EDITORIAL 



cJLet UIa ivioue forward 



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IN THE Little White House in Warm Springs, Georgia, 

 only a day before his passing, Franklin Roosevelt wrote 

 a speech. It was to have been delivered by radio on 

 Jefferson's birthday, April 13. This prepared address 

 rose above partisan spirit. It envisoned a world of peace, 

 and it faced the responsibility of peacemaking ... to make 

 an end to wars. 



It contained a summons to forward-looking men and 

 women everywhere, to press forward toward the goal of 

 universal peace. Its conclusion contained a great Presi- 

 dent's last injunction to his countrymen: 



"Today as we move against the terrible scourge of 

 war — as we go forward toward the greatest contribution 

 that any generation of human beings can make in this 

 world — the contribution of lasting peace, I ask you to 

 keep up your faith. I measure the sound, solid achievement 

 that can be made at this time by the straight-edge of your 

 own confidence and your resolve. And to you and to all 

 Americans who dedicate themselves with us to the making 

 of an abiding peace, I say: 



"The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will 

 be our doubts of today. Let us move forward with strong 

 and active faith." 



Let us move forward! 



Others may appraise his place in history. Others may 

 pour forth tribute for his deeds and words. Whenever and 

 wherever his name comes into the minds of men, his actions 

 will be recalled, discussed, interpreted. Yet these words 

 epitomize the man: "Let us move forward, with strong 

 and active faith." 



To them, America responds. We are moving for- 

 ward, and after the first unbelieving shock of loss and 

 grief which spread over the countryside, we have closed 

 ranks. In unity behind a modest, unassuming man who 

 came from a Missouri farm, we face the future unhesitating 

 and unafraid. 



The strong and active faith for which President Roose- 

 velt pleaded is in America. Harry S. Truman and the 

 Congressional leaders of both major political parties who 

 have pledged him their support are its living symbols. The 

 confidence of the people, their determination to fight on 

 to victory, and to the establishment of the necessary means 

 of peace, in themselves are evidence of the strength of our 

 democratic government and our Constitution. 



The mutual respect between the new Executive and 

 the Congress which is daily becoming more evident is in- 

 deed heartening to all thinking people regardless of par- 

 tisan views. This mutual confidence and respect between 

 the Executive and Congress justifies renewed hope and 

 confidence of the people that a united nation will meet and 

 overcome the gigantic problems of the present day. 



It would be untrue . 

 ment unworthy of the man 



it would be maudlin senti- 

 . to say that farmers always 



believed President Roosevelt right. Many have been the 

 questions of policy upon which there was disagreement 

 and at times serious controversy. 



But farmers, in common with all citizens, were elec- 

 trified and reassured when in his first inaugural address in 

 1933, President Roosevelt said, "The only thing we have 

 to fear is fear itself." They shared with all other classes 

 the stimulation and encouragement of the famed Hundred 

 Days, when legislation to combat depression was rushed 

 through Congress, and agencies for relief and reconstruc- 

 tion were born. 



Farmers will not forget that Roosevelt called together 

 farm leaders even before his inauguration, and counselled 

 with them on means of restoring agriculture to solvency 

 and stability. They will not forget his declaration on farm 

 prices, made in speaking of the AAA, October 22, 1933: 



"I do not hesitate to say in the simplest, clearest 

 language of which I am capable that, although the prices 

 of many products of the farm have gone up and although 

 many farm families are better off than they were last year, 

 I am not satisfied either with the amount or extent of the 

 rise, and that it is definitely a part of our policy to increase 

 the rise and to extend it to those farm products which have 

 as yet felt no benefit. If we cannot do this one way we 

 will do it another. Do it, we will." 



Later, in the same speech, he said, speaking of the 

 administration's policy of price relationships: 



"It has been gradually to restore a balance in the price 

 structure so that farmers may exchange their products for 

 the products of industry on a fairer exchange basis. It has 

 been and is also the purpose to prevent prices from rising 

 beyond the point necessary to attain those ends. The 

 permanent welfare and security of every class of our people 

 ultimately depends on our attainment of these purposes." 



Then, in 1935 at Fremont, Nebraska, he said pro- 

 phetically: 



"Methods and machinery change, but principles go 

 on, and I have faith that, no matter what attempts may be 

 made to tear it down, the principle of farm equality ex- 

 pressed by agricultural adjustment will not die." 



Recounting his farm policy before the A.F.B.F. annual 

 meeting December 9, 1935, in Chicago, the President re- 

 vealed his understanding of the interdependence of all 

 groups in the national economy, and of agriculture's basic 

 place: 



"So long as agriculture remained a dead weight on 

 economic life, sooner or later the entire structure would 

 crash." 



And again, at Washington : t 



"Empty pocketbooks on the farm don't turn factory 

 wheels in the city." 



These are some of the highlights of the days when he, 

 with the cooperation and support of farm leaders, was 

 building a national agricultural program. Farmers are 

 indebted to him for much of their subsequent progress. 



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L A. A. RECORD 



