Washington, June 6.
The twin disasters of drought and strikes, both of which appear likely continue throughout the summer, are undermining the work of the [Agricultural Adjustment Administrs tion and the National Recovery Administration, the main pillars on which the recovery structure rests.
The drought is the more recent jand more devastating enemy. Strikes ican be controlled by human agency, lor at least some attempt can be made to control them, but the weather is beyond the power of man, More-Jover nature, in its present manifest tations appears almost to have gone lout of its way to make the efforts of man appear ridiculous. For a year now the AAA has been prenching the necessity of crop reduction and paying out handsome checks to the farmers in return for promises not to plant so much land. Just when the Administration was congratulating itself that a fifteen per cent. reduction in wheat acreage had been obtained with infinite trouble, Nature showed how puny, and as some would say how dangerous, were those efforts of which the AAA
[was preparing to boast.
The shortage of rain has thrown doubt upon the whole philosophy beind the AAA. As a wag remarked it has shown that it is useless to know about Agriculture from "A to What is evidently required is, Knowledge from A to 2. If major rep disaster can so drastically reduce food supplies, is it not dangerous to reduce the surplus artificially, it is being asked. The country has been saved from the threat of famine by the carry over from past years, but if the AAA had its way there would be in the future no carry over from past years. paid the farmer to reduce his crops been so much waste. Nature has [done it much better. Now apparent ly the AAA will have to turn and encourage him to increase his crop again. Perhaps, the critics suggest there was more after all in the old~ fashioned pioneer spirit which tried make two blades of grass grow where one grew before than in the modern idea of the professors of try-ling to make one blade grow where two grew before.
Blades of Grass Blades of Grass! say the defenders fof the AAA taking the metaphor literally, there you have one of the reasons why the AAA must continue to lexist. It is attempting to persuade the farmer to take "marginal" lands out of eultivatfon and turn them into grass lands. Too much ploughed and means that droughts are doubly dangerous. The loose soil is swept away by the winds, as happened a few weeks ago when the middle west was covered by a black pall of dust which even for a time obscured the sun at Washington and caused the citizens to reach needlessly for their raincoats. More grass and more forests will prevent wind erosion and preserve the water supply and thus lessen the drought danger.
Whether the difficulty is drought or surplus the AAA has work to do, say its defenders. It is an Agricultural Adjustment Administration and can adjust itself to changing circumstances, to surplus or to shortage.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.