Lest We Forget 



^ REGARD 1936 as a crucial pe- 

 Ifi riod in determining the future 

 \J course of agriculture and the 

 position it will ultimately occupy in na- 

 tional affairs. We are experiencing a 

 period of confused national thought rela- 

 tive to the farm problem as well as other 

 problems confronting us. Some say that 

 the present state of thinking is largely 

 due to the drought through which we 

 have been passing. Others state that it 

 is the result of insect pests and parasites. 

 Still others charge it to partisan motives. 

 I do not know to what extent either is 

 true, or if true, which is the worst. I 

 do know that farmers carry the respon- 

 sibility of seeing that present public 

 thought is clarified and that to the full 

 extent possible, the thinking citizens of 

 America are provided with the facts. 



If we are to understand the farm prob- 

 lem as it now presents itself, I think it 

 worthwhile to review the many factors 

 experienced during recent years that lead 

 up to the present condition. I, there- 

 fore, ask your indulgence while attempt- 



FROM 1929 TO 1932 

 INDUSTRY MAINTAINED 

 PRICES, DRASTICALLY 

 CUT PRODUCTION. 

 AGRICULTURE MAINTAINED 

 PRODUCTION BUT 

 SUFFERED A 

 60 PER CENT 

 DROP IN 

 PRICES 



By EARL C. SMITH 



Excerpts from address at Iowa 

 State Fa!r. Aug. 31, 1936. 



ing briefly to cover these factors, believ- 

 ing that to the extent we can agree on 

 causes of present conditions, shall we be 

 enabled to point the way for correction 

 of present difficulties and find the solu- 

 tion desired by all. 



Possibly no term used in the discus- 

 sion of the farm problem throughout the 

 past decade has been more greatly mis- 

 understood than has the term "farm sur- 

 plus." I believe the term "manufactured 

 goods surplus" would have been even 

 more prominent in national thinking had 

 the manufacturers of this nation fal- 





lowed the same procedure and line of 

 thinking when planning their production 

 during the past 1 5 years as have farmers. 

 Immediately after entering the world 

 war. President Wilson appealed to the 

 mothers of the nation, to the industry of 

 the nation and to the agriculture of the 

 nation. He asked the mothers of Amer- 

 ica to give their boys to constitute an 

 army that representative government 

 might be preserved. He asked the in- 

 dustries of America to run night and day 

 on a cost-plus basis to provide munitions 

 of war. He asked the farmers of Amer- 

 ica to produce to the limit, stating that 

 food was a first essential to win the war. 







L A. A. RECORD 



