THE DAILY NEBRASKAN
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 1932.
TWO
Daily Nebraskan
Station A, Lincoln, Nebraska
OFFICIAL STUDENT PUBLICATION
UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA
Entered a second-class matter at
the Dostoffice in Lincoln. Nebraska
under act of conaress. March 3. 1879
and at special rate of postage provided
for in section 1103, act or uctooer J
1917, authorized January 20, 1922.
THIRTY-SECOND YEAR
Published Tuesday, Wednesday. Thurs
day, Friday and Sunday mornings
during the academic year.
SUBSCRIPTION RATE
Sinale Copy 5 cents
S2 a year $1.25 a semester
S3 a year mailed $1.75 semester mailed
Under direction of the Student Pub
lication Board
Editorial Office University Hall 4,
Business Office University Hall 4.
Telephones Day: B6891; Night, B6882
or B3333 (Journal) ask for Nebras
kan editor.
EDITORIAL STAFF
Howard G. Allaway. ... Editor-in-chief
Jack Erickson Associate Editor
' Managing Editors
Phillip Brownell Laurence Hall
News Editor
Richard Moran Katherine Howard
Lynn Leonard Joe Miller
Society Editor Violet Cross
BUSINESS STAFF
Norman Gallaher Business Manager
Assistant Business Managers
Bernard Jennings Frank Musgrave
George Holyoke
Solving the
Farmer's Problem.
ECONOMISTS and farm experts
of the middle west convene
here today to discuss "Prices,
Debts and the Farmer." A pro
gram of addresses and discussions
aimed at finding the causes and
the way out for the farmer whose
plight constitutes a major element
in the devastation that has swept
through the economic life of the
country and on whose recovery all
recovery is conditioned.
It is highly improbable that any
sure-fire formula for discovering
that mystical corner around which
we like to believe prosperity is
hiding will be evolved by the con
ference.' Nor is that the purpose,
we are inclined to think, of the
meeting. Men of the calibre who
will discuss the farm situation here
today realize the complexity of the
problem demands a far-reaching
program of action which cannot be
pxpressed in any popular catch
phrase or slogan. The solution re
quires joint action of the co-operative
farm population and the
federal government. Some details
of such a plan will ,no doubt be
suggested by the conference.
The value of the meeting, how
ever, lies rather in the further
definition it will give to just what
the farmer's problem is a crystal
ization of the vague ideas now held
by the millions who know some
thing is wrong but cannot say just
what.
There are in the United States
today about thirty million people
living on the farms. Fifty million
more are engaged m supplying
goods and services to the farmers,
making a total which is a majority
of the American people directly or
indirectly dependent on the wel
fare of the farmer. Probably 90
percent perhaps more of the
etudents now enrolled at Nebraska
are of this class. Like the rest,
they know something is wrong, but
they don't know what or why.
Some idea of what the problem
is can be got from statistics. Farm
mortgages at the present time to
tal about nine billion dollars, a
figure almost equal to the total
foreign war debt owed the United
States. Most of this indebtedness
was incurred when farm produce
prices were several time what they
are now. Annual purchasing pow
er has dropped from sixteen billion
dollars in 1920 to five billion in
1932. The result is that farmers
are able to meet neither the inter
est or principal payments or tax
assessment and are losing their
farms. Farm tenancy has in
creased about 45 percent in the
last twenty years. American ag
riculture is rapidly approaching a
state of land lord control. And
with the loss of their property the
farm population, long the stable
element in American life, is losing
that' stability which once insured
the continuity of American ideals
and institutions.
The cause is found, first, in
over-production and, second, in the
loss of the foreign market for the
surplus as a result of the tariff
barriers of other countries erected
in retaliation to America's "pro
tective" wall.
The solution, it is easy to point
out. must be in increasing the
price of farm produce and decreas'
ing the amount of farm indebted
ness. At first glance, it would ap
pear that currency inflation, the
historic result of which has been
to accomplish both of these, is the
need. But inflation has its grave
dangers.
Among the re vndations re
cently advanced v of. Maynard
Krueger of the University of Chi
cago are the following: "A system
which would bring about a control
on Droduction of farm products: a
marketing agency which would eli
minate many of the middlemen ex
isting as parasites in the present
system of distribution; a federal
corporation which would, through
funds secured by a capital levy or
through the issuance of bonds, buy
as many of the outstanding farm
mortgages as possible, leaving the
actual title with the user of the
land and taking the technical title
only; a decrease in the tariff bar
riers even to the extent of total
abolition; a break-up of the farm
machinery monopoly; the forma
tion of a political front, either by
creation of a new party or by join
ing the already socialist party; the
abolition of the present property
tax which places an extremely
heavy burden on the farmer; the
tightening of the income and in
heritance laws in addition to a
substantial increase of both."
These may sound radical and
idealistic, but among them no
doubt are some suggestions which
would alleviate the present condi
tion. Whether or not these are the
ones which the Nebraska confer
ence will suggest or the ones which
must inevitably be adopted through
action of the farmers themselves
and action of the federal govern
ment, no one can tell. Some so
lution to the problem, however, is
absolutely prerequisite to national j
recovery and to the salvation of
the economic life of a large part
of the country of which Nebraska
students are representatives.
First Lesson
In Honesty.
THIS is about hon-es-ty.
1
Ruth Schellberg Is
Concessions W inner
Ruth Schellberg, concession
saleswoman who made the great
est number of sales at the Nebraska-Pitt
game Saturday, will
receive the box of candy awarded
by W. A. A. Second place goes
to Gertrude Christiansen, while
Winifred Shallcross and Roma
Harrington tied for third place.
Jean Alden. concession manager
for the W. A. A., announces that
there will be places for many new
saleswomen at the Thanksgiving
game, as many who have sold at
previous eames will be out of
town on this date.
OFFICIAL BULLETIN
It is
written in the simple i-di-om of
the un-der-grad-u-ate, and it is
meant to bring to light a kind of
crime which has grown to be con
sidered "the thing to do." It is
about the sale of books which do
not belong to the one who sells
them.
It is too much to hope that a
con-ception of mor-al-ity that
looks on this type of il-leg-al sale
as not honest will be found in an
un-der-grad-u-ate. For the un-der-
grad-u-ate has al-most no un-der-
stand-ing. If he had, he would not
sell the books he finds, but would
try to get them back to their
owners.
This is true be-cause books cost
mon-ey and mon-ey is some-thing
which is scarce. Why it is scarce
is not for the un-der-grad-u-ate
mind, but the fact re-mains that
there are only a few luck-y stu
dents who can afford to buy a
book twice. The large paint-ing
that will be on the book store
win-dows to-mor-row has a con
nection with this de-sire of the
book-stores to sell things.
But the un-der-grad-u-ate who
sells books which he finds does not
know the mean-ing of that, so we
shall not wor-ry him with it any
more. He should know, how-ever,
that it would 'r-crcasc the world's
re-spect for the un-der-grad-u-ate
a great deal if he would re-a-lize
that sell-ing books which be-long
to an-oth-er who needs them is not
the "thing to do."
That is aTL Now lis-ten to the
scornful cries of the un-der-grad-
u-aten.
Afl Frosh Commission.
Pros and cons of co-education
will be investigated by the A g col
leee freshman commission next
Thursday noon, in the north an
nex of the home economics par
lors at 12:20.
Vesper Staff.
An important meeting of the
vesper staff will be held Thursday
Nov. 17 at 4 o'clock in Mien &mun
hall.
Ag Upperclass Commission.
Personal problems and etiquette
are subjects for discussion at Ag
colleee upperclass com mission
Thursday, November 17. iiace:
home economics parlors. Time:
12:20.
Dramatic Club.
Dramatic club will meet Thurs
day night in the Temple theater at
8 o clock.
Ag Y. M. Council.
The regular meeting of the Ag
Y. Freshman council Thursday
evening at 7 o'clock will be led by
Prof. H. C. Fillev of the depart
ment of rural economics. He will
speak on "Economic Problems of
the Time." The group meets in
303 Ag hall.
Cornhusker Staff.
A meeting of the entire editorial
staff is called for 2 o'clock this aft
ernoon in the Cornhusker office.
YOUR DRUG STORE
When you want 1t in a hurry Just
phone U3. Lunches. Also the best
in box candies.
The OWL PHARMACY
148 No. 14th & P Sts. Phone B1068
For Your Noon Day
Lunch
A hot plate lunch
W ith Beverage and Detnert
For only
25'
Duck's Coffee
Shop
Facing Campus
vr . ,V.: -
... "
24 Die Stamped Sheets
and 24 Envelopes
Long's College
Book Store
"Faring Cam put
It Is Important that every member
be present. At 4 o'clock a special
meeting of the members of the
junior and senior staffs will be
called. All members required to
attend.
Phi Chi Theta.
Phi Chi Theta will meet at El
len Smith Hall Thursday at 7:15.
A
Plate Dinner Changed Daily
25 to 500
SPECIAL SUNDAY mmi
DINNERS 5UC
SMITH'S RESTAURANT
New Location 140 No. 14 St.
Phone B7516
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