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U.S. AGRICULTURE AND TASKS OF THE PARTY 363

termined even before harvest by estimate on the yield. Knowing this, Hoover rejects the idea of price fixing, since this would carry "orderly marketing" too far toward permitting poor farmers to share in the advantage of rich farmers linked with finance capital and monopoly. Moreover, the speculators of the Chicago Wheat Pit might be disturbed, where twelve times the amount of wheat produced in one year is sold back and forth in the course of twelve months.

  (d) The income returns of farm capital in the aggregate for the five-year period ending in 1927 showed the price average of crops sold to be about 135 per cent of pre-war prices, while farm-purchased commodities have averaged about 155 per cent of pre-war, while living costs have been over 160 per cent of pre-war, and taxes 200 per cent. This is supposed to give the farmers only from 85 to 90 per cent of their pre-war purchasing power.

  (e) Of especial irritation to farm capital is the tax burden, which has increased 150 per cent above the pre-war average. Carr, giving details, says that "Taking the quarter century, the burden of the support of the state government alone has been multiplied nearly four times," that in the nine years prior to 1921, "there has been an increase of 140 per cent in state taxes, 100 per cent in county taxes, from 100 per cent to 300 per cent in local township and district taxes. Since 1921, increases have been even more startling." It is well known, though obviously unprovable by statistics, that the poor farmers are discriminated against both in assessments and in the use made of the taxes they pay. It must be noted that the hundreds of thousands of farm youth who are listed under the category of wage workers "working on home farm," but who have fled in veritable armies into city industry, make up either as farm or city poor, the cannon fodder for imperialist war, which war is being prepared with the taxes of the farmers, who will also furnish their sons. Also that the poor farmer actually pays taxes to support the sheriff, whose chief business it is to seize his farm or his equipment and animals for debt.  The big capitalists try to soothe the irritation of the farmers over taxes, by "proving" that the tax burden is quite "equable."  Thus the Industrial Conference Board goes to the pains of giving figures to show that farmers pay a percentage of the total sum of taxes considerable less than the percentage paid by "the rest of the community."  But, obviously, the comparing of the two groups, the balance off as equals "the farmers" as against "the rest of the community" is simply a dishonest trip. It is to say that farm capital and finance capital (ex-