Senate Committee Hears 

 Illinois Farmers 



A -« PRINGFIELD, ILL., Oct. 30:— 

 ^^S^ The United States senate com- 

 V^^y mittee heard from the lips of 

 fanners here today and yesterday the 

 kind -of a national farm program they 

 want. From the time that dignified, 

 silvery-haired Senator Elmer Thomas 

 opened the hearing in the Centennial 

 Building yesterday, an overflow crowd of 

 800 Illinois farmers enjoyed a two-day 

 show in which they were the principal 

 actors. 



Farmers are usually on the receiving 

 end of the oratory. This time it was 

 their meeting. Active farmers from 

 every part of Illinois had their say, in 

 straight-from-the-shoulder language as 

 the Senate Committee members, Thomas 

 of Oklahoma, Frazier of North Dakota, 

 and Ellender of Louisiana, plied them 

 with questions. 



Illinois farmers want parity prices for 

 farm products, maintained by production 

 and crop surplus control. And they want 

 it made compulsory, if need be, to assure 

 fair prices for their products. An over- 

 whelming majority sounded this keynote. 



' They also asked for a corn loan of 60 

 cents a bushel, which, as lAA President 

 Earl Smith explained, would add $500, 

 000,000 to the value of the corn crop 

 overnight. 



Price the Big Thing 



"Price is the big thing on the farm!" 

 "Crop surpluses are a good thing but 

 they should not be allowed to wreck 

 prices!" 



"If the government will help balance 

 the budget of farmers, we'll help balance 

 the budget of the government!" 



"We need a corn loan now!" 



"We'll get less money for this year's 

 big corn crop than we got from the 

 smaller crop last year!" 



These and similar expressions — 

 scores of them — went into the record 

 as witness after witness spoke his mind 



With few exceptions some 40 to 50 

 farmers who testified came out emphat- 

 ically for the pending Farm Bureau 

 sponsored Pope-McGill bill. A number 

 of Farmers Union members asked fo" 

 "cost of production," but had no con- 

 crete suggestions as to how they might 

 get it. 



Senatorial courtesy prompted Chairman 

 Thomas to start the hearing with a 

 word from state officials and members 

 of the Illinois delegation in Congress. 

 Senator Dieterich took a bow. Grover- 

 nor Henry Horner got a warm welcome 



when he said there must be production 

 control and stabilization of farm prices. 

 The governor showed his interest in the 

 hearing by staying around for several 

 hours. Rep. Scott Lucas' demand for a 

 60 cent corn loan brought a burst of 

 applause. Rep. Leo Allen of Galena 

 made a hit when he said he is willing to 

 follow the advice of Earl Smith and the 

 Illinois Agricultural Association on farm 

 legislation. 



Okeh Pope-McGill Bill 



Rep. Chester Thompson of Rock Island 

 was applauded when he said: "I am 

 interested in a program that will main- 

 tain farm purchasing power, and I am 

 in accord with the Pope-McGill bill. " 

 Rep. Ralph Church of Evanston sf>oke 

 briefly. Congressman Ray S. McKcough 

 of Chicago drew cheers with these words: 

 "There is not a single farmer among 

 the million persons in my district, but 

 we Chicagoans are as vitally interested 

 in solving the farm problem as you are. 

 We'll join with those from the rural 

 districts and co-operate with you in work- 

 ing out a farm program." 



J. W. "Hank" Lloyd, state director of 

 agriculture, started the testimony by sup- 

 porting a production control program 

 and the Pope-McGill bill. "It should 

 be the kind of a bill farmers want 

 and should make farming pay," he said. 

 Director Lloyd aggressively developed 

 the need for protecting the corn belt 

 against imports of starches and molasses. 



President Earl C. Smith next came 

 on, representing the Illinois Agricultural 

 Association. He was greeted by a burst 

 of applause that shook the building. 



"I see you know him," smiled Sen. 

 Thomas. 



Mr. Smith testified that he resided on 

 a farm at Detroit, Pike county, Illinois, 

 owned 782 acres of land of which 360 

 acres are under cultivation, producing 

 corn, wheat, oats, alfalfa, soybeans, hogs 

 and cattle. He said he had been a tenant 

 for 15 years and still operated 180 acres 

 of rented land ; that it had been his 

 privilege to speak as president of the 

 largest state farm organization in Amer- 

 ica for the past 11 years. On September 

 30 the Association's paid membership, 

 he testified, was 72,000. 



"Through neglect we have allowed a 

 small percentage of the crop in the past 

 to depress prices," said Mr. Smith. "If 

 we will stabilize feed grain prices, we 

 will not only help the grain producer 

 but will go far toward stabilizing the 



livestock and dairy industries on a proft- 

 able basis. We do not have an actual 

 surplus of corn in the United States at 

 this time, yet the price has dropped 

 from $1.43 sixty days ago to 42-43 cents 

 a bushel today. There was no carryover 

 of old crop com to speak of. Many 

 farmers started feeding the new crop 

 early in September." 



Mr. Smith called attention to the fact 

 that of the |280,000,000 loaned on the 

 1933 crop of 2,800,000,000 bushels, not 

 a penny was lost. 



"Farmers don't want regimentation, 

 and they will not permit dictation," he 

 continued. "But they do want business 

 principles put into the business of agri- 

 culture. They waqt to control surpluses 

 and prevent them from getting into the 

 hands of speculators. Agriculture is too 

 widespread and complex to achieve or- 

 ganization of farmers for controlling 

 crop surpluses. For that reason we come 

 to the government and ask that Congress 

 spell out just what it means in any 

 legislation adopted so as to not leave too 

 much to administration. 



"Farmers are willing to produce a 

 surplus. All that we ask is that the 

 nation bear the cost of controlling sur- 

 pluses. Farmers don't want a subsidy 

 nor money out of the treasury. They 

 are willing to accept the responsibility 

 of feeding America and supplying such 

 foreign demand as exists for farm prod- 

 ucts. But they do insist on getting a 

 fair price. An adequate com loan is 

 the greatest immediate contribution the 

 government can make to the com belt." 



Approve Control Program 



E. A. Eckert of St. Clair county, 

 master of the State Grange, followed Mr. 

 Smith. He said that the Grange had 

 around 8,000 members, that the organi- 

 zation believes in soil conservation and 

 surplus control, but did not know just 

 how it should be done.- He supported 

 the corn loan and said he agreed with 

 Mr. Smith that there is no surplus of 

 corn. "I hope we can prevent putting 

 more acreage into crops than is neces- 

 sary," Eckert said. "No farmer should 

 get a crop loan who doesn't co-operate 

 in the program." 



Lee M. Gentry of Ogle county, chair- 

 man of the State Soil Conservation Com- 

 mittee, testified that there were 118,- 

 068,000 acres of land in the 1936 pro- 

 gram, that approximately 1,100,000 acres 

 of cultivated land were diverted from 

 soil depleting to soil conserving crops 



L A. A. RECORD 



