Tobacco Documents Online

A22 ~ONDAY, OCTOBBR 19, 1981 THE NEW" YORK TIMES, • [_~u_'_ ..... I111-1 111111 I1~1 I I I III II I I - I NewHarvest on Farm Policy - spring, Presideat Reagan promised c~tservative To win Votes in Congress for his budget last Southern Democ~ts, known as Bgll Weevil, that he ~uld ~ cpposlng their effort to bolster pflce sup- • lx~ for peanut and sugar farmers. HO~ could the President recormile that promise with lds faith in ~ee markets?. By reneging. That, paxeatly, is what Mr. Reagan did last week. At the ~ry.momeat ~ was preaching.the virtues of free markets to poor natiovs, the House overcamethe The measure 12xe Housd approved would e~d the 35.year-old acreage restrictio~s in the peanut indus- try. (]~ly tobacco and peanuts are still protected by such a feudal arrangement: allotmems are available to a relatively few farmers in a few Southern and Southwestern states. As one Illinois legislator asked: "Why can't my far~.ers raise peanuts? Isn't this a freeland?" • The new rides would ~nd allotments and put pea- nuts under the same prlce~uppon system as other commodities, That is hardly a re~um to free market, but it is an Important step and one ~at slmuld help hold down th~ ~ o! peanut Imtter. - As for sugar, the House voted narrowly again~ a- price-support system that would drive raw sugar- prices from 16 cents a pound to 20 c~mts or more. That alone would add a billion dollars a year to the cost of • livMg. The plan is an affront to the natioa's p~r, who as well as to the poor abroad, who depend oe the American sugar market. Higher American prices would encourage the sale of cheaper corn sweetehers, Rducing the de- re.and [or imported sugar. The plan was particularly upsetting to the leaders of the Dominican Republic, a fragile democracy that sells almost all its sugar to the United States. The farm bill must still wend its way through a confe.~ with the Senate, where the White Hotme may change its mind yet again. We hope the Presi- dent resists the temptation. He should do so for the sake of the marketplace that he reveres. And he should so for the sake of fair- -ness. How can thenation ask sacrifice o! every group i f it leLs farmers reap so rich a harvest o! subsidies? T1052.8.0076