FARMING 



THE official statement of the American 

 Farm Bureau Federation was pre- 

 sented to the Republican Party by 

 Earl C. Smith, president of the Illinois 

 Agricultural Association and vice-presi- 

 dent of the American Farm Bureau Fed- 

 eration. Mr. Smith appeared before the 

 platform committee as a whole on the 

 morning of June 23rd for a brief sum- 

 mary statement and in the afternoon be- 

 fore the agricultural sub-committee where 

 the statement was presented in full and 

 discussed with committee members. 



In his opening remarks to the general 

 platform committee, Mr. Smith said: 



"Mr. Chairman and members of the 

 Platform Committee of the Republican 

 Party: Our Committee comes before you 

 not as Republicans or as Democrats, but 

 as representatives of farm people. I do 

 not hesitate to say that farmers are be- 

 coming increasingly concerned over state- 

 ments appearing in the press, and some- 

 times quoting men in public life, which 

 are assuming that the farm vote of this 

 section of the country is already in the 

 Republican bag. Such an assumption is 

 not correct. 



"Farmers are becoming increasingly 

 independent in their political views and 

 attitudes. They will watch carefully the 

 pronouncements of this convention and 

 the interpretation placed upon its plat- 

 form by its candidates. This will be 

 equally true of the other major party 

 convention which convenes some three 

 weeks hence. 



"The time alloted will only permit me 

 to deal very briefly with a few matters 

 of major and direct interest to farmers, 

 although it should be recognized that 

 there are few, if any, matters of public 

 policy that do not affect the interests of 

 farm people." 



..ffl«/fAeHATIONAL ELECTION 



The July-August issue oi the lAA 

 RECORD goes to press July 10. On 

 this and following pages is printed 

 the agricultural plahk adopted by 

 the Republican Party at its national 

 convention in Chicago lune 27. to- 

 gether with the official statement of 

 the AFBF which was presented to 

 the Republican Party on lune 23 and 

 which will be presented to the Dem- 

 ocratic Party later this month. 



The next issue of the RECORD 

 will carry the agricultural plank 

 adopted by the Democratic Party ot 

 its national convention which con- 

 venes in Chicago July 19. 



THE AFBF OFFICIAL POSITION ON AGRICULTURE 



THE United States must cooperate 

 with other nations, within consti- 

 tutional procedure and without sacri- 

 ficing our national sovereignty in hold- 

 ing aggressor nations in check and in 

 developing policies on trade, monetary 

 stabilization, and postwar rehabilita- 

 tion that will insure future world 

 peace. Our democratic constitutional 

 form of government and high Christ- 

 ian ideals must be preserved. 



Farmers are now insistent and will 

 continue to be even more insistent up- 

 on the adoption of national policies 

 that are necessary to maintain the lar- 

 gest possible production and consump- 

 tion of the products of both agriculture 

 and other industry. Such mass employ- 

 ment and production of goods can only 

 be assured when the nation realizes the 

 inescapable relationship of interests 

 between the farmer and the consumer 

 — the man in the country and the 

 man in the city. 



National welfare and prosperity re- 

 quire a stable, prosperous agriculture. 

 Consumer interests and national safety 

 require the production and carry over 

 of large surplus supplies of basic soil 

 crops. These surplus supplies must be 

 segregated and controlled so as to re- 

 move their otherwise depressing effect 

 upop current price levels. This is a na- 

 tional responsibility and demands poli- 

 cies to assure government cooperation 

 with producers of given basic soil crops 

 in maintaining such control. Policies 

 must also be maintained which will 

 permit the adjustment in production 

 of any given crop when surplus sup- 

 plies reach maximum limits. We re- 

 commend : 



1. Definite assurance to provide and 

 maintain policies of government nec- 

 essary to achieve these purposes, in- 

 cluding commodity loans. 



2. Improvement and extension of market- 

 ing agreements as provided in existing 

 law. 



3. Continuation of necessary price sup- 

 ports for non-basic commodities. 



4. An effective and efficient soil con- 

 servation program with authority for 

 determining policies centered at the 



state and local levels under the super- 

 vision of the Land Grant Colleges. 



5. Every proper aid and encouragement 

 should be given by the government to 

 bona fide farmer-owned and farmer- 

 controlled cooperative organizations so 

 as to hold to a minimum government 

 functioning in the handling of farm 

 commodities. 



6. All activities of government having to 

 do with farm commodities should b* 

 administered by a bi-partisan board. 



7. New farm credit legislation should be 

 enacted which will strengthen the co- 

 operative features of the Farm Credit 

 Administration and place the super- 

 vision of all governmental and semi- 

 governmental rural credit agencies un- 

 der a bi-partisan board. 



8. For the duration of the war, all price 

 control programs should be admin- 

 istered in such a manner as to encour- 

 age maximum agricultural production. 

 Price floors should be announced far 

 enough in advance to permit farmers 

 to make their production plans ond 

 must be maintained throughout the 

 entire marketing period. 



9. Food subsidies are indefensible and 

 should be eliminated. 



10. An efficient and competitive transpor- 

 tation system under private ownership 

 must be encouraged at home and 

 obroad. Farm-to-market roads must 

 be an important part of this program. 



11. We favor the development oi adequate 

 health and educational programs nec- 

 essary to equalize the opportunities of 

 all children and improve public health. 

 These will require some federal aid. 

 which should be strictly limited to 

 grants-in-aid, and should be admin- 

 istered wholly within the States. We 

 are unalterably opposed to the fed- 

 eralization of medicine or central gov- 

 ernment domination of education. 



12. Reconversion should be handled in a 

 democratic manner under the definite 

 policies outlined by Congress. Dis- 

 posal of farm commodities should be 

 handled in such a manner as to avoid 

 disruption of market prices. 



13. Unnecessary governmental expendi- 

 tures should be eliminated. The tax 

 structure should be designed to pro- 

 duce the maximum revenue and retire 

 the national debt as rapidly as condi- 

 tions will permit, without discouraging 

 individual initiative and free enter- 

 prise. A national monetary authority 

 should be created with the primary 

 responsibility of stabilizing the value 

 of our currency and maintaining an 

 equitable balance of purchasing pow- 

 er between the various segments of 



our economy. 



' 





xllxllxllxlfxlfxlfxllxlfx 



We salute 

 wives and f; 

 job of wartir 

 tribution to t 

 victory could 

 accomplished 

 ages, a bung 

 ery program 

 unpractical p 

 stration. 



Abundant 

 curity agains 

 policies in ^ 



1. A Depart 

 practical 

 tion free i 

 fusing go 

 control oi i 



2. An Amer 

 American 

 such price 

 commodity 

 thereof, to 

 nomic meo 

 to agricull 

 able in c< 

 ness and 

 sidles as ( 



3. Disposition 

 in an orde 

 ing marke 

 and withe 

 profiteers. 



4. The centre 

 surpluses '. 

 developed 

 (b) vigoro 

 markets, (c 

 tion to mef 

 and (d) a 

 able farm) 



Morgan 4- 

 B 



Boy and g 

 Morgan count 

 outstanding c( 

 fort in selling 

 during the Fil 



According t 

 viser, who s« 

 Rural Bond D 

 girls' 4-H clu 

 boys' 4-H clu 



The compel 

 club members 

 sale of bonds 

 the prelimin, 

 checked, Coo 

 Snappy Work 

 Schone of Cha 



L A. A. RECORD 



JULY-AUGUS 



