PROCEEDINGS CORN BELT MEAT PRODUCERS' ASSN. 559 



there was bound to be disorganization, a great deal of rebuilding that had 

 to be done, and that threw a great deal of work upon the administration, 

 and especially so in view of the fact that it was a different political power 

 than the one that preceded it. Then, we were in a period of severe agri- 

 cultural depression, and that threw an added burden upon those in the 

 agricultural department who take the business seriously, and I want to 

 say that most of them do. So that it has been strenuous times, both in 

 congress and the administrative departments. And yet there have been 

 many things of interest. 



Perhaps you would not mind if I told you one or two experiences that 

 are of more than usual interest. For example, one of my most interesting 

 experiences was going down with the fleet to see them experiment with 

 aerial bombs in sinking battleships. We took over from the Germans, as 

 part of our share, certain submarines and cruisers and one battleship of 

 the first class, the understanding being that those would all be sunk. So 

 they were used as targets for the experimentation in aerial bombing. I 

 was invited to go down with a group of about 300 government men, mostly 

 army and navy men, to observe that last experiment on sinking the battle- 

 ship Oesterfriesland, which was one of the German battleships in the 

 battle of Jutland. We went down on a navy transport, reaching Newport 

 News in the evening, and the next morning we wakened seventy miles out 

 at sea, and when I went out on deck and looked about there was a fleet of 

 eighteen battleships and destroyers and smaller craft. Well, to a land- 

 lubber who had never been out at sea before, it was a very interesting 

 sight, and I was anticipating an interesting experience, because when I 

 wakened in the morning in my berth the old ship was going up this way 

 and down that way and I lay abed for about ten minutes debating whether 

 it would be entirely safe for me to get up. The sea was too rough to 

 bring out the airplanes that morning. You understand these vessels were 

 to be sunk by land airplanes. That is, they were to have a considerable 

 share in the experiment, the idea being to determine whether the airplanes 

 from land could successfully defend the coast from attack by battleships, 

 and when you remember we were seventy miles out at sea and that those 

 land airplanes cannot land on the water and float, you can see they were 

 wise in not inviting the boys to come out in a rough sea. 



With regard to what we are doing to meet this general depression, 

 especially as it relates to agriculture: There is a feeling in a great many 

 parts of the country that congress has not done much. I don't think that 

 feeling is justified, so far as agriculture is concerned, and I am speaking 

 now of congress as a whole, without regard to political parties, at all, be- 

 cause in agricultural matters there are no party lines; both the democrats 

 and republicans are alike interested. When you look back at the legis- 

 lation passed by congress since March 4 it Is a most creditable record so 

 far as agriculture is concerned. First was the emergency tariff. I know 

 that some people doubt whether the emergency tariff has been of much 

 benefit to agriculture. We had a very unusual situation. Ordinarily a 

 country which has a large surplus is not helped by a tariff, because the 

 surplus itself is capable of defending the country from importations of 

 the same sort of stuff, but we had a situation which was almost unprec- 



