'^ef s Get Acquainted" 



"La Guardia 



FRINGI-IELD, III., Jan. 27, 

 1938 — The stubby dynamic 

 mayor of New York, Fiorello 

 H. "Little I'lower" LaGuardia told more 

 than 1,000 Illinois farmers at the lAA 

 convention tonight that he came west 

 not because he was running for any of- 

 fice but to get better acquainted with 

 farmers and farm problems. 



"I have a selfish interest in this," he 

 said, "because the farmer is the best cus- 

 tomer of our city workers. When you 

 have money to buy what we produce our 

 workers have jobs. And in the city our 

 workers must have a job every day. Tliey 

 have no reserves. When they don't work 

 they have no means of support." 



llie mayor began his dramatic address 

 by stepping to the front of the platform, 

 saying, "Let's get better acquainted. I'm 

 not a city slicker, and the people of my 

 city know that the American farmer is 

 not a country hick. 



"^X'hcn I came here the newspaper re- 

 porters asked me if I ever lived on a 

 farm or knew anything about farming. 

 I said, no, but I eat.' 



"To a lot of people, it's a joke when 

 anyone tries to learn something about the 

 farmer's problem. This illustrates how 

 the city and country have been kept apart. 



"I became interested in the farmer as 

 a member of Congress 1 "> years ago be- 

 cause I wanted to protect the working 

 man. We have been kept apart too long. 

 And now we are all in a mess. I appeal 

 to you to try and understand our problem 

 in the city, too. 



"You don't have to go to an agricul- 

 tural college to understand the farm 

 problem. All you need to know is a 

 little arithmetic. You don't get enough 

 for what you produce. We in the city 

 don't get the benefit of your surpluses 

 and low prices. We just get it in the 

 neck." 



Then to illustrate how small a per- 

 centage of the consumer's dollar, the 

 farmer gets, the mayor amidst roars of 

 laughter and applause pulled a ham 

 sandwich wrapped in oiled paper from 

 his coat pocket. 



"Let's see how much of your corn is 

 in this sandwich in the form of ham, " he 

 laughingly said as he pulled off the top 

 layer exposing two scraps of thin meat 

 which he held aloft. The sandwich cost 



MAYOR nORELLO H. LaGUARDIA 

 "No — but I eat." 



a dime. How much did you get out of 

 it? A moment later he squeezed the two 

 slices of bread into a small wad. "Not 

 much wheat there, " he said, "mostly 

 air." 



Next he produced a cellophane 

 wrapped carton which had contained 

 four small tomatoes. Price lyc. Tlien a 

 highly polished turnip paraffined and 

 sealed, price 1 "Sc. came out of another 

 pocket. 



"Now the turnip is easy to grow and 

 plentiful, " the mayor went on. "It is 

 to the vegetable family what the poli- 

 tician is to me --- the cheapest thing you 

 can buy. The trouble is there's too much 

 spread between what we pay and what 

 you receive. He tossed the turnip into 

 the audience where eager hands grabbed 

 it for a souvenir. 



"I don't believe in curtailment of pro- 

 duction. I think we should have a sur- 

 plus to guard us against a shortage, but 

 in turn we in the city should guarantee 

 you a fair price and prevent the surplus 

 from ruining you. 



"Everybody has been fixing prices and 

 making the farmer pay. The protective 

 tariflF is nothing but price fixing. You 

 have been buying in that protected mar- 



ket for three gentralions \\hilc selling 

 your torn, wheat, and cotton in the 

 world market. It's no more lli.in tight 

 and justiic that the farmer do some prue 

 fixing, too. Mayor l.aCiuardia adilcd In 

 the long rim tily people wont p.iy any 

 more if you uet lair prices tor your pro- 

 duic than we pay now 



When you buy ekxtric mrrenl. th.it's 

 pruc fixing with a vengeance. Ilie utili- 

 ties li.ive developed not only a lechnii|uC 

 but also skill They lia\c lapitali/ed all 

 their mistakes for the last "lO years and 

 want the consumer to pay .i return on 

 them. 



"I want the farmer to be prosperous. 

 VC'e ha-.c a selfish interest in it, beiaiise 

 when you are prosperous, you buy the 

 things we make in the city. You are 

 advocating higher priies lor farm proil- 

 ucts, and if the farmer gets what we 

 pay I'm for it." 



.Mayor LaGuardia contended that too 

 many persons with selfish interests have 

 been attempting to keep the farmer and 

 industrial worker apart. "Don't let any- 

 one use you to oj'posc legislation either 

 in the Congress or the state legislature 

 seeking to better factory conditions," he 

 said. "I worked with Hd O'Neal and 

 l-arl Smith to help you get your legisla- 

 tion when I was in (ongress. I was 

 never more hurt than when 1 went to 

 Albany to support ratification ot the 

 child labor amendment and was met by 

 farmers of New York opposing it. I'.limi- 

 nation of child labor m the factories 

 means so much to the workers and it 

 won't hurt the farmer. Lor e.uh child 

 taken out of a factory the head of a 

 family is given a job. I'm for the wage 

 and hour bill because it is needed to solve 

 the unemployment problem M.ichincs 

 can produce more with much less man 

 power so we must fix maximum hours of 

 labor to spread the work.' 



llie niivor asserted that talk about 

 food surpluses didn't impress him so 

 long as there are men, women, and chil- 

 dren who don't have enough to eat. We 

 need purchasing power in the cities to 

 buy your farm produce, he commented. 

 Look to your home market and not to 

 export trade tor your outlet. 



Mayor LaGuardia was driven down 

 from Chicago accompanied by Miss 

 Charlotte Carr. head of Hull House and 



FEBRUARY, 1938 



