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President Smith Asks Industrialists 

 To Co-operate With Farmers 



Represents Agriculture On Program At Joint Conference of 

 Agriculture, Industry, And Science 



DKARBORN, MICH.. May 7— 

 Leaders of American industry and 

 scientific research were congratu- 

 lated here tonight by Earl C. 

 Smith, president of the Illinois Ag- 

 ricultural Association, on their 

 long-delayed recognition of the 

 fact that a real farm surplus prob- 

 lem exists in the United States. 

 Mr. Smith appeared on the evening 

 program as the representative of 

 agriculture along with Irenee Du- 

 Pont. industrialist, and Col. Frank 

 Knox of the Chicago News. Henry 

 and Edsel Ford and high officials 

 of many other automobile and in- 

 dustrial concerns attended the con- 

 ference. 



Speaking before the joint con- 

 ference of agriculture, industry 

 and science. Mr. Smith reviewed 

 the long struggle of thinking, or- 

 ganized farmers to obtain control 

 of agricultural surpluses in a man- 

 ner similar to that employed by in- 

 dustry to sustain price levels for 

 manufactured products. 



He emphasized that in the early 

 efforts of organized agriculture to 

 obtain control of its surplus prod- 

 ucts, the program embodied a prin- 

 ciple long used by American busi- 

 ness to dispose of industrial sur- 

 pluses in foreign markets at world 

 price levels, as an essential factor 

 in sustaining domestic price levels 

 for industrial goods. 



Failure of business leaders to 

 recognize the indisputable merits 

 of the program advanced by or- 

 ganized agriculture in 1927 and 

 1928, the speaker pointed out, is 

 responsible at least in part for the 

 more radical treatment the prob- 

 lem has demanded in recent years. 

 Much of the confusion over and 

 criticism of present efforts of 

 farmers to adjust their production 

 to the needs of market require- 

 ments at profitable price levels, he 



emphasized, is either based upon 

 misunderstanding or lack of infor- 

 mation. 



Mr. Smith, substituting for Ed- 

 ward A. O'Neal, president of the 

 American Farm Bureau Federa- 

 tion, who had been scheduled to 

 address the conference but who 

 had been called to Washington by 

 President Roosevelt to serve as ad- 

 visor to the allotment committee of 

 the Administration of the Public 

 Works Relief Fund, said in part : 



"The sole and only purpose of 

 the American Farm Bureau Fed- 

 eration's participation in this con- 

 ference is to assist in developing a 

 full and complete understanding of 

 the farm surplus problem as it is 

 knowTi to exist; to solicit further 

 support to efforts now being di- 

 rected toward its solution; and, if 

 possible, to agree upon additional 

 methods of procedure which might 

 contribute to its earlier and more 

 permanent solution. 



"Cooperation between American 

 agriculture and American indus- 

 try, in the solution of economic 

 problems of mutual concern, must 

 be predicated on the basis of equi- 

 table fairness to both groups. No 

 lasting economic improvement can 

 be attained, either for agriculture 

 or for industry, so long as agricul- 

 ture is made to carry more than its 

 share of the load, and to operate 

 on a basis which is unprofitable to 

 the farmer. 



"It is my firm belief that much 

 of the recent economic distress and 

 human suffering could have been 

 avoided had American business, 

 American agriculture, and leaders 

 of government met around confer*- 

 ence tables, years ago, and ad- 

 dressed themselves unselfishly to 

 unbiased facts pertaining to the 

 farm problem and the relationship 

 of its solution to the welfare of all 



pha.ses of American business, yes, 

 to the best interests of government 

 itself. 



"There can be no question as to 

 the inter-relartionship of interest 

 between American industry, Amer- 

 ican labor, and the prosperity of 

 the American farmer. While at 

 times, there may be temporary 

 prosperity with one phase of Amer- 

 ican industry, while others are in 

 an unhappy or unprofitable posi- 

 tion, yet, over any considerable pe- 

 riod of time, very definite eco- 

 nomic laws force the general av- 

 erage of prices, employment, pay- 

 rolls, and profits to equitable 

 levels." 



Mr. Smith then traced the post- 

 war decline of farm prices begin- 

 ning in 1921 and showed the effect 

 of unequal price levels on agricul- 

 ture and farm buying power which 

 finally culminated in the crash of 

 1929 and more rapid deflation 

 thereafter. 



He showed how only a 10 per 

 cent increase in farm purchasing 

 power resulted in a like increase in 

 factory payrolls, a 25 per cent raise 

 in gross profits of reporting cor- 

 porations, a 30 per cent increase in 

 profits of U. S. Steel Corporation, 

 a 22 per cent gain in profits of 

 General Motors, etc. 



The speaker quoted statistics 

 showing how drastically industry 

 had reduced production from 1929 

 to 1932 so as to maintain their 

 prices while agriculture kept on 

 producing at 100 per cent and suf- 

 fered an average price reduction 

 of 63 per cent. 



"An SO'Tf reduction in the pro- 

 duction of all motor cars was ex- 

 perienced in order to hold average 

 price levels to a point that reflected 

 a 16*^^ reduction in price," he said. 

 "Cement was reduced in price 18c; , 

 but in order to sustain this level, 

 there was a 65^ reduction in pro- 

 duction. 



"In iron and steel there was an 

 83*^; reduction in production and 

 (Continued on page 16) 



JUNE. 1935 



