I. A. A. DELEGATION BREAKFAST DVR;M0 A. F. B. F. CONYEMTION AT NASHVILLE 



Kore than half of the lUindis County Farm Bureaus were represented at the I. A. A. Oet-Together m the Andrew Jackson Hotel. Wednesday mominff, Deo. 

 12. when a total of 280 out of some 260 Illinois people attending the coDTention, came out for the 7;S0 A, M, Breakfast Meeting. The entire I. A. A. 

 board with the exception of W. L. Cope, detained on account of illness, attended, Illinois people on the convention program included Earl C. Smith. C. V. Orefory, 

 Donald Xirkpatrick. Geo. E. Metzier. and R. J. Laible. I. A. A. rotinc deleratas wen Mr. Smith, A, R. Writht, Bunnel Sorrells, and C. E. Bamborouch, Illinois 

 had the larfest out-of-state delegation. 





sented at all the coming tariff hearings. 

 You should hammer away and repeat 

 over and over again, 'we want more im- 

 ports of industrial products,' 'we want 

 more imports of industrial products.' 



"Some of our folks, I know, believe in 

 a two price system. They would dump 

 our surplus abroad and take whatever 

 it brings. Our State Department is op» 

 posed to this because if it could be done 

 it would destroy the prosperity of other 

 nations and lead to retaliation. 



"If we don't increase our exports more 

 than ?150,000,000 annually in the next 

 five years there will be a long adjust- 

 nrent program ahead. 



"There have been too many short time 

 business decisions on tariff, and not 

 enough concern shown for the next gen- 

 eration. Some of our smart business peo- 

 ple try to 'use' farm groups to further 

 their own ends. And they seem to be 

 particularly successful in reaching farm- 

 ers of the extreme right and those of the 

 extreme left. The livestock and grain 

 exchanges, it seems, can always get 

 farmers to pull their chestnuts out, of the 

 fire for them. 



"People who have been benefiting by 

 the tariff will not listen to reason. Cer- 



tain groups in agriculture have trained 

 themselves to be just as selfish and hard- 

 boiled as the Industrial East. The best 

 tariff this country had was passed about 

 100 years ago during the term of Andrew 

 Jackson. It provided for a reduction of 

 10% a year until duties were down to 

 20%. William McKinley recognized that 

 the protective tariff brought about the 

 formation of monopolies. He mentioned 

 it in his speech at Buffalo the day he 

 was assassinated. Theodore Roosevelt 

 tried to meet the problem with the Sher- 

 man Anti-Trust Act. 



"The tariff didn't do much harm when 

 we were a debtor nation. It's different 

 now that we are a great creditor nation. 

 We missed our chance during the '20s to 

 set our house in order. We're beginning 

 to do it now. 



"Here's something for farmers to think 

 about. Is it sound in time of drouth to 

 let grain prices go to unreasonable 

 heights? Speculators who are long don't 

 like to see foreign grains come in. 

 Neither do the few farmers who have 

 grain to sell, although the majority may 

 be penalized by having to buy high- 

 priced feed. The suggestion has been 

 made that the tariff of 63c per bu. on 



flax be reduced to let Argentine flax 

 come in so they can buy our automobiles. 

 Most farmers would benefit by. cheaper 

 paint and linseed meal. But our small 

 group of flax producers will probably 

 oppose tariff reduction and it's astonish- 

 ing how much hell a handful of people 

 can raise. 



"A gain in exports of farm commod- 

 ities will so improve farmers purchasing 

 power that they will buy far more in- 

 dustrial products from the east although 

 tariff reduction may hurt certain special- 

 lies. Some industries have been coddled 

 along with tariffs of 70 to 90%. It may 

 be necessary to wean them gradually. 



"If we don't increase our imports sub- 

 stantially, then the ever-normal granary 

 is the thing. This means adjusted pro- 

 duction and loans on grain in storage 

 only to those who agree to reduce (ap- 

 plause). But we mustn't loan too much. 

 Our problem is to get industries to en- 

 ter a program of continuing balanced 

 abundance. In effect there has been a 

 wholesale plowing under of factories dur- 

 ing the p%st three years, and plowing 

 factory workers out on the streets. The 

 corporations insisted on having their 

 normal profits and organized labor in- 



I. A. A. REC 



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