Chapter 17 - Pigs and the NRA

As mentioned in the last post, Dad was writing articles for what he referred to as the “radical press”. Unfortunately, I don’t know what papers they were. This article, entitled Pigs and the NRA refers not to the National Rifle Association but to the National Recovery Administration which was established in the United States in 1933 to assist in the recovery of the American economy through various controls on industry, production, trade and labour. The Wikipedia article on the NRA notes: "The NRA was based on the premise that the Great Depression was caused by market instability and that government intervention was necessary to balance the interests of farmers, business and labor."

Pigs and the NRA

"As one of the many millions of unfortunates on this continent who have put into Mother Earth a great deal more than they have been able to take out, at this time, when all is lost and nothing matters, my fancy lightly turns to the pastime that has replaced cross-word puzzles – the contemplation of controlled production.

There must be logic in the situation of people starving. The Spectre of Plenty will be removed by various forms of controlled production, enabling the people to hunger more comfortably in an atmosphere of synthetic scarcity. The idea is great, and, indeed its application promises to open up unaddressed avenues of endeavour.

For instance, some farmers in the United States have received cheques from the Government for not raising pigs. One farmer has received a cheque for $1000.00 for not raising 500 pigs. After some figuring, I find that this is exactly $2.00 per hypothetical pig, and I am filled with the urge of again entering the agricultural field. I have visions of a nice dignified business being worked up along the lines of not raising pigs. In this connection, I would advise the establishment of a number of agricultural colleges, as this new branch of farming would call for considerable specialization. Not only should one know what kind of farm would be best adapted for not raising hogs, but he should also know what strain of hogs are best suited to not being raised, and much study could be given to ways and means of keeping an inventory of hogs that are not being raised. Feeding charts outlining the best kinds of feeds that should not be fed to hogs that are not being raised could also be formulated.
While the farmer mentioned above only collected for 500 hogs that had not been raised, it takes no stretch of imagination to see that this output or intake could be greatly increased. In fact, I can, in my usual optimistic way, even see myself capable, after the necessary training, of not raising several thousand pigs. It is easily seen that this is one of the fairest methods of controlled production, as it gives to the more imaginative farmer, who has been looked upon as an impractical visionary in the past, the opportunity to attain his proper place in agrarian society.
Presently I shall devote my attention to the floating of a Non-Hog-Raising Gold Bond for the purpose of aiding farmers to embrace this great new venture. I wonder if that man out west, to who I gave my farm, would sell it back to me? I wonder?"


While I was growing up, my father often reminded me that one of the main hurdles I would come up against time and time again in life was stupidity. In particular, he referred the stupidity of bureaucracy and this article certainly speaks to that.