Confirmed & Confronted

All eight members of the Federal Farm Board settled back securely in their swivel chairs last week as the Senate, after seven hours public haggling, confirmed their nominations. The Comptroller's office at last opened its eyes to the Board's official existence and drew, three months late, its members' first pay checks. On the basis of the Senate vote, Samuel Roy McKelvie, onetime Governor of Nebraska and the Board's wheat member, was the least popular Hoover nominee. The President had searched longest to find a wheat man for his Board and Mr. McKelvie's was the last difficult appointment. Twenty-seven Senators voted against his confirmation. Their complaint was that he was not a real wheat farmer, that he knew nothing about wheat farming, that he was out of sympathy with Federal aid for those who did produce this crop. His most bitter opponent was his fellow Nebraskan, Senator George William Norris, whose candidacy for the Presidency he did not take seriously last year. Confirmation of the Board did not materially clear up all the uncertainties which confront this new Federal agency. In Washington the feeling persisted that the Board had no set policy. Senators and Congressmen who helped write the Farm Act attempted to explain to Board members what it meant, what their purposes were, but their words only added chaos to confusion. Last week Chairman Legge sought to increase the foreign "lookout posts" for U. S. agriculture from three to ten. He explained: "If we expect to expand our exports and understand our surpluses at home we must know conditions abroad." Proposed U. S. farm outposts: London, Berlin, Paris, Marseilles, Copenhagen, Bucharest, Buenos Aires, Melbourne, Johannesburg, Shanghai. Meanwhile, with the harvest almost over, the major situations confronting the Board last week were as follows: Wheat. A European buyers' strike made the U. S. supply mount up to peak levels, despite this year's reduced yield and the scare of a world wheat shortage. Latest crop estimate: 792,000,000 bu. compared to a final crop yield of 902,749,000 bu. last year. Market (Chicago, No. 2 red) last week, $1.42 bu.; last year, $1.62. Progress has been slow on the Board's formation of a National Farm Grain Growers Association to stabilize prices. Reason: difficulty of securing adequate storage space. Cotton. Prices were down due to a larger crop than was expected. Latest U. S. estimate: 14,915,000 bales. Latest traders' estimate: 15,000,000 bales. Market (New York, middling upland): Last week, 18-c- per lb.; last year, 19 4/5-c- per lb. Within the month the Farm Board has advanced $7,250,000 to cotton growers' cooeperatives to offset slumped prices. Corn. Prices fell sharply due to an increased crop estimate. Latest U. S. estimate: 2,528,000,000 bu. (previous estimate: 2,456,000,000 bu.). Market (Chicago, No. 2 yellow): last week, $1.11 per bu.; last year, $1.15 per bu.