364 GENERAL FARM PROGRAM 



up the impact of postwar deflation in agriculture; we have by no 

 means averted it. 



I might say parenthetically that if peace should happen to suddenly 

 break out in the world I am afraid we would really be in for a rough 

 go. 



And if we do not avert it, then we are helping to pave the way to- 

 ward serious and recurring crises through every part of the economy. 

 Not only is agriculture an indispensable industry in keeping the Na- 

 tion physically healthy; it is indispensable to its economic health. 

 The incomes of nearly one-fifth of the American people cannot be 

 permitted to fall to degrading levels without shaking the whole 

 economic structure. 



Thus I should like to put my concl'uding emphasis upon the urgent 

 need for action, for action to avert the drastic decline in agricultural 

 income that will occur if the title II provisions of existing law are 

 allowed to become effective January 1. 



(Statement of Eoy F. Hendrickson, referred to previously, is as 

 follows:) 



The New Congress and John X. Doe, V\"heat Farmer 



AN ADDRESS BY ROY F. HENDRICKSON, WASHINGTON REPRESENTATIVE, NATIONAL 

 FEDERATION OP GRAIN COOPERATIVES, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1948, AT THE ANNUAL 

 MEETING OF STOCKHOLDERS, FARMERS UNION GRAIN TERMINAL ASSOCIATION, ST. 

 PAUL, MINN. 



In January the new Congress, the Eighty-first, will meet. It has a big job to 

 do in the field of farm legislation If farmers are going to get a square deal. 



Today I will discuss the major pending legislation that concerns farmers. We 

 will examine particularly the Aiken-Hope Act, passed in the last hour of the 

 Eightieth Congress, which still today, 6 months later, is little understood in 

 terms of what it means to a specific farm. 



The Nation is fortunate that once more we will have one party responsible 

 for both the executive and legislative branches of Government. Then, too, we 

 are most fortunate that some Members of Congress have been retired from duty. 



Three men who listened to the propaganda of the National Tax Equality Asso- 

 ciation and the Associated Businessmen of various States, directed against farm 

 cooperatives, and who mistook this propaganda for (a) the gospel, (&) the voice 

 of public opinion, and (c) the popular thing to do, were voted out of office. These 

 men were (a) Chairman Harold Knutson, Minnesota, of the House Ways and 

 Means Committee; (6) Congressman Walter Ploeser, of St. Louis, Mo., chair- 

 man of the House Small Business Committee which tried, with dismal results, 

 to "expose" farm co-ops. He was also chairman of the House Subcommittee on 

 Appropriations for Government Corporations whP3'e ho set out to cripple the 

 Farm Credit Administration; and (c) Representative Robert A. Grant, of 

 Indiana, a member of Knutson's committee who specialized in seeing farm co-ops 

 as sinister. 



These men were all Republicans; and, as they v/ere all rather noisy, they 

 were in part responsible for the loss of confidence in ^Republican campaign 

 promises to farmers among farmer voters of many agricultural States. 



Their defeat, plus other changes, has eliminated, for the time being, any 

 real chance for passage of legislation favored by NTEA to tax farm coopera- 

 tives before tlie distribution of patronage savings or the payment of refunds. 



Note that I used the words "for the time being." The election did not elimi- 

 nate NTEA or the rash of promoters for organizations calling themselves "Asso- 

 ciated Businessmen." 



NTEA is still fighting farm co-ops ; it is still raising money, lots of money, among 

 businessmen, mostly large ones, who refuse too frequently to understand that 

 farm co-ops ai-e healthy and useful for our economy. The NTEA hopes to see 

 its bill to penalize farm co-ops reintroduced in the Eighty-first Congress by Sen- 

 ator Williams, of Delaware, and Congressman Noaii Mason, of Illinois, both 

 Republicans. If introduced by these men, or anyone else, the bills will now fail 

 of passage, but tliey will be used as propaganda by NTEA. Meantime, an effort 

 may succeed publicly to list NTEA contributors, at long last. 



