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The Key to National Recovery 



By Earl C. Smith, President, Illinois Agricultural Association 



v^ 



EARL C. SMITH 



Excerpts from 30-minute adaress over Station WENTi^ 



Chicago, October 1 1 "'■■■r:''^-- ,' .'\. 



AS EARLY as 1922, some of the 

 best farm and business thinkers 

 in America recognized the neces- 

 sity for full and effective control of sur- 

 plus production of farm crops. They 

 definitely predicted that if failure to find 

 ways and means of this control was en- 

 countered, the net result of such failure 

 would ultimately undermine every majoir 

 business structure in America. Their 

 predictions were 

 scoffed at. People 

 generally then, and 

 even yet some few, 

 fail to recognize 

 what is meant by 

 the term "agricul- 

 tural surpluses." 



I, of course, rec- 

 ognize that with 

 millions of American 

 citizens lacking 

 proper food, it is 

 difficult for one not 

 having full informa- 

 tion to understand what is meant by the 



term "farm surplus". . . . : v 



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: . World War Cause 



Agricultural surpluses, the basic cause 

 of low farm prices, resulted from the 

 World War. Every adult of those un- 

 fortunate years will certainly remember 

 the three great appeals then made by 

 President Wilson. The first one was to 

 the mothers of America to give of the 

 flower of the young manhood of the 

 American home — American boys. It was 

 said they were necessary to win the^war 

 and save the world for democracy. 



The second appeal was to the indus- 

 tries of America to run night and day 

 manufacturing the munitions of war. 

 They were given government assurance 

 of profits above cost of production, what- 

 ever those costs might be. 



The third appeal' was to the American 

 farmer. He w&s called upon to raise 

 all possible food Supplies. He was told 

 that food was a first essential to win 

 the war. The American farmer was told 

 that it was his duty not only to feed 

 American armies in Europe, but to pro- 

 vide food necessary to assist in feeding 

 the allied armies. The mothers re- 

 sponded, industry responded and the 

 American farmer responded. Forty mil- 

 lion acres were added to the cultivated 

 acres of the United States. The close 

 of the war found America with this vast 

 increase in its cultivated areas. We had 

 become a creditor nation instead of a 

 .debtor nation, as a result of the World 





War. This, in itself, placed limitations 

 upon the export outlets for American 

 farm products and these exports have 

 continually declined. ... 



As a result of the first year's adminis- 

 tration of the Agricultural Adjustment 

 Act, the outlook confronting corn-hog 

 farmers, particularly, is much different 

 than that of a year ago. We do not have 

 surpluses confronting us, therefore, the 

 problem is comparatively simple. 



Through licensing distributors under 

 the act, dairy prices are improving; 

 wheat is much higher. 



The Question 



The paramount question now is: Will 

 farmers strengthen their organization, 

 which is necessary for continuing and 

 permanent improvement of farm condi- 

 ditions? I am convinced that if we do 

 not continue a program of reasonable 

 and practical planning of our production 



I 



of wheat, com and hogs as well as other 

 grain crops, we will soon again find our- 

 selves faced with cheap corn, lower 

 wheat prices and later a further break- 

 down of livestock prices. 



If grain production is kept within rea- 

 sonable limits livestock, and to a degree 

 dairy prices, will take care of themselves. 

 Let corn acreage run wild and with av- 

 erage weather the old cycle of cheap 

 corn, and, in a year or two, cheap hogs 

 and cattle will return. 



We must, therefore, hold fast to the 

 gains we have made. We must fight to 

 retain, so long as they are needed, the 

 principles of the Agricultural Adjust- 

 ment Act, if agriculture is to regain and 

 hold a fair share of the national income. 

 So long as we have a regimented price 

 structure throughout industry, transpor- 

 tation and the professions, agriculture 

 has no other choice if it is to avoid pov- 

 erty, than to maintain a comparable 

 price structure for farm products 

 through controlled production. 



*:■ 



The Solution 



In effective farm organization lies the 

 assurance of continuing these policies. 

 In such organization, farmers are of- 

 fered their best guarantee that the ad- 

 ministration of these policies of govern- 

 ment will continue under the direction 

 of men who throughout the years have 

 been leaders in the fight to secure equal- 

 ity of opportunity for farm people. 



We will succeed to the extent that we 

 are organized. I, therefore, request and 

 urge every Farm Bureau member to 

 make it his or her business to secure an 

 additional participating Farm Bureau 

 member within the next few days which 



Huff Speaks At Tuscola 



C. E. Huff, president of Farmers Na- 

 tional Grain Corporation, described the 

 Agricultural Adjustment program as an 

 emergency measure from which there 

 was no alternative, in an address to 500 

 people in Tuscola, Douglas county, Sep- 

 tember 27. The occasion was the annual 

 meeting of the Tuscola Cooperative 

 Grain Company. The business session 

 was held in the afternoon and the larger 

 evening meeting at the high school. 



"I have no use," said Mr. Huff, "for 

 an economy of scarcity as a means for 

 economic betterment. Lessening pro- 

 duction does not raise the standard of 

 living, but agriculture had no alternative. 

 Farmers were faced with a condition, 

 not a theory. We are doing only what 

 has been done in all forms of industry 

 in recent years in an attempt to get a 

 reasonable return for farm products. 



"The difficulty in American agricul- 

 ture," he continued, "was not rooted in 

 agriculture itself, but in the economic 

 and social viewpoint surrounding it. A 

 line had been drawn between agriculture 

 and industry which tended to produce a 

 lower living standard for the farmer 

 than for the rest of society. 



"The Agricultural Adjustment Admin- 

 istration is in the hands of honest, earn- 

 est men who have been too long with 

 you in your fight for equality to betray 

 or to stray far away from your own 

 thoughts. You have heard the first 

 scattered shots of a barrage to be fired 

 against these men. They will carry 

 heartaches all their lives if you turn 

 against them now." »^, 



At the business session the officers and 

 Manager Clark FuUerton reported a very 

 profitable year in volume handled and 

 net earnings. Auditor Riddle of the Illi- 

 nois Agricultural Auditing Service re- 

 ported a net profit for the year of 

 $7,460.39. Representatives of the Co- 

 operative Bank of St. Louis, Treasurer 

 Kunz and Secretary Hayes of the Tus- 

 cola Co-operative gave helpful talks. J. 

 'Fred Romine continues as president. 



Forty people from Parke county, In- 

 diana, were present with their "Hay- 

 makers Quartet" which won the prize at 

 the Indiana State Fair this year. 



Mr. Huff was introduced by G. C. 

 Johnstone, president of Illinois Grain 

 Corporation. v ^ .' 



are dedicated to the purpose of strength- 

 ening the power and the influence of 

 their organization. I do not ask this 

 contribution of service merely for the 

 sake of organization, but because in and 

 through organization lies the greatest 

 opportunity for securing and protecting 

 the welfare of farm people and because 

 the return of farm prosperity is the 

 key to national recovery. /; 



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NOVEMBER, 1934 



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