Evening Star Newspaper, August 13, 1935, Page 7

OFAAATAXSEEN Processing Levies on Hogs Held Contributing to Down- fall of Frinciple. BY MARK SULLIVAN. The hog is coming home to roost, If, for the purpose of metaphor, we may give wings to that earthy quad- ruped. He is also flying high, at least | the price of him is. And because he is high in price he is also high in newspaper editorials, and in head- lines which tell of housewives’ strikes and meatless meals. For the high price of pork there are two causes. Both causes come from A. A. A. This statement, that both causes come from A. A. A, is questioned by Secretary of Agriculture Wallace and his propagandists. At least, they question the statement when they are talking to the embit- | tered consumer. To him they say | that one of the causes was the drought. But when they talk to the farmer, as they do talk to him through the tens of thousands of paid representa- tives of A. A. A, who act as a propaganda organization, I suspect they tell the farmer, and propably tell him with pride, and claim credit for it, that the whole cause of the high price of pork is A. A. A. One cause is the processing tax. | A farmer who raises and slaughters | 5 or 10 hogs and sells them to the village meat shop or to his neigh- and packers and butchers who slaughter and “dress” hogs on a large scale, all pay a “processing tax of 2', cents a pound. Now 2!¢ cents seems a small item. Especially does | it seem small in comparison with | the present retail price of pork, as‘ paid by the housewife, which is about 45 cents a pound. The A. A. A.| propagandists say or imply that if the processing tax did not exist, if the 24 cents did not need to be paid, the retail price of pork would still | be 427, cents a pound. | “Tax in Disguise.” But to get the whole story let us follow what is done with that 21 cents. The administration does not keep it. It is not really a tax at all. | ‘The administration uses the word | “tax” as one of its devices for trying | to get the Supreme Court to say that what is not a tax is one. The administration turns the 21; | cents over to farmers. In all, it| amounted last year to $175,616,013. ‘This amount is paid by A. A. A. to farmers. From each farmer the ad- | ministration takes a contract. The| contract requires the farmer to raise‘ fewer hogs. The 1934 contract re-| quired the farmer to reduce by 25 per | cent. year only three hogs for every four he had raised on the average in the two preceding years. That is where the real effect of the processing tax comes in. The part the processing tax plays in a retail price of 45 cents is not 2!, cents.| It is much more. No one can say Jjust how much more. It may be 5/ cents a pound, or 10, or 20. It is as much as the difference between 45 cents and whatever would be the re- | tail price of pork if farmers were left free to raise as many hogs as they would rai From the point of view of the consumer, he is made to pay a tax which raises the price, and this | tax is then used to make the price | &till higher. | A. A. A. does not like any one to| write or talk as I am writing here. They passed a law designed to prevent | it. Into one of the statutes they had Congress pass they introduced a pro- | vision making it a crime for any one | to say that the increase of cost caused | by the processing tax is greater than | the amount of the tax. The law is| still in effect. But that was in the early days of the New Deal, when the brain trusters were sitting pretty, and | I do not think they will now put me | in jail. The other cause of the high price of hogs is an artificial scarcity dPlib-I erately created by A. A. A. In 1933 | end 1934, A. A. A. bought and Killed | 6.400,866 hogs. They made a special | effort to get pregnant sows and young pigs, so as most effectively to reduce | the future supply. The young hogs, | weighing less than 30 pounds, were | made, not into wmeat, but into fer-| En route See Yellowstone' Visit Seattle, other Pacific | Oceen cities and Mt. Rainier National Park; also Alaska | LOW FARES | OBSERVATION-CLUB CAR « STANDARD SLEEPING CARS o MODERN TOURIST SLEEPING CARS e LUXURY-LOUNGE COACHES NO EXTRA FARE Dining Car Meals as low as §50¢ ~—also off-the-tray-service at your seat at still lower prices. Let us know if you wish to travel independently or with personally escorted all -expense tour parties. . For free booklets and full information, ask your local agent or write Philadelphia Office 1404.5 Fidelity Philadelphia Trust Bldg. Phones Pennypacker 0407-8 E. K. Garrison, General Agent 201 The MILWAUKEE Roap Blame on Drought. | Subsequent to this ertificially cre- |ated scarcity, there wus a drought. | The drought reduced the corn crop and therefore presumably would have reduced the hog crop. A A. A. now says it was the drought that caused the scarcity and the present high price of pork. They say that if they had not already reduced the quantity the drought would have worked a greater reduction. Their argument on this point 1is intricate. I do not under- It required him to raise in that || THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, e ———————————— e stand it and cannot say how much there may be in it. One naturally thinks A. A. A. may be using the drought as an alibl. But the argu- ment may possibly be scund. I have been speaking from the standpoint of the consumer. Many farmers are represented as liking the processing tax on hogs, as wanting it continued, and as being willing to raise fewer hogs than they otherwise would. The opinions of farmers are ipflu- enced largely by the tens of thousands of A. A. A. agents who gu about among them. . The tarmers will be seriously misled if they think it 15 possible to keep permanently anytiung so con- trary to the average American point of view as the processing tax on hogs. Most of A. A. A. is as surely destined for general disfavor as most of N. R. A. was. Even had there besn no Supreme Court declison on N. R A, it would | have died because most Americans did | not like it. A similar sttitude is just arising about A. A, A, o ‘With heart, lungs and stomach all made of silver, a Buddhist image wnade 30$ years ago has been found at the Sofukuji temple at Nagasaki, Japan. D. C, TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 1935. EYE LOST IN FIGHT Assailant Sentenced Two Years in Encounter. A fight between Willy Hudson, 33, Corcoran street, resulted in the loss of an eye by Ragsdale, it was testified in Police Court yesterday. Judge Robert E. Mattingly sentenced Hudson to serve 360 days in jail and serve an additional 360 days unless he paid a $500 fine on a charge of as- sault. FOUR GIVEN RELEASE Blind Man Amopg Those Charged With Peddling in Park. While the selling of ice cream in | colored, and Thomas Ragsdale, 1340 ' public parks is prohibited under park regulations, Judge Robert E. Mat- tingly in Police Court yesterday took personal bonds of four men who were arraigned on that charge. One of the men, Felix Distrito, of Takoma Park, Mc., is a blind man, who has been arrested upon several | previous occasions for like offenses. The other three men are Ernest Springer of Clarendon, John C. Farmer and Murphy Pouchette. Turkish Fleet to Maneuver ANKARA, Turkey, August 13 (#).— The Turkish fleet, composed of the battle cruiser Yavouz, two cruisers, four destroyers and five submarines, soon will maneuver in the Marmora and Aegean Seas. After the Turkish maneuvers are carried out the Greek fleet will visit Istanbul and Smyrna. A7 BUILDING BILL APPROVED Contracts Would Require Per- formance and Payment Bonds. The Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday approved a House bill requir~ ing Federal construction contracts to be accompanied by & performance bond protecting the United States and 2 payment bond for protection of per- sons furnishing material and labor for the construction. L TS+ OUR-IDEA .. Clothes made in 1935 must be sold in 1935! For thirty-odd years it's been our policy not to carry over clothing from one season to another —and 1935 is no exception G R Nearly 895 SUITS "“WESTYLE"—of traditional West standard of quality "FRUHAUF"—that needs no introduction— (“America’s Finest ") ALL FROM OUR REGULAR STOCK-—-SUITABLE FOR FALL I's a REAL sale! One in keeping with the high West standards. We offer only Regular stock--none is bought for sales purposes. 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