Agricultural Correspondence Subseries, 1930-1946

Scope and content:

Correspondence, telegrams, notes, speeches, statements, and printed material pertain to farming and agricultural products as well as to agencies and concerns of the Department of Agriculture. Of particular importance is material relating to the production and marketing of cotton and tobacco, including such topics as grading, surpluses, voluntary versus compulsory crop control, taxes, ceiling prices, arid specific hills. There is also information on other crops, such as soybeans, peanuts, sweet potatoes, and strawberries, as well as on the poultry, baking and dairy industries. The Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) in its various forms and stages, is thoroughly discussed by Bailey and his constituents. Also included are materials relating to the Resettlement Administration, the Commodity Credit Corporation, the Federal Land Bank, the Farm Security Administration. Information pertaining to forestry and the Bureau of Public Roads is found in this section.

The papers for the early 1930s reflect the plight of the farmers and their attempts to survive the Depression. Many farmers describe in detail the effects on the economy and the AAA on their incomes. Material for the late 1930s generally concerns efforts of the farmers to adjust to increasing governmental regulation over production. Other more routine correspondence deals with soil conservation checks and acreage allotments. The papers for the 1940s relate to Federal control over production and prices through the Office of Price Administration (OPA) and to farmers' problems in dealing with OPA. The material is arranged chronologically by day.

  1. 1932:Agricultural Marketing Act; Federal Farm Board; farm relief.
  2. 1933:Domestic Allotment Plan; Agricultural Credit Corporation; farm extension work; plight of tobacco growers.
  3. 1934:Bankhead Cotton Control Bill; food packaging bills; tobacco production reduction; problems of the poultry industry; crop loans; tax on cotton ginning. Frazier-Lemke Farm Refinance Bill; Flannigan Tobacco Grading Bill; Agricultural Adjustment Act and various amendments; Bankhead Farm Tenant Bill. Refund of processing taxes; Seed Loan Bill; Commodity Exchange Control Bill; plans for compulsory crop control; AAA and various amendments.
  4. 1937: Cotton loan; improvement of highways and railroad grade crossings; tax on plug tobacco ; 3.5 % interest rate on Federal Land Bank loans; Forestry Bill; Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act; Farm Tenancy Bill; Farm Security Act; AAA; crop control versus export bounty; proposal to move the Forestry Service from the Dept. of Agriculture to the Department of the Interior, voluntary versus compulsory crop control; tax on garden seed.
  5. 1938:Compulsory crop control; Farm Bill; peanuts; resettlement; problems with allotments; distribution of seeds by county agents in competition with merchants; AAA.
  6. 1939:Crop control; Smith Cotton Bill; restriction on sugar production; Fulmer Net Weight Bill, government distribution of seeds; Bankhead Cotton export subsidy; Agricultural Appropriation Bill; Bailey Farm Marketing Bill; control of tobacco production; flue-cured tobacco marketing crisis; storage rates on cotton; flaxseed competition from Argentina.
  7. 1940: Marketing Bill; tobacco embargo; trade agreement with Great Britain affecting cotton and tobacco; agricultural appropriation cuts; transfer of Forest Service to the Dept. of the Interior; cotton storage rates; foreign competition with American wood pulp; crop control; Net Weight Cotton Bill; food stamp plan: Jones-Wheeler Bill; tobacco storage.
  8. 1941 Marketing Bill; Net Weight Cotton Bill; tobacco exports; importation of Argentine beef; Agricultural Appropriation Bill; Fulmer Bill for the funding of 4-H Clubs and Extension Service; excess wheat production.
  9. 1942:Price controls; sale of government surpluses below parity prices; farm labor shortage and migratory labor camps; Net Weight Cotton Bill; government distribution of seeds; Agricultural Appropriation Bill; peanut prices; tobacco tax; ceiling prices on tobacco; Thomas-Hatch Amendment to the Anti-Inflation Bill, calculating farm labor costs in parity prices; McNary Amendment for a forest fire protection appropriation; government competition with mill operators.
  10. 1943:Farm prices and price controls; farm labor shortage; tobacco grading program; farm wagon shortage; crop control; Pace Bill to include farm labor costs in parity prices; appropriation for the Farm Security Administration; vote on Bankhead Bill after presidential veto; Agricultural Appropriaion Bill; shortage of corn products; ceiling prices on flue-cured tobacco; reduction in importation on Chilean nitrate of soda for fertilizer; dairy industry and OPA regulations; Food Subsidy Bill; milk shortage in Roanoke Rapids, N. C.
  11. 1944:Food Subsidy Bill; farm labor shortage; ceiling prices on strawberries, watermelons and sweet potatoes; tobacco quotas; subsidy for the dairy industry; alfalfa shortage; Bankhead Amendment on cotton textile ceilings; baking industry and OPA regulations; post-war planning for agriculture.
  12. 1945.Ceiling prices and government grading of cotton; funding for the Agricultural Extension Service; sweet potato market; tobacco markets; forestry appropriation; ceiling prices on strawberries, labor from Barbados for emergency work; Pace Bill for parity prices for cotton; Ceiling prices on cotton, tobacco, strawberries, ice cream mix, poultry and dairy industries; Flannagan Tobacco Bill; registration of firearms; rationing or downgrading of flour; shortage of corn products; Flannagan Farm Credit Bill; tobacco exports; farm machinery discounts to distributors; subsidies to the dairy industry.
  13. 1946: Correspondence and copies of bills relate primarily to individual bills for relief, There is some routine correspondence pertaining to administrative details of the Committee on Claims, of which Bailey was chairman, 1935-1938. The material is arranged chronologically by day.

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