American History In Video: Allan B. Kline
Allan B. Kline from Chronoscope (Columbia Broadcasting System, 1951) 14:50.
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200 LW 403 LONGINES CHRONOSCOPE A Television Journal of the Vital Events of the Hour A Presentation of the LONGINES-WITTNAUER Watch Company
Frank Knight Good evening, this is Frank Knight . The Longines watch on my wrist, the Longines watches at your jewelers are examples of 85 years of experience in the art of fine watch making. How could you look in our factory, you'd find many machines of advanced design. The need for which was dictated by experience. Many are unique with Longines designed and made in the Longines factory and found nowhere else. But machines alone could never make a watch of Longines quality. Today as always, essential parts of every Longines watch are given that final touch of perfection. That precious, extra hand finishing that distinguishes the truly fine watch. With the Longines watches not so made, it could not have won its grand prizes. The gold medals, its observatory awards. Its countless honors in field of precise timing. Today more than ever, throughout the world, no other name on a watch means so much as Longines, the world's most honored watch. The Longines Chronoscope, each week looks for the truth and the important issues of the hour. And here to discuss these issues are our co-editors, Mr. Henry Hazlitt , a political economist of respective judgment and contributing editor of Newsweek magazine and Mr. William Bradford Huie , editor of the American Mercury. Our distinguished guest for this evening is Mr. Allan Blair Kline , President of American Farm Bureau Federation. In this spontaneous and unrehearsed discussion, the opinions are necessarily of those of the speakers.
Henry Hazlitt Ah, Mr. Kline , ah, you are, the American Farm Bureau Federation is the largest farm organization in the country, isn't it?
Allan Blair Kline That is right.
Henry Hazlitt Ah, I'd like to find out, what you think of the present bills that the House and Senators just passed? Do you think they are better or worst in the present law?
Allan Blair Kline Well now, I take it that what your talking about is war defense measure and not some peculiar... (crosstalk)
Henry Hazlitt Yeah, that's right.
Allan Blair Kline ...agricultural proposition.
Henry Hazlitt Yes it is, the control bill.
Allan Blair Kline Well, so far as the war production major concerns, it is been our firm conviction that the uhm, price control regulations go too far, that many other provisions of the bills are essential and that the Senate Bill is somewhat better than that of the House.
Henry Hazlitt Why do you think that the Senate Bill is a little better than the House?
Allan Blair Kline Well, take a specific example. We believe that the indirect controls are far superior to the direct controls if you really wish to control inflation and the Senate goes a little further in the authority provided for credit control.
William Bradford Huie Mr. Kline , tonight ah, we're talking to a lot of people who are worried about the price of farm products. Ah, you are a head of one of the most powerful lobbies in America , aren't you?
Allan Blair Kline Well, excepting for the federal lobby.
William Bradford Huie I see. You are, you are really a head of a pressure group, aren't you?
Allan Blair Kline I would admit that.
William Bradford Huie You are, you are a farmer and you are interested in, in the welfare of farmers?
Allan Blair Kline Yes, and we think that the welfare of farmers and the welfare of the rest of us are pretty close to the same thing.
William Bradford Huie But essentially, you are interested in higher and higher prices for farm products.
Allan Blair Kline We understood that in terms of trade, we want the farmer to be able to do well and if other things are cheap, farm prices can be cheap. If other things are higher, farm prices have to be higher or we go broke.
William Bradford Huie Now... (crosstalk)
Henry Hazlitt You've done... pardon me, you've got a rather remarkable thing, your organization ah, you are not only against price control for farmers but you are against price control for everybody, aren't you? I mean, you don't want to control the other fellow's prices any more than you wanna see farm prices go up... (crosstalk)
Allan Blair Kline Well, certainly not. We think that the price control thing ah, it actually crosses up some of the most fundamental things which have contributed to America's production record. And we have, we are convinced that this production record simply couldn't take place if you took out all the freedom of choice involved in the individual's buying things on his own.
Henry Hazlitt Well, you think if this meat price rollback had gone through in the form in which Mr. DeSalle had proposed it, you would have brought about shortages of meat in the country?
Allan Blair Kline Well, I notice that that the Department of Agriculture figures on cattle on feed in the corn belt indicated they're eight percent less now than a year ago. And yet, cattle numbers in the country are high. This is simply the proposition of a lot of farmers in the corn belt trying to figure out how make a living.
William Bradford Huie Now, the farmers in the farm belt sir, speaking of price control, you've accepted government control of farm, of farming in America is a reality, haven't you?
Allan Blair Kline Yes to a limited extent and uhm. (crosstalk)
..William Bradford Huie I see, the argument is just to over the extent of government control in this country now, isn't it?
Allan Blair Kline It's over the extent and after all if one is a realist he knows that laissez-faire is in the past and that there are controls in business, there are controls on labor and... (crosstalk)
William Bradford Huie All of your... (crosstalk)
Allan Blair Kline ...of all prices are still in free trade.
William Bradford Huie ...all of your farmers, both Republicans and Democrats, now admit that the government is properly ah, in farming?
Allan Blair Kline Well, I don't know any outfit that differentiates less between Republicans and Democrats when it comes to public policy.
William Bradford Huie All of you believe that the government ah, ought to help you and the government ought to stabilize your prices. And the government ought to assure, help to assure you of, of what you consider a fair price for your products?
Allan Blair Kline At the same time we think that the, as the farm, if the government was to guarantee a high and profitable prices to farmers. Ah, this is a completely inconsistent of high standards of living in agriculture.
William Bradford Huie Would you say that this, we now have a certain amount of socialism in, ah, an American agriculture?
Allan Blair Kline Well, socialism is a kind of a loaded term. When you got a certain amount of the kind of ah, responsibility on the part of the national government, which some people define as socialism...but I think, we think better if we use some other term.
Henry Hazlitt Well, you've been arguing for a free price system recently in the American Farm Bureau of Federation.
Allan Blair Kline A relatively free price system.
Henry Hazlitt Well, ah, what do you think that that would achieve? And where do you, where is the relativity come in?
Allan Blair Kline Well, let us go back 80 years, the leadership in production was in Great Britain , in distribution, banking, so forth, transportation, communication. Currently it's in the United States . We think that the, that there some fundamental change has taken place and that leadership came to the United States . And then if you take the function of price out, it is somehow interrelated with the kind of freedom of choice incentive system, without it the American system simply wouldn't be the American way.
William Bradford Huie That's the way... (crosstalk)
Henry Hazlitt No, I'm sorry Bill , I just want to ask this. But a lot of people in this country, perhaps most people in this country, believe today that if you took price controls off, ah, prices would soar. Now, do you believe that?
Allan Blair Kline The fact of the matter is that I believe that we could have a considerable little depression in this country if the government really wanted it without price control.
William Bradford Huie Do you think that, that the, that the prices of farm products are too high now?
Allan Blair Kline Well, relatively the prices of farm products are just not in a bad shape. The fact of the matter is a lot of the people go back to June 1st, last year, when we were in a quite a little agricultural swamp June 1st. A several billion dollars below the net income which we had had in '48 for instance.
Henry Hazlitt You mean the farm that the people work?
Allan Blair Kline That's right.
William Bradford Huie Would you care to predict whether specific items such as meat will go higher from today? Or will, do you think that the price of meat will fall?
Allan Blair Kline It is ah, very difficult to do this thing, I would say this, that the most important question involved in that is whether we get a bill we can pay nationally and whether we divide the program to pay the bill, this means taxes.
William Bradford Huie But what does this mean to the housewife in, in the average American city? What does she have to look forward to now? Do you think that her dollar will buy more groceries or less from this point on?
Allan Blair Kline Well a lot of it depends, you see on whether the dollar is good, if everything is cheap. And it's dollars that have gone wrong.
William Bradford Huie Well, it doesn't mean, it doesn't--(crosstalk)
Allan Blair Kline If everything is high priced, it's dollars that have gotten cheap. (crosstalk)
William Bradford Huie No, but somehow it depends on the farm lobbies, sir.
Allan Blair Kline We all know that's ah...(crosstalk)
William Bradford Huie ...or the efficacy of the farm lobbies.
Allan Blair Kline Well, let me make this point, the, the, the strongest farm organization in America is the American Farm Bureau. We have spent the last three years arguing with the politicians who wanted to give us higher guaranteed prices than we were willing to accept. And we just aren't guilty on this propagation.
William Bradford Huie You mean you're down in Washington arguing for lower guarantees?
Allan Blair Kline This in the record.
Henry Hazlitt I want to...have you expand on these particular point ah, your reason for thinking these prices would not run away if price controls were taken off? As I understand it the price control is irrelevant to the problem of inflation.
Allan Blair Kline That's quite right.
Henry Hazlitt In other words, that inflation is caused by something else, by the increase of money and credit. Isn't that the position of the Farm Bureau Federation? (crosstalk)
Allan Blair Kline In case the money and credit, our unbalanced federal budget and paying the bill with new money, this cheapens everybody's money.
Henry Hazlitt Or what would you have the federal government do about money and credit?
Allan Blair Kline Well, the first thing with regard money and credit. The first thing with regard to money, if the traditional method has been to just unbalance the federal budget, then print some new money and pay the bills. We print bonds and sell them to banks which it does the same thing, it's tradition. You'd have to overcome this one by getting a bill we could pay as we are free to do what we got to do. And second, we've got to have an intelligent management to the money supply. This is ae cheap money policy. This is a business where after Korea we furnished an unlimited reserves to the banks. We convince people that money was gonna---
[sil.]
Allan Blair Kline ...and goods were gonna be high-priced 'til they'd want to buy it and then we furnished them the money through the banks.
William Bradford Huie I'd like to ask, just two more questions sir, and they involve generalizations. You tell me that ah, up till now the American farmer has made a certain surrender, a certain amount of surrenders in freedom in order to get a certain amount of security from the government. Now, do American farmers wanna surrender more of that freedom to get more security today or is the ah, trend in other direction?
Allan Blair Kline No.
William Bradford Huie Did they want more freedom?
Allan Blair Kline I would say the uhm, the best hope that I could hold up, and again I u--, there are many farmers and they're ah, individualists to a certain extent, is that we would sort of consolidate our gains where we are and learn to live with what we have and begin to appreciate the problems involved in really creating an individual responsibility in the country consistent with the survival of freedom, the basic freedom.
William Bradford Huie The farmers are thinking about freedom today, then, and they are thinking about encroachments of federal authority on that freedom...
Allan Blair Kline There's no doubt about that.
Henry Hazlitt How about the freedom of the consumer too? Do you feel that the, if the present price bill is extended as the prospect is that we're going to run into rationing, we're gonna have rationing in the next year?
Allan Blair Kline Well, if the ah, price control bill remains as inefficient as it has currently been. What I mean by that is, it doesn't really try to hold down prices, then you won't have to have rations. But if at any point, let's say on meat, we decide to lower 30 percent from what people were willing to pay, you've decided not to use price to distribute the commodity and you must use coupons.
William Bradford Huie I have just one other question sir in regards to, time is about up but there's, battle has been going on in Washington . And we understand that the President has been fighting for more controls and you've been fighting for fewer. Nowh, have you been supported more by the Republicans or by the Democrats in Congress? For what you were trying to get?
Allan Blair Kline Ah, that's a very difficult question but I would say that we have been insufficiently supported by either.
William Bradford Huie You, ah, the Republicans have not supported your program?
Allan Blair Kline They certainly haven't done a very good job of it.
William Bradford Huie I see.
Allan Blair Kline As a matter of fact if we wan to capitalize on our tradition we can have things freely available in the market place. And if we don't I think they're gonna get scarce and we'll have to ration them.
William Bradford Huie But you, you did make a statement that you, you were not aided by an effective opposition to the administration in Washington .
Allan Blair Kline That is a fair statement.
Henry Hazlitt Well, I'm sorry. I'm afraid our time is up. Thank you very much Mr. Kline for being with us tonight.
Frank Knight The Editorial Board for this edition of the Longines Chronoscope was Henry Hazlitt and William Bradford Huie . Our guest was Allan Blair Kline , President of the American Farm Bureau Federation. Throughout the world no other name on a watch mean so much as Longines the world's most honored watch. Honored for excellence and elegance by ten world's fair grand prizes, 28 gold medal awards and highest honors for accuracy from the leading government observatories of the world. Whenever you had an occasion to purchase a watch for yourself or as a gift. It's well to remember that if you pay 71.50 or more for a watch, you're paying the of price a Longines and you should insist on getting a Longines. World's honored for excellence, elegance, greater accuracy and long life. Longines the world's honored watch. Sold and serviced by more than 4,000 leading jewelers from coast to coast who proudly display the emblem, agency for a Longines-Wittnauer watches.
[sil.]
Frank Knight Next week at the same time over the CBS television Network. The Longines-Wittnauer Company, will again present the Longines Chronoscope. A television journal of the important issues of the hour. And our guest will be Mr. Paul G. Hoffman . This is Frank Knight speaking for Longines the world's most honored watch. And Wittnauer, distinguished companion to the world honored Longines. Both product of the Longines Wittnauer Company since 1866 . Maker of watches of the highest character.
Directed by ALLAN R. CARTOUN
This is CBS the Columbia Broadcasting System.
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