THE I. A. A. RECORD 



i, 



'age Five 



THE REPUBLICAN FARM PLANK 



THE DEMOCRATIC FARM PLANK 



AGRICULTURE 



(Adopted at Kansas City, June H, 1928) 



THE agricultural problem is national in scope and, as such, is 

 recognized by the Republican party, which pledges its 

 strength and energy to the solution of the same. Realizing that 

 many farmers are facing problems more difficult than those which 

 are the portion of many other basic industries, the party is 

 anxious to aid in every way possible. 



Many of our farmers are still going through readjustments, 

 a relic of the years directly following the great war. All the 

 farmers are being called on to meet new and perplexing condi- 

 tions created by foreign competition, the complexities of domestic 

 marketing, labor problems, and a steady increase in local and 

 state taxes. 



The general depression in a great basic industry inevitably 

 reacts upon the conditions in the country as a whole and cannot 

 be ignored. It is a matter of satisfaction that the desire to help 

 in the correction of agricultural wrongs and conditions is not 

 confined to any one section of our country or any particular 

 group. 



AchicTements Cited 



The Republican party and the Republican admiiiistration, par- 

 ticularly during the last five years, have settled many of the 

 most distressing problems as they have arisen, and the achieve- 

 ments in aid of agriculture are properly a part of this record. 

 The Republican congresses have been most responsive in the mat- 

 ter of agricultural appropriations, not only to meet crop emer- 

 gencies, but for the extension and development of the activities 

 of the department of agriculture. 



The protection of the American farmer against foreign farm 

 competition and foreign trade practices has been vigorously 

 carried on by the department of state. The right of the farmers 

 to engage in collective buying and cooperative selling as pro- 

 vided for by the Capper- Volstead act of 1922 has been promul- 

 gated through the department of agriculture and the department 

 of justice, which have given most valuable aid and assistance 

 to the heads of the farm organizations. 



The treasury department and the proper committees of con- 

 gress have lightened the tax burden on farming communities, 

 and through the federal farm loan system there has been made 

 available to the farmers 

 of the nation $1,850,- 

 000,000 for lending pur- 

 poses at a low rate of 

 interest, and through 

 the intermediate credit 

 banks 1665,000,000 of 

 short term credits have 

 been made available to 

 the farmers. 



Rural Free Delivery 



The post office de- 

 partment has systemati- 

 cally and generously 

 extended the rural free 

 delivery routes into even 

 the most sparsely settled 

 communities. 



When a shortage of 

 transportation facilities 

 threatened to deprive 

 the farmers of their 

 opportunity to reach 

 waiting markets over- 

 seas, the president, ap- 

 preciative and sensitive 

 of the condition and the 

 possible loss to the com- 

 munities, ordered the 

 reconditioning of ship- 

 ping board vessels, thus 

 relieving a great emer- 

 gency. 



Last, but not least, 

 the federal tariff com- 

 mission has at all times 

 shown a willingness 

 under the provisions of 

 the flexible tariff act to 

 aid the farmers when 

 (Continued on page 8) 



REPRESENT ILLINOIS AT 4.H CLUB CAMP, WASHINGTON 



THE four boys and girls with their state leaders shown above represented Illinois 

 at the 4-H club encampment recently at Washington, D. C. 



Above are E. I. Pilchard and Miss Mary L. Grady, state club leaders, Harold 

 Hixson, 20, of Wellington, Iroquois county, who has been active in club work for 

 six years, and Clarence Ropp, 20, of Normal, McLean county, who has been prominent 

 in club work for nine years. 



Below are Dorothy McGaughey of Macon county and Lois Hubbard of Adams 

 county, both of whom have done outstanding club work. ^ 



The trip to Washington represents the highest award that can be given to 4-H 

 club boys and girls in Illinois. Before leaving for Washington, the boys and girls 

 and their leaders discussed club work on the I. A. A. farm radio program. The As- 

 sociation has contributed $100 each year for several years to help pay expenses of 

 the winners to the national capitol. -., . , 



AGRICULTURE j j 



(Adopted at Houston, June 28, 1928) ' 



DECEPTION upon the farmer and stock raiser has been prac- 

 ticed by the Republican party through false and delusive 

 promises for more than 50 years. Specially favored industries 

 have been artificially aided by Republican legislation. Com- 

 paratively little has been done for agriculture and stock raising 

 upon which national prosperity rests. Unsympathetic inaction 

 with regard to this problem must cease. Virulent hostility of 

 the Republican administration to the advocates of farm relief, 

 and denial of the right of farm organizations to lead in tht 

 development of farm policy, must yield to Democratic sympathy 

 and friendliness. 



Four (years ago, the Republican party, forced to acknowledge 

 the critical situation, pledged itself to take all steps necessary 

 to bring back a balanced condition between agriculture and other 

 industries and labor. Today it faces the country not only with 

 that pledge unredeemed, but broken by the acts of a Republican 

 President who is primarily responsible for the failure to offer 

 a constructive program to restore equality to agriculture. 



Coolidge Vetoes Cited 



While he had no constructive and adequate program to offer 

 in its stead, he has twice vetoed farm relief legislation and has 

 sought to justify his disapproval of agricultural legislation partly 

 on grounds wholly inconsistent with his acts making industrial 

 monopolies the beneficiaries of government favor; and in endors- 

 ing the agricultural policy of the present administration the 

 Republican party in its recent convention served notice upon 

 the farmer that the so-called protective system is not meant for 

 him; that while it offers protection to the privileged few, it 

 promises continued world prices to the producers of the chief 

 cash crops of agriculture. 



We condemn the policy of the Republican party, which promises 

 relief to agriculture only through a reduction of American farm 

 production to the needs of the domestic market. Such a program 

 means the continued deflation of agriculture, the forcing of ad- 

 ditional millions from the farms and the perpetuation of agri- 

 cultural distress for years to come, with continued bad effects 

 on business and labor throughout the United States. 



The Democratic party recognizes that the problems of produc- 

 tion differ as between 

 agriculture and indus- 

 try. Industrial produc- 

 tion is largely under 

 human control, while 

 agricultural production, 

 because of lack of co- 

 ordination, among the 

 6,500,000 individual 

 farm units, and because 

 of the influence of 

 weather, pests, and 

 other causes, is largely 

 beyond human control. 

 The result is that a 

 large crop frequently is 

 produced on a small 

 acreage and a small 

 crop on a large acreage; 

 and measured in money 

 value it frequently hap- 

 pens that a large crop 

 brings less than a small 

 crop. ^ 



Producers of crops 

 whose total volume ex- 

 ceeds the needs of the 

 domestic market must 

 continue at a disadvan- 

 tage until the govern- 

 ment shall intervene as 

 seriously and as ef- 

 fectively in behalf of 

 the farmers as it has 

 intervened in behalf of 

 labor and industry. 

 There is a need of 

 supplemental legislation 

 for the control and or- 

 derly handling of agri- 

 ( Continued on page 8) 



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