PRODUCE PRICES

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 January 1933, Page 7

PRODUCE PRICES

U.S.A, DEMOCRATS’ PLAN MAKING CONSUMERS PAY [BY CABLE —PBESS ASSN. —COPYRIGHT.] WASHINGTON, January 12. As the first move in the agriculture relief legislation propounded by Mr Roosevelt, President-elect, during the Presidential campaign, the House ot Representatives to-day passed the so-called “Parity Plan” Farm Relief Bill by 203 votes to 150. This plan, in effect, provides for the payment of bonuses to the producers of seven commodities, the bonus in each case representing the difference between the present world price and the average prices prevailing before 1914. The commodities include wheat, hogs, cotton, tobacco, rice, peanuts, and butter-fat. The bonus will be paid by the processors, such as the millers, meat packers, etc., to the United States Treasury, which, in turn, will refund the amounts to the farmers upon their fulfilment of the pledge to reduce their acreage or their production by 25 per cent. The final passage of the Bill is doubtful, as the opposition in the Senate will be strong, while a Presidential vote of the Bill, if passed, is considered probable. Whether Mr Roosevelt favours the legislation, if passed, is unknown. It has been drafted generally, but not specifically, as he outlined it. The opponents are vigorous in their denouncements, alleging that it would cost the consuming public approximately one billion dollars annually, and that the administrative expense, which the farmers must bear, would be excessive owing to the necessity for strict supervision to enforce the reduction clause. Many predict that the Supreme Court will declare the measure unconstitutional if it is enacted. The Bill would peg the price of wheat at 75 cents per bushel; that of cotton at nine cents per pound: and of hogs at five cents per pound.