Secretary Wallace at 



":i>. 



inois 



ONE of the largest outdoor gather- 

 ings ever held in Illinois was spon- 

 sored by the Winnebago Farm Bu- 

 reau at Camp Grant, Rockford, on Au- 

 gust 19 where Secretary of Agriculture 

 Henry A. Wallace was the honored 

 speaker. 



Farm Bureau leaders and farm ad- 

 visers from some 20 Northern Illinois 

 and Southern Wisconsin counties joined 

 in the celebration which drew a crowd 

 estimated at 15,000 people. The meet- 

 ing was given more than state-wide 

 significance and importance by the pres- 

 ence of many farm organization repre- 

 sentatives and officials including Edward 

 A, O'Neal, president of the American 

 Farm Bureau Federation; Earl C. Smith, 

 president of the I. A. A.; C. V. Gregory, 

 editor of Prairie Farmer; Dr. W. L. 

 Burlison, acting dean of the State Col- 

 lege of Agriculture; Walter W. Mc- 

 Laughlin, State Department of Agricul- 

 ture; H. A. deWerff, president State As- 

 sociation of Farm Advisers in addition 

 to local business and civic leaders. 



,r ;\^'^^--^^-.:-'- 200 At Dinner 7 ':''■■■ y<'^--.::^:{ 



Nearly 200 men attended the dinner 

 to the Secretary of Agriculture in the 

 Faust Hotel at noon where Barney 

 Thompson, editor of the combined Rock- 

 ford newspapers gave a brilliant address 

 of welcome to the Secretary and other 



guests. -..-.'..'• ^' ••,.:: ;^'•:•^ 



George F. Tullock, president of the 

 Winnebago County Farm Bureau, and 

 Farm Adviser Charles H. Keltner were 

 masters of ceremony and did a very 

 splendid job of carrying out the program 

 of the day. Mrs. Tullock and Mrs. Kelt- 

 ner were hostesses to some 25 or 30 vis- 

 iting women at a dinner in another part 

 of the hotel.: , , 



Short talks were made both at the din- 

 ner and at the afternoon meeting. "We're 

 glad we have a Secretary who knows 

 how to grow good seed corn/' said Clif- 

 ford Gregory in introducing Mr, Wallace 

 at the dinner. 



In a brief inspiring talk President 

 O'Neal emphasized the importance of 

 national unity and the close relation that 

 exists between the welfare of farmers in 

 different sections of the country. 



In introducing Secretary Wallace at 

 the big afternoon gathering President 

 Earl C. Smith stated that no informed 

 person denies the great benefits that 

 have been brought to farmers under the 

 Agricultural Adjustment Act. While the 

 drought has disturbed the uniformity of 



erinq 



■A. 



application of measures that have been 

 taken, he said, all real friends of agri- 

 culture will fight to retain the principles 

 in this legislation. He paid tribute to 

 the leadership of Secretary Wallace in 

 his efforts over many years to bring 

 about effective legislation to cope with 

 farm surpluses. 



The Secretary, careworn and showing 

 the effects of his many responsibilities, 

 spoke extemporaneously. He frankly 

 laid bare the economic and political 

 forces which created the present disorder 

 and unemployment. "Agriculture," he 

 said, "is in the process of gaining some 

 of the advantages made possible to in- 

 dustry and labor by the corporation and 

 effective organization.'' 



..•'■.•'.:' ..- 



/ Problem Not Solved-: :■ 



The drought hasn't solved our prob- 

 lems by any means, said Mr. Wallace. 

 There promises to be a shortage of live- 

 stock next year and livestock farmers 

 will probably get attractive prices. But 

 there is still great danger ahead if we 

 fail to study our markets and production 

 figures, and if necessary cut acreage 

 again. There will be nothing but dis- 

 aster ahead, he continued, if we have av- 

 erage weather and no control over acre- 

 age in the next five years. We had 

 short corn crops in 1930, 1931 and 1933, 

 he pointed out. Yet in spite of this we 

 overproduced livestock. • v ^ / ;. : v 



Many people who oppose planned pro- 

 duction forget that we have all but lost 

 our foreign markets, and a substantial 

 part of the domestic market for farm 

 products since power farming has so 

 largely replaced horses and mules. For 

 the future he envisioned an economic 

 democracy in which the different groups 

 and classes such as agriculture, labor, 

 industry, etc., would have equal voice 

 in working toward a more equitable dis- 

 tribution of the national income. 



We have had political democracy for 

 some time, he said. But economically 

 corporate setups have enabled certain 

 groups to amass wealth at the expense 

 of many who earned but did not get their 

 fair share of national income. He ex- 

 pressed the belief that we must first 

 get rid of prejudice, fear and greed in 

 working out solutions. All of these pre- 

 vent rather than help to bring about 

 what we are after, he said. 



What we hope to develop is not com- 

 munism nor fascism but a national eco- 

 nomic council in which men will sit down 

 and work out their common problems 



.•■>■■ 





,<■ 



HEKBY A. WALLACE, Seo. of Affrioulturo. 

 He knowg how to r^ow good seed oorn* 



With the government acting as referee. 

 Answering the critics of regimentation, 

 he pointed out that some people who 

 handle farm products make a better liv- 

 ing when there is a heavy production. 

 Many of these are good folks but they 

 see only their own problem, he said. They 

 live on commissions and percentages, 

 and any program which reduces volume 

 and their income is abhorrent to them 

 regardless of the price the farmer gets. 



r"': Cotton Control Helps \ 



Emphasizing the importance to the 

 corn-belt of cotton control in the south, 

 the Secretary said that last year the oil 

 in the cotton seed plowed under could 

 have replaced the lard in approximately 

 15,000,000 hogs. Cotton seed oil is a 

 direct competitor of lard. Without cot- 

 ton acreage control this year the south 

 easily could have produced additional 

 cotton seed oil to replace the lard from 

 20,000,000 hogs. • • . ^ ^ ^ : V - 



"An attempt might have been made 

 eight years ago to balance the world 

 economic situation," he said. "Of course 

 it would have been extremely difficult 

 and unpopular politically. It would have 

 meant taking about $700,000,000 annual- 

 ly of foreign goods. Instead we loaned 

 our debtors money and put off the evil 

 day until 1930. We had to face this 

 thing sooner or later. 



"We have picked up considerably dur- 

 ing the last few years, however. We are 

 getting more than 10 cents for our com, 

 40 cents for wheat, eight cents for to- 

 bacco, two cents for hogs and six cents 

 for cotton. Livestock has lagged behind. 

 It always does. But eventually livestock 

 farmers come into their own and some- 

 times with a vengeance. 



"The change in the value of our dol- 

 lar abroad has increased foreign de- 

 mand and has helped certain farm prices. 

 • (Continued on page 16) 



SEPTEMBER, 1934 



15 



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