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Illinois A^ctdtural Assodation 



RECORD 



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Volume 6 



SEPTEMBER, 1928 



Number 9 



Governor Alfred E. Smith oh Agriculture 



Following is the text of the Democratic 

 presidential candidate's statement on agri- 

 culture delivered in his speech of accept- 

 ance at Albany, N. Y., of Aug. 22. 



"Publicity agents of the Republican 

 administration have written so many 

 articles on our general prosperity that 

 they have prevented the average man 

 from having a proper appreciation of 

 the degree of distress existing today 

 among farmers and stock raisers. 

 From 1910 to the present time the 

 farm debt has increased by the strik- 

 ing sum of ten billions of dollars, or 

 from four billion to fourteen billion 

 dollars. The value of farm property 

 between 1920 and 1925 decreased by 

 twenty billions of dollars. This de- 

 pression made itself felt in an enor- 

 mous increase of bank failures in the 

 agricultural districts. In 1927 there 

 were 830 bank failures, with total lia- 

 bilities of over 270 millions of dollars, 

 almost entirely in the agricultural sec- 

 tions, as against 49 such failures dur- 

 ing the last year of President Wilson's^ 

 administration. 



Disparity Continues 



"The report of Nov. 17, 1927, of a 

 special committee of the Association 

 of Land Grant Colleges and Universi- 

 ties states: 'Incomes from farming 

 since 1920 have not been sufficient to 

 pay a fair return on the current value 

 of capital used and fair wages for the 

 farmers' labor, or to permit farm 

 people to maintain a standard of living 

 comparable with other groups of like 

 ability.' The business men's commis- 

 sion on agrriculture said in November, 

 1927, 'Since the war the prices of 

 farm products have persisted in an un- 

 economic and unfavorable adjustment 

 to the general scale of prices of other 

 goods and services' and 'the disparity 

 between urban and farm incomes has 

 emphasized the disparity in standards 

 of living in the rural and urban popu- 

 lations. The value of farm land and 

 farm property decreased heavily in the 

 post-war deflation' and 'large num- 

 bers of farmers have lost all their 

 property in this process.' 



"We have not merely a problem of 

 helping the farmer. While agriculture 



Statement by Earl C. Smith 



President Illinois Agricultural 

 Association 



i < r^ OVERNOR SMITH prom- 

 Vj ises his support and 

 leadership in the development of 

 a legislative program for farm 

 relief which recognizes two spe- 

 cific principles that have been 

 uppermost in the farm relief 

 program backed by agricultural 

 organizations in recent years. 

 He points out that the tariff is 

 ineCFective upon crops of which 

 we produce an exportable sur- 

 plus; and he pronounces, as does 

 the Democratic platform, in 

 favor of legislation to make the 

 tariff effective on such crops. 



"In pledging support to co- 

 operative marketing develop- 

 ment, he recognizes, as did the 

 Democratic platform, that the 

 costs of dealing with crop sur- 

 pluses should be distributed over 

 the crop whose producers are 

 benefited by such assistance. 



"His position on this major 

 principle of farm legislation 

 squares exactly with that of the 

 Illinois Agricultural Association. 

 Governor Smith did not commit 

 himself, however, to any specific 

 legislative plan to make it effec- 

 tive. The mechanics, he admits, 

 remain to be devised, and he pro- 

 poses that this shall be worked 

 out immediately after election in 

 co-operation with farm leaders 

 throughout the country vrho have 

 given thought to this problem, 

 with the assistance of economists 

 and business men." 



is one of the most individualized and 

 independent of enterprises, still, as the 

 report of the business men's commis- 

 sion points out, 'Agriculture is essen- 

 tially a public function, affected with 

 a clear and unquestionable public in- 

 terest.' The country is an economic 

 whole. If the buying power of agri- 



culture is impaired, the farmer makes 

 fewer trips to Main street. The shop 

 owner suffers because he has lost a 

 large part of his trade. The manufac- 

 turer who supplies him likewise suf- 

 fers, as does the wage earner, because 

 the manufacturer is compelled to cur- 

 tail his production. And the banker 

 can not collect his debts or safely ex- 

 tend further credit. This country can 

 not be a healthy, strong economic body 

 if one of its members, so fundamen- 

 tally important as agriculture, is sick 

 almost to the point of economic death. 



"The normal market among the 

 farmers of this country for the prod- 

 ucts of industry is ten billions of dol- 

 lars. Our export market, according to 

 latest available figures is, exclusive of 

 agricultural products, approximately 

 one billion, six hundred millions of 

 dollars. These large figures furnish 

 striking indication of the serious blow 

 to national prosperity as a whole 

 which is struck when the buying 

 power of the farmer is paralyzed. 



"When, therefore, I say that I am 

 in accord with our platform declara- 

 tion that the solution of this problem 

 must be a prime and immediate con- 

 cern of the Democratic administration, 

 I make no class appeal. I am stating 

 a proposition as vital to the welfare of 

 business as of agriculture. 



Republicans Break Promise 



"With the exception of the adminis- 

 trations of Cleveland and Wilson, the 

 government of this country has been 

 in Republican hands for half a century. 

 For nearly eight years the President 

 and Congress have been Republican. 

 What has been done to solve this prob- 

 lem? Many promises were made which 

 have never been fulfilled. 



"The tariff is ineffective on commod- 

 ities of which there is exportable sur- 

 plus without controlled sale of the sur- 

 plus. Our platform points the way to 

 make the tariff effective for crops of 

 which we produce a surplus. There 

 has been government interference with 

 laws of Supply and demand to benefit 

 industry, commerce and finance. It 

 has been one-sided because business. 



