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'V.' 



I. A. A. RECORD 



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PAGE THREE 



UGHT OF AGRICULTURE 



58 floats Were Entered In DeKalb 



C cutty's Seven Mile Parade — Greatest 



Ever Staged in the County. 



on the aitar of greed for 

 it of thos«: controlling the 

 structure of the Nation. 

 ox and creditor h%ve a 

 slationshi]). If you destroy 

 lestroy bo' h, ultimately, 

 asping group of creditors 

 ng to restore the purchas- 

 ' of the dollar to an honest 

 ere the debts were con- 

 rhey want the dollar to 

 • and con-'nodities cheap. 

 <i group T international 

 who gair^le in intema- 

 jcurities lad currencies, 



dollar ft be worth more 

 ige for f.'%gn currencies, 

 ley are h /rlfied when we 

 ;o make ^r dollar worth 

 -xwy com ^lodilie^ -SKorth 



e masses -of people— the 

 and othe^: producers of 

 ;ies, and the laboring 

 [10 depenc, upon the pro- 

 >f commo(\ties, want dol- 

 p and cor^modities high, 

 people in the cities can 

 ployment at profitable 

 len the factories get high 

 r their products. When 

 s plentiful and cheap 

 r makes moi^ey and every- 

 appy. Who*, welfare is to 

 lount in thi^ country, the 

 : our citizennjhip or a little 

 international bankers who 

 I international currencies? 

 ethins Must Be Done 

 ing must be done to re- 

 farm price level to a par- 

 other groujs. Any plan 

 vide for getting rid of the 

 pluses which now pile up 

 imestic markets, depriving 

 ers of the benefits from 

 f on these products, by 

 amestic prices down to the 

 he world prices. 

 Congress slijuld approve 

 ellef of agriculture before 

 ns is an emergency meas- 

 t rid of the Ligh surpluses 

 products which have ac- 

 d. There are markets 

 jr these protiucts. if they 

 old on liberal credit terms, 

 cooperatives and private 

 re not flnanjiaiiy able to 

 ch terms, anq so the world 

 gry for our s^irplases. 

 sed agriculture has been 

 )r months that Congress 

 the allocation of what- 

 Is are necessi^ry from the 

 iction Finance Corpora- 

 nance the e3:port of sur- 

 wheat, cotton, tobacco, 

 lair, and other farm pro- 

 id to distritiute surplus 

 the destltutt and unem- 

 such a manlier as not to 

 affect the dc^nestic mar- 



sed agricultur3 also recog- 

 d has repeatedly stated 

 raise in the p^ce levels of 

 ricultural crops was a first 

 to bring America out of 

 nt depression, ^ simple 

 tical measure ^as intro- 

 Congress by Henry T 

 r Illinois, to accomplish 

 ose. The entlrg downstate 

 'legation aggressively sup- 

 Its provision;; are briefly 



f Emergency Agricultural 

 Bill 



RARY EMERGENCY BILL 

 11 is a temporary relief 

 for a one year period, 

 uch time as ^ongresg can 

 nact, and place in full 

 a permaneni pij^^^ ^^^ 



•al relief. 



NTS TO f^RMERs.-.Tae 

 des for immejliate direct 

 to the farmer on that 

 ' his production of ^^^^^ 

 n and hogs fOr the pres- 



ent year that will be used for 

 domestic consumption. These ad- 

 justment payments will be equal to 

 tariff rates, — 5c a pound for cotton, 

 42c a bushel for wheat, and 2c a 

 pound for hogs. The Bill imposes a 

 tariff rate of 5c a pound on short 

 staple cotton for which at present 

 no tariff exists. 



ECONOMIC RESULTS— The Bill 

 being a temporary one-year meas- 

 ure and acreage for the present 

 year having been planted, the Bill 

 cannot result in stimulation of pro- 

 duction. Neither does the Bill fix 

 prices nor alter the existing mar- 

 keting machinery. It will, however, 

 give the farmer an additional re- 

 turn for the period of a year upon 

 the three basic commodities whose 

 prices have controlling effect on all 

 agricultural 'commodities. In thus 

 Improving the condition of agri- 

 culture, it is believed that the meas- 

 ure will have a marked effect in re- 

 lieving the present national eco- 

 nomic emergency in industry, trans- 

 portation, employment, and finance, 

 as well as agriculture. 



MACHINERY OF BILL— The Sec- 

 retary of Agriculture will estimate 

 and proclaim, on the basis of exist- 

 ing statistics, the percentage of the 

 present year's production of cotton, 

 wheat, and hogs that will be used 

 for domestic consumption. If, using 

 wheat as an example, the Secretary 

 proclaims that 75% of the wheat 

 will be so used, then the farmer, 

 under the terms of the Bill, will re- 

 ceive upon satisfactory proof of 

 government agents, designated by 

 the Secretary of Agriculture, a 

 certificate covering 3 out of every 

 4 bushels of each lot of wheat 

 marketed by him. All the farmer 

 will need to do is to prove to the 

 representative of the Department of 

 Agriculture that he has marketed » 

 particular lot of, say, 100 bushels of 

 wheat produced by him. Thereupon 

 there is issued a certificate cover- 

 ing 75 bushels. The certificate is 

 redeemable at any fistal agency 

 designated by the Secretary of the 

 Treasury, for 42c for each of the 

 75 bushels, less certain small ad- 

 ministrative costs hereinafter re- 

 ferred to. Redemption may occur at 

 any time after 30 days, and not 

 more than one year, from the date 

 of issuance of the certificate. The 

 certificate would obviously be the 

 highest type of collateral for loans. 

 These adjustment certificates would 

 be issued to the farmer with re- 

 gard to all wheat, cotton, and hogs 

 marketed by him (commencing 15 

 days after the passage of the' Bill,) 

 whether of this year's production 

 or from hold-over production. 



NO ADDED BURDEN ON TREAS- 

 URY— The moneys for the redemp- 

 tion of the certificates are obtain- 

 able from a tax, called an adjust- 

 ment charge, levied upon all pro- 

 cessing of wheat, cotton, and hogs 

 in a like amount to the adjustment 

 payments, that is, 42c a bushel for 

 wheat, 5c a pound for cotton, and 

 2c a pound for hogs. Compensatory 

 charges are placed on silR and 

 rayon. If the processed product Is 

 exported, the adjustment charge is 

 refunded; if the commodity Is pro- 

 cessed in bond for export, no ad- 

 justment charge is collected on Its 

 processing. The charge in effect 

 is thus applied only to processing 

 for domestic consumption. The re- 

 ceipts from the adjustment charges 

 win be placed in separate com- 

 modity funds whose proceeds will 

 bfe used to redeem the certificates. 

 Any temporary advances necessary 

 t6 redeem the certificates, pending 

 the receipt of sufficient processing 

 charges, will be made by the Treas- 

 ury. There will, however, be no de- 

 ficits or unbalanced budget result- 

 ing, for the reason that the charges 

 on processing will continue to be 



of the railroads, the banks, and the 

 Industrial corporations by loans out 

 of the Federal Treasury to the tune 

 of three bUllon eight hundred mil- 

 lion dollars. They came to the res- 

 cue of the banks by passing the 

 Glass-Steagall bill to help them 

 meet the demands upon them for 

 gold and thaw out some of their 

 frozen assets. But what benefits 

 have trickled down through these 

 so-called relief measures to the 

 farmers In the country and to work- 

 ing people in the cities and towns? 

 Have they kept farm prices from 

 going down? Have they checked the 

 increasing namber of forced sales 

 of farms? Have they relieved un- 

 emplojmient or given people more 

 work? What good is this great pile 

 of gold — 78 per cent back of our 

 currency— If It Is not put to work 

 for humanity? What good is It? For 

 humanity to worship as children of 

 Israel worshipped the golden calf? 

 If this condition Is not relieved, it 

 will destroy our form of Govern- 

 ment. 



The answers are obvious — farm 

 surpluses pile up; farm prices and 

 purchasing power still decline; un- 

 employment kicreases; wages de- 

 cline; property values shrink; de- 

 spair and dismay seize upon the 

 people, and discontent rises with 

 an ominous tide. 



Agriculture and labor cannot be 

 made prosperous by relieving the 

 banks, the railroads, and the great 

 corporations alone. These two great 

 economic groups are not content 

 with picking up the crumbs from 

 Industry's table. The way to make 

 the nation prosperous is to restore 

 the purchasing power of the farm- 

 ers and the workers. All new wealth 

 comes from the soil, the mines, or 

 the sea. Agriculture is our basic in- 

 dustry. When you destroy it you de- 

 stroy the nation. The first steps to- 

 ward a new day is to restore the 

 buying power of agriculture, our 

 basic industry, upon which the 

 economic welfare of one-half of our 

 population depends. 



My friends, we have come to a 

 critical pMsInt In the history of our 

 great nation. The future welfare 

 of our country trembles in the bal- 

 ance. The vpry future of domestic 

 government may be at stake. 



A Great Conflict 



We are in the midst of a great 

 conflict — a conflict that is more 

 bitter, more sinister, more far- 

 reaching In many respects than an 

 armed conflict. It is a struggle for 

 the domination of this nation, be- 



imposed until their aggregate 

 amout will equal the total amounts 

 payable upon the adjustment certi- 

 ficates Issued to the fanner. 



ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS— An 

 amount, not to exceed 2^2% of the 

 processing charges, may be used for 

 administrative expenses. This 

 amount will be estimated in ad- 

 vance by the Secretary of the 

 Treasury and payments to the 

 farmer reduced pro rata. Such pro 

 rata reductions at their maximum 

 would approximate. In the case of 

 wheat Ic a bushel, in the case of 

 cotton 1/ljO of a cent per pound, 

 and in the case of hogs 5/100 of a 

 cent per pound. The Bill creates no 



new administrative machinery but I tween the forces of entrenched 

 merely makes use of existing gov- 

 ernmental agencies. 



The Marketing Act 



Up to the time the Marketing Act 

 was passed by the Congress, practi- 

 cally all the legislation enacted for 

 the benefit of agriculture was either 

 of an educational or a credit na- 

 ture. The Marketing Act while not 

 entirely satisfactory opened the 

 way for the development of co- 

 operative marketing organizations, 

 so as to give agriculture some 

 chance to more ably compete in the 

 markets of the world. Agriculture 

 makes liberal use of credit and 

 must -continue to have credit, but 

 with periods of low prices, such as 

 we have experienced lately, credit 

 is of little use when the farmer or 

 business man cannot make enough 

 out of the money borrowed to pay 

 the Interest. The Marketing Act 

 and the measure above referred to 

 strike more directly at the agri- 

 cultural problem than any legisla- 

 tion enacted up to this time. ^ 



We are told that what the coun- 

 try needs is CONFIDENCE, that a 

 restoration of CONFIDENCE is all 

 that is needed to stop the forces of 

 depression and restore prosperity. 

 My friends, confidence cannot be 

 restored by talking about it. We 

 must give the people something in 

 which to have confidence. 



How Have Confidence 



How can the farmers have con- 

 fidence when farm prices are going 

 down, down, down, farther and far- 

 ther below the cost of production? 

 How can they have confidence when 

 they are unable to pay their taxes 

 and interest, and when they are 

 losing their homes? How can they 

 have confidence when a dishonest 

 dollar forces them to pay back 

 from three to five times as much as 

 they borrowed in terms of com- 

 modities? How can they have con- 

 fidence when the responsible leaders 

 in government who are clothed with 

 the power to act to bring, relief, 

 Ignore their desperate coivfltion and 

 do nothing fundamental to bring 

 them real relief? 



When the political and financial 

 leadership of this country does 

 something to really Inspire confi- 

 dence, when it goes to the root of 

 this problem, and takes some fund- 

 amental steps to remove the causes 

 of the depression, then, and then 

 only, will confidence return to the 

 people. We must get down to the 

 grass roots and restore the prices 

 of agricultural products. Nothing 

 else will avail. 



Agriculture's patience Is well-nigh 

 exhausted. She has been long-suf- 

 fering but she cannot longer toler- 

 ate delay and inaction. You folks 

 out on the farms know why. It is 

 because the present condition of 

 agriculture is intolerable. 



Others Helped, Not Farmer 



Congress and the President came 

 to the rescue of foreign govern- 

 ments and granted them a mor- 

 atorium on their war debts to us, 

 involving billions of dollars of ob-l 

 ligations. They came to the rescue! 



■■.;?.■ 



y- 



., V. 



greed and special privilege-^ 

 one hand, and the masses of the 

 people on the other hand. Powerful 

 banking and industrial interests 

 who have dominated our financial 

 and economic policies for many 

 years, are determined to maintain 

 their strangle -hold upon the eco- 

 nomic life of this country and 

 maintain their privileged position, 

 and are unwilling to give agnlcul- 

 ture and labor their fair share of 

 the national income. 



They are the Bourbons of today 

 that the masses should sweat and 

 toil for their benefit. They are the 

 ones who, if they continue in con- 

 trol, will destroy democracy and 

 bring on revolution. 



A great responsibility rests upon 

 us all in these critical days. Our 

 forefathers were true to the test — 

 they braved the hardships and 

 made the necessary sacrifices to 

 win political freedom. We celebrate 

 this year the bicentennial of the 

 birth of George Washington, who 

 led a brave and intrepid people in 

 a successful battle against tyranny 

 and oppression. 



Against Economic Oppression 



Today we also are In a battle for 

 freedom, a battle for economic free- 

 dom. That was a battle of principle 

 fought by bullets; this is a battle 

 of principle fought by ballots. That 

 was a battle against political op- 

 pression; this Is a battle against 

 economic oppression. God has 

 blessed us with the richest nation 

 of the world, with the greatest peo- 

 ple. 



Patient Too Long 



Too long organized agriculture 

 had faith, hope and charity. Too 

 long organized agriculture dis- 

 played these great virtues. At last 

 organized agriculture finds that it 

 must fight for its own and for our 

 nation to secure the adoption of the 

 golden rule as the first principle 

 of our economic life. *v : 



During the morning hours of that 

 first Fourth of July, the bell ringer 

 impatiently waited in the old State 

 House tower. For days he had hoped 

 for a signal that action had been 

 had by the Continental Congress. 

 He had grown weary as he waited 

 for the signal. On previous day? he 

 had stayed at his post and no one 

 had come. Would the Continental 

 Congress declare freedom and In- 

 dependence? He had repeated over 

 and over again — "They will never 

 do It; they will never do It." At last 

 from below, he heard the voice of 

 his grandson, crying out — "Ring 

 Grandpa— Ring." See that old bell 

 ringer — swing the iron tongue — 

 hear the tr&mplng on the crowded 

 streets — hear every church steeple 

 re-echo the peals of freedom. Pos- 

 sibly it is not a mere coincidence 

 that on the shoulder band of that 

 old bell was cast that classical text 

 of scripture — "Proclaim Liberty 

 throughout the land and to all in- 

 habitants thereof." 



Today in this city and county, 

 and throughout the oiner counties 

 of the commonwealth, the spirit of 

 (Continued on page 4, Col. 7) 



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