Farm bill should be transitional
The 1985 Farm Bill will be put
together during the worst farm
crisis since the Great Depression.
Caught between sagging prices for
their products and rising debt,
, thousands of farm families are fac
ing foreclosure. These farm
bankruptcies threaten numerous
banks, hundreds of farm equip
ment suppliers and the economic
health of entire rural communities.
Congress and the administration
must face the fact that the com
plex, 50-year-old system of price -
supports controls are in need of
reform.
I The. Reagan administration's
idea is to make agriculture more
"market - oriented." All the
evidence suggests, however, that
the markets cannot possibly ab
sorb all the commodities now in
surplus if more ketp being produc
ed in.Upir current volumes.. The
administration plan t'ealfy means,
Congressman
Bill Hefner
in the words of Agriculture
Secretary John Block, that farmers
will have to "take their lumps."
Others in Congress have sug
gested even more complex pro
grams in which farmers would be
required to participate. Instead of
relying on exports to underpin
farm earnings, the prices of com
modities would be raised by a rigid
system of controlling how much
each farmer produced (in order to
eliminate surpluses). Farms would
be limited to a specific size, and
conservation of soil and water
would lie strictly regulated rather
than left voluntary. If this sounds
like big, expensive government, it
would be. And if it came down to a
choice, it is doubtful that many
farmers would support anything
resembling this approach.
The agriculture sector is not
ready for the big government solu
tion, and probably would not
tolerate it. On the other hand,
farmers cannot settle for just cut
ting costs in the 198S Farm Bill, as
Reagan has proposed. We should
devise policies that will make for a
smoother transition from
government-managed agriculture
of the past, to the competitive,
businesslike sector of the future.
The government should do
everything possible to ease the per
sonal and financial hardships of
individual farmers who cannot
withstand economic forces and
events beyond their control.
End of farm supports sought
President Reagan is seeking,
over a period of years, to get the
government out of its growing role
in farm supports.
The president is right in arguing
all farmers can't be protected by
the federal government, that some,
each year will fail. That has always
been the situation in farming, one
of the greatest gambles of all the
professions.
But what must be kept in mind,
in trying to limit federal coats, is
that farmers everywhere else are
subsidized. French farmers are
notoriously subsidized, both by
their government and the Euro
pean Economic Community.
West German farmers are sub
sidized. Fanners in Japan are pro
tected by tariffs and other restric
tions on competitive imports.
U.S. Farmers shouldn't be asked
to compete as if in a free economy
when there is seldom such a thing
? in farming. Practically every
country protects and subsidizes its
farmers.
Reform can come only slowly,
and must be achieved with com
passion keeping in mind that
American farmers can't operate
successfully in a free world market
until there is ope.
But the president shouldn't
allow reform of the federal govern
ment's farm policies to put massive
numbers of farmers out of
business. That simply isn't in the
national interest.
DEMOCRATS IN DIXIE ...
Democratic politicians in the
South are in trouble. That's behind
the creation of the Democratic
Leadership Council.
Walter Mondale's disastrous
leadership and campaign in 1984
lost the entire South. He has been
seen by most southerners as too far
left; he flipflopped after naming a
southerner to head the party and
didn't choose a southerner as run
ning mate. Gov. Bob Graham of
Florida is concerned over the par
ty's image since it will directly af
fect his race against Paula
Hawkins (R-Fla) next year.
In North Carolina, a
Cliff
Blue
People and Issues
Democratic governor, Jim Hunt,
was also beaten in a bid for the
U.S. Senate.
ON HAZING ... The recent
<leath of a Texas student - from
hazing - adds impetus to the
rapidly developing trend all over
the country to end hazing. Hazing
new members of a fraternity, or
adult organization is now passed.
State legislatures are outlawing
hazing with legislation and college
fraternity executives are using
Greek -letter groups on the nation's
campuses to substitute positive in
itiation practices. (
The traditional "Hell" week at
most colleges is being turned into
".Help" week which makes far
more sense.
Maryland is the latest state to
outlaw reckless hazing. And Eileen
Stevens, whose son was killed
while being hazed, is now a na
tional force, traveling the country
speaking against hazing on the na
tion's campuses.
Since membership in Greek
letter fraternities is on the rise after
a period of decline, it's important
that reform be implemented
without delay. Not another student
should be killed in a hazing "acci
dent."
SPORTS? ... In Miami an
amateur boxer from Virginia has
been in a coma about a week after
a boxing contest as this is written.
By the time you read it, the ?
chemical engineer, a graduate of
the University of Virginia might or
might not be alive.
At the same time a race car
driver, from Florida, lay near
death in Phoenix, Arizona, after a
terrible crash on the track. His
pregnant wife is at the hospital. By
the time you read this, he may or
may not be alive.
This happens regularly in both
these so-called sports. There's no
money to be made, and fame lures
competitors; but recurring deaths ?
should, eventually lead to legisla
tion limiting the risks.
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