will in the light of all facts available 

 exercise its every rightful influence to 

 keep this nation out of the war in 

 Europe. Only by so doing can we 

 forestall the necessity of sending Amer- 

 ican boys to foreign battle fields and 

 can ■w;e avoid wartime inflation and 

 the consequent more serious deflation. 

 The experiences of the last world war 

 should be reviewed by every citizen as 

 a guide for our thinking, action and 

 influence. 



NEUTRALITY 



To the Presidents and 

 Boards of Directors of 

 COUNTY FARM BUREAUS 

 Gentlemen : 



I am attaching hereto a resolution 

 adopted by the Board of Directors of 

 the American Farm Bureau Federation 

 on Tuesday of last week. This state- 

 ment of the position taken by the 

 Federation was carefully considered by 

 the Board of Directors of the Illinois 

 Agricultural Association in session on 

 Friday, September 15, and was unan- 

 imously approved. 



The adoption by the American Farm 

 Bureau Federation of its position on 

 the question of arms-embargo rep>eal 

 was believed to be advisable at this 

 time for two reasons. First, that its 

 position might be known by its own 

 members in advance of the convening 

 of Congress for consideration of this 

 important matter; and second, that such 

 action now would be much more ef- 

 fective than to wait until the lines were 

 tightly drawn in the debate of this 

 question on the floors of Congress. 



Influence for Peace 



Leaders of the Farm Bureau move- 

 ment must not forget that there was 

 no farm organization of state-wide or 

 national scope equipped to represent 

 agriculture at the outbreak of the last 

 World War. As a result the rightful 

 interests of agriculture were sorely neg- 

 lected. I do not hesitate to assure you 

 that acting through the American Farm 

 Bureau Federation, the Illinois Agri- 

 cultural Association will use its every 

 rightful and honorable influence to 

 keep this nation at peace with all na- 

 tions, or in other words, to keep the 

 United States free from any kind of 

 international entanglements. 



Since there appears to be wide mis- 

 understanding of the arms-embargo 

 provisions of the present Neutrality 

 Act, it was requested that I briefly ex- 

 plain some of the reasons which 

 prompted the action of the Federation 

 and its unanimous approval by the 

 Board of the lAA. 



It appears that many people believe 

 that repeal of the present arms-embargo 

 provision will tend to involve the 

 United States in European difficulties. 

 Facts seem to indicate that the Act 

 needs substantial amendment to insure 

 impartial treatment of all nations. 



The embargo provision of the pres- 

 ent Act prohibits the shipment of arms, 

 ammunition, and implements of war 

 directly or indirectly to belligerent 

 countries. It does not prohibit or re- 

 strict such shipments to nations en- 

 gaged in undeclared wars of which 

 there have been several in recent years. 

 It appears to prohibit such shipments 

 to non-belligerent nations which may 

 purchase them for resale to bellig- 

 erent nations but obviously this nation 

 cannot control the disposition of any 

 article after it has reached another 

 country. 



The present Act does not restrict the 

 shipment to any nation, whether en- 

 gaged in war or not, of the raw mate- 

 rials for manufacture of arms, ammu- 

 nitions, or implements of war. Fur- 

 thermore, such shipments may be made 

 in any nation in American ships. 

 We must not forget that shipments 

 of this character had much to do with 

 involving the United States in the 

 World War in 1917. This danger 

 will be lessened if these materials are 

 made available to any nation with the 

 requirement that the purchaser trans- 

 port them in its own ships and if 

 carriage for belligerents by American 

 vessels is prohibited. 



Not True Neutrality 



The inconsistencies of the present 

 Neutrality Act are not in accord with 

 true neutrality. It is felt that the 

 United States is in greater danger of 

 involvement under this Act than it 

 would be under an act giving equal 

 treatment to all nations, prohibiting 

 the shipment to any belligerent of 

 arms, ammunition, and implements of 

 war or raw materials for the manu- 

 facture thereof, in American ships, but 

 permitting their purchase by any bellig- 

 erents who pay therefor and transport 

 them in their own ships and at their 

 own cost and risk. 



It is our belief that your careful 

 review of the subject matter will result 

 in your approval of the action by the 

 respective Boards of Directors, to which 

 I have referred. 

 Sincerely yours, 



Illinois Agricultural Association, 

 (signed) Earl C. Smith, President. 



Resolution 



The Board of Directors of the Amer- 

 ican Farm Bureau Federation reaflPirms 

 the historic position of the Federation 



in support of all honorable methods 

 of maintaining peaceful relations with 

 the nations of the world. 



We pledge our support to President 

 Roosevelt in his policy of using all 

 just and rightful means to keep this 

 nation out of the present European 

 conflict. 



In view of the present situation 

 abroad, we are convinced that some 

 features of the present Neutrality Act 

 are not conducive to the maintenance 

 of true neutrality for the following 

 reasons: It does not conform to the 

 commonly accepted principles of inter- 

 national law; it forsakes our traditional 

 position with respect to the rights of 

 neutral nations; while the Act forbids 

 the sale of arms and munitions to bel- 

 ligerent nations, it permits unlimited 

 sale and shipment of raw materials 

 out of which arms and munitions can 

 be manufactured, and it permits, if it 

 does not encourage, the transfer of 

 American capital, labor and raw mate- 

 rials to other nations, a development 

 which might seriously handicap our 

 own country in meeting emergencies 

 that might later arise. . 



Repeal Embargo 



WE THEREFORE URGE the Con- 

 gress to repeal at its earliest oppor- - 

 tunity the mandatory embargo provi- 

 sions of the Neutrality Act and sub- 

 stitute therefore provisions which will 

 permit any nation to purchase within 

 the United States for cash or goods, 

 take title thereto, and transport on its 

 own account and responsibility such 

 materials, commodities or goods as it 

 may desire. 



Profits on such transactions, however, 

 should be restricted by law to normal 

 peacetime levels with all profiteering 

 eflFectively prohibited. As farmers, we 

 ask only for parity prices for our com- 

 modities, and we condemn any practice 

 by middlemen of pyramiding commod- 

 ity price advances into exhorbitant 

 prices of food and fiber to the con- 

 sumer. 



Farmers as a group are opp>osed to 

 profiteering by industry, by agriculture 

 or by labor; and will vigorously resist 

 such methods with every means at their 

 command. 



We believe we should hold prices, 

 wages and interest rates during war 

 time to reasonable parity levels in 

 order to prevent excessive inflation and . 

 the ruinous deflation that is the in- ^< 

 cvitable aftermath of speculative ex- 

 cesses. We invite industry and labor 

 to cooperate with us in a concerted 

 movement to forestall the economic 

 anguish that will surely follow the 

 present war unless eflFective steps are 

 taken to prevent it. . . 



L A. A. RECOBD 





