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Illinois A^cultural Associaticm 



RECORD 



Published monthly by the Illinois Agricultural Association at 404 North Wesley Are., Mount Morris. 111. Entered as second class matter at post-offlce at Mount Morrtl. III., 

 October 20, 1925, under the Act of Mar. 3, 18"9. Acceptance for mailing at special rate of po=ta»:e provided in Section 112, Act of February 28. 192o. authorlz^-d October 27, 193S. 



Volume 6 



AUGUST, 1928 



Number S 



Hoover States Position on Agriculture 



f Following is the text of the RcpubHcan prod- 

 (lential candiftate*8 statement on agriculfun 

 ttrf leered in hia 8t>eech of aeceptance at Palo 

 Aifo. Cal., U7I Aufj, 12.) 



"The most urgent economic problem 

 in our nation today is in agriculture. 

 It must be solved if we are to bring 

 prosperity and contentment to one 

 third of our people directly and to all 

 of our people indirectly. We have 

 pledged ourselves to find a solution. 



"In my mind most agricultural dis- 

 cussions go wrong because of two false 

 premises. The first is that agriculture 

 is one industry. It is a dozen distinct 

 industries incapable of the same organ- 

 ization. The second false premise is 

 that rehabilitation will be complete 

 when it has reached a point comparable 

 with that before the war. Agriculture 

 was not upon a satisfactory basis he- 

 fore the war. The abandoned farms 

 of the northeast bear their own testi- 

 mony. Generally there was but little 

 profit in midwest agriculture for many 

 years excejjt that derived from the 

 slow increases in farm land values. 

 Rven of more importance is the great 

 advance in standards of living of all 

 occupations since the war. Some 

 branches of agriculture have greatly 

 recovered, but taken as a whole it is 

 not keeping pace with the onward 

 march in other industries. 



Many Factor* Involved 



"There are many causes for failure 

 of agriculture to win its full share of 

 national prosperity. The after war de- 

 flation of prices not only brought great 

 direct losses to the farmer, but he was 

 often left indebted in inflated dollars 

 to be paid in deflated dollars. Prices 

 are often demoralized through gluts in 

 our markets during the harvest season. 

 Local taxes have been increased to pro- 

 vide the improved roads and schools. 

 The tariff on some products is proving 

 inadequate to protect him from im- 

 ports from abroad. The increases in 

 transportation rates since the war have 

 greatly aff"ected the price which he re- 

 ceives for his products. Over six mil- 

 lion farmers in times of surplus engage 

 in destructive competition with one an- 



President Earl C. 



Smith Says: 



Mr. Hoover in his acceptance speech 

 frankly recognizes that the most urg- 

 ent economic problem in our nation to- 

 day is agriculture; and that the solu- 

 tion of this question constitutes the 

 most important obligation of the nation. 

 His general statement of the necessity 

 to establish for farmers an income 

 equal to that of other occupations is 

 good. No farm organization could ask 

 for more in the way of general ex- 

 pression. The responsibility of a farm 

 organization to its members, however, 

 requires that before a program can be 

 accepted as satisfactory, it must give 

 assurance of the means that will be 

 adequate to secure the ends promised. 

 This, in my judgment, Mr. Hoover's 

 statement fails to do. He promises 

 higher tariffs, waterway improvement 

 and a Farm Board to set up stabiliza- 

 tion corporations financed by Govern- 

 ment loans. This last proposal was 

 the basis of the Crips bill, which Con- 

 gress rejected in the last session and 

 which failed to secure farm support. 



Mr. Hoover says the tariff is the 

 foundation of farm relief and promises 

 to use his office and influence to give 

 the farmer the full benefit of our his- 

 toric tariff policy. For five years, 

 western farmers have demanded not 

 only that agricultural tariffs be ade- 

 quate, but that a way be found to make 

 such tariffs effective on that portion 

 of our surplus crops consumed at home. 

 On the latter, Mr. Hoover is silent. 

 This question has been too much in 

 the forefront of farm relief discussion 

 to be ignored. Farmers will want this 

 question answered before they go to 

 the polls in November. 



other in the sale of their product, often 

 depressing prices below those levels 

 that could be maintained. 



"The whole tendency of our civiliza- 

 tion during the last fifty years has 

 been toward an increase in the size of 

 the units of production in order to 

 secure lower costs and a more orderly 

 adjustment of the flow of commodities 

 to the demand. But the organization 

 of agriculture into larger units must 

 not be by enlarged farms. The farmer 

 has shown he can increase the skill of 

 his industry without large operations. 

 He is today producing 20 per cent more 

 than eight years ago with about the 

 same acreage and personnel. Farming 

 is and must continue to be an individ- 

 ualistic business of small units and in- 

 dependent ownership. The farm is 

 more than a business; it is a state of 



living. We do not wif^h it convertetl 

 into a mass production machine. There- 

 fore, if the farmer's position is to be 

 improved by larger operations it must 

 be done not on the fitrm but in the 

 field of distribution. Agriculture has 

 partially advanced in this direction 

 through cooperatives and pools. But 

 the traditional cobpek'aljive is ^ften not 

 a complete solution. 



Common Ground Needed 



"Difl'erences of opinion a.s to both 

 causes and remedy have retarded the 

 completion of a constiiuctive program 

 of relief. It is our plain duty ito search 

 out the common groun|d on which we 

 may mobilize the sound forces of agri- 

 cultural reconstruction. Our platform 

 lays a solid l)asis upon which we can 

 liuild. It ort"ers an affirmative pro- 

 gram. 



"An adequate tariff is the founda- 

 tion of farm relief. Oui- consumers in- 

 crease faster than our productrs. The 

 domestic market masti be p(rotected. 

 Foreign products ra;iseld under lower 

 standards of living are today compet- 

 ing in our home markets. I would use 

 my office and influen<;e to give the 

 farnier the full benefit lof oui historic 

 tariff policy. ; 



"A large portion of the spread be- 

 tween what the farmer receives for his 

 products and what the ultimlate con- 

 sumer pays is due to increased trans- 

 portation charges. Increase in railway 

 rates has been one of the penalties of 

 the war. These increases have been 

 added to the cost to the fa,rmer of 

 reaching seaboard and foreign markets 

 and result therefore in reduction of 

 his prices. The farmers of foreign 

 countries have thus been indirectly 

 aided in their competition with the 

 Anierican farmer. Nature has endowed 

 us with a great system of inland water- 

 ways. Their modernization will com- 

 prise a most substantial contribution to 

 midwest farm relief and to the devel- 

 opment of twenty of our interior 

 states. This modernization includes not 

 (Continued on page 6) 



