4 APRIL 1931, Page 2

Mr. Hoover's Troubles There are something like 300,000,000 bushels o f

American wheat in the hands of the Federal Farm Board and on the conscience of the President. The Farm Board has declared that it will not speculate in 1931 crop, but proposes to reduce the wheat acreage by twenty per cent. to keep the American price inside the tariff wall higher than Liverpool's. This alternative has little to recommend it. Mr. Hoover's attitude towards the future policy of Farm Boards remains rather an enigma, but he is likely to continue to insist on the Board making its own decisions. Like his subordinates in the Administration, he is keenly averse from anything like an admission of paternity in respect of this embarassing child.