86 FARMERS' UNION ^AND FEDERATION 



"There is no doubt but labor union leaders will bring all the pressure 

 at their disposal on the President to veto $2.50 wheat. But the Presi- 

 dent should remember that it was the farmers' vote and not the labor 

 union vote that elected him." 



Why the President Vetoed the $2.40 Wheat Price. 



The President did veto the bill to kill the $2.40 price of 

 wheat. His reasons for doing so follows. The figures in 

 parentheses are mine, to indicate where my answers apply in 

 the number following : 



WASHINGTON, July 12. The President's message follows : 

 "I regret to return without my signature so important a measure as 

 H. R. 9054, entitled 'An Act Making Appropriations for the Department 

 of Agriculture for the Fiscal Year ending June 30, 1919,' but I feel con- 

 strained to do so because of my earnest dissent from the point of view of 

 principle as well as wise expediency from the provisions of that part of 

 Section 14 which prescribes a uniform minimum price for No. 2 northern 

 spring wheat of $2.40 a bushel. (1) I dissent upon principle because I 

 believe that such inelastic legislative price provisions are insusceptible 

 of being administered in a way that will be advantageous either to the 

 producer or to the consumer, (2) establishing as they do, arbitrary levels 

 which are quite independent of the normal market conditions and be- 

 cause (3) I believe that the present method of regulation by conference 

 with all concerned, has resulted in the most satisfactory manner, consid- 

 ering the complexity and variety of the subject matter dealt with. It 

 is evident that the present method of determining the price to be paid 

 for wheat has had the most stimulating effect upon production, the esti- 

 mated crop of spring wheat for this year exceeding all high records in a 

 very remarkable and gratifying way. (4) By an overwhelming ma- 

 jority of the farmers of the United States, the price administratively 

 fixed has been regarded fair and liberal, and objections to it have come 

 only from those sections of the country where, unfortunately, it has, in 

 recent years, proved impossible to rely upon climatic conditions to pro- 

 duce a full crop of wheat, and where, therefore, many disappointments 

 to the farmer have proven to be unavoidable. Personally, I do not be- 

 lieve the farmers of the country depend upon the stimulation of price 

 (5) to do their utmost to serve the nation and the world at this time of 

 crisis by exerting themselves to an extraordinary degree to produce the 

 largest and best crops possible. (6) Their patriotic spirit in this mat- 

 ter has been worthy of all praise, and has shown them playing a most 

 admirable and gratifying part in the full mobilization of the resources 



