't keep on getting parity for all the wheat from 55 million acres. One look at our present situation makes that clear.
We need to look squarely at all the facts in making our choice as to the best way to keep parity and to use our national resources to the utmost.
That is looking ahead a little, though the decision is one we must make before very long. The immediate task is to keep this year's wheat crop from wasting, to keep the great wheat-growing industry from being crippled, and to direct the whole country's efforts this summer along lines that will do the most to bring victory. In the quota referendum next Saturday wheat growers will have their say as to how some of our efforts shall be directed. I hope that every eligible farmer will take his part in making that choice.
Already farmers—those who grow wheat and all the rest—have done a magnificent job in producing for victory. You know the needs. Farm production goals this year call for the greatest agricultural production in our history. And farmers are turning out record production. There are a few products for which output still isn't up as high as it ought to be—milk, for instance, and peanuts—but for those products, too, farmers have made great increases and are settingnew production records. Farmers are going past the goals for the other needed products.
They are turning out record production in spite of shortages of materials and equipment, and in some areas, shortages of labor, too. They are working longer hours than ever before to raise Food for Freedom. I want to say this right now to you farmers here, and throughout this country: America can be proud of you and the record you have made. Certainly I'm proud to have a part in the work farmers are doing to win the war.
We are going right ahead. Working together under our national farm programs we will harness the full strength of our farm resources. The outlook for wheat may seem dark now, but we can lick that problem, too. We are going to raise the food that will win the war and write the peace. That means making the best use of our full capacity to produce.
The area around New York City began to have nightly blackouts.
Orders deporting, in effect, Japanese Americans continued to roll on the West Coast.
The Army Air Forces issued General Order No. 1 in Colorado Springs, establishing Colorado Spring Army Air Base and the Photographic Operational Training Unit at the Colorado Springs Municipal Airport. Today it's the Peterson Space Force Base.
British and Indian troops progressed on an orderly withdrawal towards India, the decision having been made to abandon Burma.
The Italian Navy sank two small Tunisian fishing boats, after having removed the crews, in the Mediterranean, which must have been a surreal experience for the fishermen.
No comments:
Post a Comment