TEXT B In the 1920s demand for
American farm products fell, as European countries began to recover from World
War I and instituted austerity programs to reduce their imports. The result was
a sharp drop in farm prices. This period was more disastrous for farmers than
earlier times had been, because farmers were no longer self-sufficient. They
were paying for machinery, seed, and fertilizer, and they were also buying
consumer goods. Tile prices of the items farmers bought remained constant, while
prices they received for their products fell. These developments were made worse
by the Great Depression, which began in 1929 and extended throughout the
1930s. In 1929, under President Herbert Hoover, ,the Federal
Farm Board was organized. It established the principle of direct interference
with sup ply and demand, and it represented the first national commitment to pro
vide greater economic stability for farmers. President Hoover’s
successor attached even more importance to, this problem. One of the first
measures proposed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt when he took office in 1933
was the Agricultural Adjustment Act, which was subsequently passed by Congress.
This law gave tile Secretary of Agriculture the power to reduce production
through voluntary agreements with farmers who were paid to take their land out
of use. A deliberate scarcity of farm products was planned in an effort to raise
prices. This law was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court on the
grounds that general taxes were being collected to pay one special group of
people. However, new laws were passed immediately that achieved the same result
of resting soil and providing flood-control measures, but which were based
on the principle of soil conservation. The Roosevelt Administration believed
that rebuilding the nation’s soil was in the nation al interest and was not
simply a plan to help farmers at the expense of other citizens. Later the
government guaranteed loans to farmers so that they could buy farm machinery,
hybrid grain, and fertilizers. It was claimed that the new laws passed during the Roosevelt Administration were aimed at______.
A．reducing the cost of farming B．conserving soil in the long-term interest of the nation C．lowering the burden of farmers D．helping farmers without shifting the burden onto other taxpayers