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| | In President [[Franklin Delano Roosevelt]]’s Inaugural Address, Roosevelt spoke of redressing “the overbalance of population in our industrial centers” by an of unspecified “redistribution” of the population to the countryside. This would somehow make farmers out of the unemployed. At the same time, though, there would be efforts “to raise the values of agricultural products.” Roosevelt referred to the need for “[[Economic planning|national planning]]”. <ref>[http://www.independent.org/publications/article.asp?id=1468 ''FDR: The Man, the Leader, the Legacy''], Ralph Raico, Future of Freedom Foundation, April 1, 2001. Retrieved from The Independent Institute.org 06/17/07.</ref> | | In President [[Franklin Delano Roosevelt]]’s Inaugural Address, Roosevelt spoke of redressing “the overbalance of population in our industrial centers” by an of unspecified “redistribution” of the population to the countryside. This would somehow make farmers out of the unemployed. At the same time, though, there would be efforts “to raise the values of agricultural products.” Roosevelt referred to the need for “[[Economic planning|national planning]]”. <ref>[http://www.independent.org/publications/article.asp?id=1468 ''FDR: The Man, the Leader, the Legacy''], Ralph Raico, Future of Freedom Foundation, April 1, 2001. Retrieved from The Independent Institute.org 06/17/07.</ref> |
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| − | In May when the AAA began its operations, the agricultural season was already under way. In effect, the agency oversaw a large-scale destruction of existing crops and livestock in an attempt to reduce surpluses. For example, six million pigs and 220,000 sows were slaughtered in the AAA's effort to raise prices. Even some cotton farmers plowed under a quarter of their crop in accordance with the AAA's plans <ref>''American History: A Survey'', Alan Brinkley, Tenth Edition, McGraw-Hill College, 1999, p. 879. ISBN 0-07-303390-1.</ref> Due to the nature of the [[Great Depression]], many United States citizens saw the AAA as cruel: while they were often hungering, the federal government was destroying crops and livestock. [[Adlai Stevenson]] and [[Telford Taylor]] worked in the AAA. | + | In May when the AAA began its operations, the agricultural season was already under way. In effect, the agency oversaw a large-scale destruction of existing crops and livestock in an attempt to reduce surpluses. For example, 6,200,000 pigs and 220,000 mother sows were slaughtered in the AAA's effort to raise prices at a cost of over $30,000,000. The total |
| | + | live weight of the pigs and sows slaughtered was 443,69.7,348 pounds. Of this only 97,064,159 pounds of food products were obtained-the rest was converted into inedible grease or fertilizer. Even some cotton farmers plowed under a quarter of their crop in accordance with the AAA's plans <ref>''American History: A Survey'', Alan Brinkley, Tenth Edition, McGraw-Hill College, 1999, p. 879. ISBN 0-07-303390-1.</ref> Due to the nature of the [[Great Depression]], many United States citizens saw the AAA as cruel: while they were often hungering, the federal government was destroying crops and livestock. [[Adlai Stevenson]] and [[Telford Taylor]] worked in the AAA. |
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| | While the AAA was paying out hundreds of millions to kill millions of hogs, burn oats, plow under cotton, the Department of Agriculture issued a bulletin falsely telling the nation that the great problem of the times was a failure to produce enough food to provide the people with a mere subsistence diet. The Department made up four sample diets. There was a liberal diet, a moderate diet, a minimum diet and finally an emergency diet below the minimum. The problems in agriculture were from over-production which resulted in low prices. The figures falsely claimed that the United States did not produce enough food for the population to meet the minimum diet. <ref>[http://www.rooseveltmyth.com/book/hbzfrm.htm ''The Roosevelt Myth''], John T. Flynn, Fox and Wilkes, 1948, Book 1, Ch. 5.</ref> | | While the AAA was paying out hundreds of millions to kill millions of hogs, burn oats, plow under cotton, the Department of Agriculture issued a bulletin falsely telling the nation that the great problem of the times was a failure to produce enough food to provide the people with a mere subsistence diet. The Department made up four sample diets. There was a liberal diet, a moderate diet, a minimum diet and finally an emergency diet below the minimum. The problems in agriculture were from over-production which resulted in low prices. The figures falsely claimed that the United States did not produce enough food for the population to meet the minimum diet. <ref>[http://www.rooseveltmyth.com/book/hbzfrm.htm ''The Roosevelt Myth''], John T. Flynn, Fox and Wilkes, 1948, Book 1, Ch. 5.</ref> |