Newspaper Page Text
New AAA'Alabama Plan'
Promotes Soil Betterment
- ■ d
Crop Payments Based on Land Improve
ment; Roosevelt Suggests U. S. ‘Loan’
War Material-to England.
Nat’l Farm and Heme
* Hour Commentator.
(Released by Western Newspaper Union.)
WASHINGTON.—You may have
heard about the “Alabama plan” of
the Triple A which some have said
is an attempt of reversing the pol
icy of paying farmers for “not do
ing” and rewarding them for “do
ing." I find that the department of
agriculture doesn’t go that far. Of
ficials there describe it rather, as
paying farmers less for “not doing”
but assuring them benefits for tak
ing part in a constructive program.
This is the way one member of
the Triple A tells the story:
Down in Alabama they’re trying,
on a state-wide basis, an experiment
in balanced farming that may even
tually be a pattern for farm pro
grams in other areas. It’s known as
the “Alabama Plan” and it’s simply
a plan based on good farming prac
tices, which over a five-year period,
provides for building up the soil and
otherwise improving the individual
farm to the point where it becomes
a productive unit.
The Alabama plan is not compli
cated. It is part of the AAA farm
program. It carries further than
ever before the conservation work
done under the AAA program. As
under previous AAA programs,
farmers will receive conservation
payments for planting within their
acreage allotments of special crops,
such as cotton, tobacco, peanuts,
wheat, and potatoes. However, un
der the so-called Alabama Plan, in
operation for the first time in 1941,
full payments made to Alabama
farmers will be contingent upon car
rying out of certain good farming
practices.
Planned Conservation.
The difference between the Ala
bama Plan and the general conser
vation program is about the differ
ence between going into a cafeteria
and picking out a dish or two that
you especially like and sitting down
to a well-balanced meal. Heretofore,
farmers in Alabama and other
states have had available to them
certain practices which they could
use to earn the payments available
under the farm program. They
have used many of these but natur
ally they have not always picked out
the best combination of practices
for the land. That was the cafeteria
method of soil conservation. Under
the Alabama Plan, the conservation
program worked out for each farm
represents a balanced type of farm
ing. That’s the welk^W^d meal
type of conservatio^^^BL Mt
Not only is the co^^Pl^n well
planned for each year, but it is
worked out for five years in advance.
The Alabama Plan, like most
parts of the farm proftam, came
from suggestions from farmers
themselves who have observed the
operation of the farm program and
made suggestions on it from time
to time. Alabama farmers have felt
the need for more planning and
more balance in their conservation
work and the AAA program has
been adapted to make it possible
for this state-wide experiment in
conservation to be undertaken be
ginning in 1941.
Requirements of Plan.
Here’s what the Alabama farmer
has to do to avoid deductions in his
conservation payments for 1941:
. 1. Grow erosion-resisting crops
■^h year on an acreage equal to
■ fcast 25 per cent of his cropland.
^^bjonerly terrace all cropland
Shaving a slope in excess
'Ok*- ^^P airltain ■ wennial
at least onc
® of cropland
pasture on at least one acre for each
15 acres of cropland.
Requirement No. 1 has to be car
ried out each year, of course, but
numbers 2,3, and 4 are to be done
over a five-year period. One-fifth of
the requirements under points 2,3,
and 4 must be carried out each year.
Deductions in the farmer’s con
servation payments will be made on
the basis of 5 per cent of the pay
ment for each 10 per cent by which
he fails to carry out the 1941 require
ments.
The Alabama Plan is resulting in
more co-Operation among farmers
in many cases. For example, opera
tors of small farms are not able to
maintain heavy equipment required
in terracing. However, groups of
farmers can form an association
to buy this equipment, and can pay
their share on the basis of the
amount of time they use it.
• • •
President Announces
‘Loaned’ Aid to Britain
It was late as I hurried across
the paved space in front of the ex
ecutive offices. The waiting room
was jammed. Overcoats were piled
high on the huge mahogany table
presented to the President by the
Philippine General Aguinaldo.
We were soon crowding through
the inner waiting room and across
the hall and into the President’s oval
office. The moment I had wormed
my way forward and looked at the
President, I was sure he had some
thing important to say. He wasn’t
laughing and chatting with the men
pushed close around his desk. He
looked very serious.
Finally the last reporter had come
in. The President began to speak.
He spoke slowly, deliberately; in
formally but seriously, announcing
his long-awaited plan for lending or
leasing implements of war to Great
Britain.
Because I had to broadcast almost
immediately afterward I was kept
busy taking notes, but as I wrote
down the words that would be his
tory some day, I suddenly felt that
nothing was real around me.
Under Way
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THE BULLETIN
iljMhn’t be that the other side
of maKorld was burning up—that
a proud' nation which claimed to
rule the Seven Seas was begging
for help—that I was actually writing
down on a piece of copy paper a
gigantic plan to bring that help. It
was simply too big to grasp. How
could any one human being hope
to sit down and draw up a scheme
that involved these millions of peo
ple, that must answer the criss
cross, conflicting hopes, beliefs, de
mands and desires of half the globe?
. . my pencil kept on forming
words and suddenly I saw they were
writing down a simple little anec
dote about a lot of men in a smoking
car making bets.
This seemed still more unreal but
it is the President’s way of trying
to illustrate frightfully complicated
things with very simple, everyday
experiences. He told how, when he
was the young assistant secretary of
the navy back in 1914, war in Europe
was suddenly declared and he was
hurrying back to Washington.
In the smoking car with him were
a number of brokers and bankers
“the best economic brains of the
country” the President called them.
They were saying that no war could
last long. The bankers could stop
it in two and a half months for no
nation could fight long without
money in the bank.
Money Not Essential.
This, the President said, showed
how wrong the accepted beliefs
were. History shows, he said, that
no country ever lost a war because
of lack of money.
And then he went on describing
his plan for lending or leasing im
plements of war to Great Britain
instead of lending money. He had
no notes before him but it wasu^^r
he had spent plenty of th^|
his plan, that it was
study and thought.
Whatever the merits
may be, its one merit see^^H|^SH
this: it stilled for a while
something that came very near hys
teria in Washington and what might
have been hysteria in England, too.
For while it did not increase by one,
machine gun bullet, immediate aid to
Britain, it promised them “econom
ic co-operation” and restored their
morale.
And it stilled, too, the angry de
mands of the pressure groups in this
country which would push us right up
to the very verge of war. They
could hardly complain if London
was satisfied. And yet, on the other
side of the picture, it did not even
imply a single immediate act which
would bring us any nearer the war
then we were at the moment for
the President made it clear that con
gress would have to pass upon it.
|*FIRST-AID + |
to the
AILING HOUSE
J, By ROGER B. WHITMAN J,
(© Roger B. Whitman—WNU Service.)
Preserving Paintbrushes.
QUESTION: What steps should be
taken to preserve and keep in
good condition paintbrushes, after
they have been used? How is it
i possible to get out the color from
a brush before starting to use it in
a different color? Or should the
brushes be kept separately for each
color?
Answer: When a job is finished,
clean the brush by wiping the ex
cess paint off on the side of the can,
rinse thoroughly in turpentine, and
then in three changes of benzine or
clear gasoline, being extremely
careful of fire when doing so. Fol
low by shaking out and hanging out
to dry. If a brush has been thor
oughly cleaned, it can be used for
another color, although to be on the
safe side it is better to have a brush
for each color. To avoid difficulty
in cleaning brushes, never dip the
brush so deeply that paint will get
under the ferrule.
Stained Driveway.
Question: I would like some infor
mation on how to clean our con
crete driveway. There are rust
stains, automobile oil and grease
spots.
Answer: For rust removal, dis
solve one part sodium citrate in six
parts of water and add six parts of
commercial glycerine. Mix a por
tion of this with enough powdered
whiting or chalk to form a paste,
and spread on in a thick coat. When
i^ry, replace with fresh paste, or
MHhsten with the remaining liquid.
\HLek or more may be required to
■^Kve the stain.
^^Wemove fresh oil stains by cover-
Bmg them with an inch or two of dry
portland cement. For old stains
wash with a solution of two pounds
of trisodium phosphate to the gallon
of hot water. After cleaning, re
move all traces of the solution by
rinsing with clear water.
Copper Porch Screens.
Question: Evidently the wire on
the porch screens had not been
treated. White framework is black
from stains. I am advised to go
over the wire cloth with two parts of
spar varnish, one of linseed oil and
one part of turpentine. Clean the
woodwork with ammonia and water.
Paint with aluminum paint, then
two coats of white paint. Would this
be your method? Must the am
monia and water be rinsed off?
Answer: Before varnishing the
screens, be sure they are free of
dust and grease. For washing the
woodwork, use a half-cup of am
monia in a quart of water, and rinse
thoroughly with plenty of clear wa
ter. The coat of aluminum paint
will not be necessary. Whatever re
mains of the stain will not “bleed”
through the new paint.
Soot in Chimney.
Question: I have a sloped roof
and find it difficult to clean out my
chimney. Is there any chemical
on the market which I can use to
burn out the soot from the chimney?
Answer: Soot removal compounds
can be purchased at plumbers’
shops or heating supply houses.
However, for best results the chim
ney should be cleaned by hand. In
cleaning out a chimney, where the
roof is sloping, it is best to build
a platform. One end of the platform
is made without legs or supports,
which rests on the roof; the other
end is made with legs of the proper
length, and is placed against the
chimney. This arrangement will
give you good footing.
Crack Filler.
Question: In kitchen and bath
room there is a separation caused
by the failure of the material at the
point where the tiling meets the
floor. How should this be filled?
Answer: If the floor is also tile,
small cracks can be filled with a
cement intended for tile work, to be
had at a hardware or paint store,
and large cracks with a paste made
of portland cement and water. If
the floor is wood, fill the cracks with
caulking compound.
Made Rather Bad Guess
In Dark of the Night
Podkins had been walking about
all day looking for lodgings.
When darkness came he was still
searching. At last he noticed a
card in a window.
“Good evening," he said to the
woman who appeared at the door
in answer to his knock. “I’m here
in reference to the card in your
window.”
“Oh, yes! How many might you
want, sir?”
“Only one. You see, I’ve had a
row with my landlady—”
“But you’re not going to pelt her
with it, are you, sir?”
“Pelt her with a room?”
“Room? I’ve got no rooms.
That card reads ‘New-Laid
Eggs.’ ”
BABY CHICKS
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Creating Happiness
A world full of happiness is not
beyond human power to create;
the obstacles are not insuperable.
The real obstacles lie in the heart
of man, and the cure for these is
a firm hope, informed and forti
fied by thought.—Bertrand Russell.
For Only 10/Now
Less than
I
a dose
Good Husbandry
Be a good husband and you will
get a penny to spend, a penny to
lend and a penny for a friend.
COLDS
quickly uAe.
LIQUID
TABLETS
UDO NOS^PS
COUGH DROPS
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WNU—7 I—4l
Always a Duty
The situation that has not its
duty, its ideal, was never yet
occupied by man.—Carlyle.
May Warn of Disordered
Kidney Action
Modern life with its hurry and worry;
Irregular habits, improper eating ana
drinking—its risk of exposure and infec
tion—throws heavy strain on the work
of the kidneys. They are apt to become
over-taxed and fail to filter excess acid
i and other impurities from the life-giving
J blood.
You may suffer nagging backache;
headache, dizziness, getting up nights,
leg pains, swelling—feel constantly
tired, nervous, all worn out. Other signa
? of kidney or bladder disorder are some
-3 times burning, scanty or too frequent
| urination.
Try Doon’, Pill,. Doon’, help th*
kidneys to pasn off harmful excess body
waste. They have had more than half a
century of public approval. Are recom
mended by grateful users everywhere.
Aik your neighbor!