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Show t THE CITIZEN I HOOVER SAVED THE FARMER AND THE NATION Averted a Disaster of Colossal Proportion IP. YOU do not want to be in criticized this world ' you should resolve to do nothing. If, on the other hand, you "have a desire to do the big and better things, and succeed in doing some of them, expect to be criticized. You will be just as sure as the sun shines and the. rain falls. It has been the fate of the workers and doers of difficult tasks ever since the world began, and will continue to be unless there is some miraculous change in human nature. Herbert Hoover has been criticized very much during this campaign by various opponents. These accusations have been false, but that doesnt make any difference to the accusers, so long as they think they are gaining their point. They say he has beaten down the price of wheat, that he held it down during the war, that he has been an arch enemy of agriculture and of the farmer, all of which is propaganda to fool the farmer. It started several weeks before the Kansas City convention and has been going on ever since. There isnt the slightest foundation for the charge, as pointed out by John L. McNab in an article in the Sunset. He states the facts clearly and concisely. The plain facts are simply told. Hoover was called to the difficult post of Food Administrator. From the first he insisted that the only group that must have adequate protection was the farmer. The situation was critical. Congress had passed an Act fixing a minimum price for wheat for the year 1918. But it failed to pro- - 4 Great Air Lines Select YICO for the lubrication of their planes! The following air lines, after severe tests of practically every oil refined in America, selected VICO. Boeing Air Transport, Inc. National Parks Airways, Inc. Pacific Air Transport, Inc. Scenic Airways, Inc. You can have the same quality oil for your car. Try VICO your next 1,000 miles. vide a minimum price for the crop of 1917, then going to the harvest. The Allies combined to reduce the price for the crop of 1917. Then announced the price at about $1.50 a bushel. They threatened to make their joint purchases from the Argentine and other South American countries at lower figures. Hoover acted instantly. Knowing that the United States could regulate the use of the necessary ships, he proposed that the government assume control of the wheat crop and that the President appoint a committee to fix a minimum price for the product. At his express wish, Mr. Hoover had no part whatever in the naming of this committee. He urged on the President that the majority of the committee should be farmers. Neither Mr. Hoover nor the Food Administration had any part in the naming of this committee. On this point President Wilson declared himself with emphasis, saying: Mr. Hoover, at his express wish, took no part in the deliberations of the committee on whose recommendation I determined the governments fair price, nor has he, in any way, intimated an opinion regarding that price. After exhaustive hearings in which all the leading farm organizations were consulted, the fair price was fixed at $2.20 a bushel. It was a price relatively higher than other farm products sold in the free market. If it had not been for the prompt action of Mr. Hoover, the price for the crop of 1917 would never have exceeded $1.50 per bushel. Candid opponents have been compelled, by facts, to withdraw these charges against Mr. Hoovers record. But at least one agitator has substituted a new indictment, viz.: That while the Food Administrator did not fix the minimum price of wheat, he subsequently held the price down to the minimum. This statement, also, is without truth. I have often sought to determine what act or series of acts in the career of Herbert Hoover will stand out most sharply at the end of the next quarter century. Was it the relief of the starving Belgians, the American relief of post-wa- r Europe, the Mississippi Flood campaign? It is my firm belief that in the calm light of history, the rescue of American agriculture from the impending crash succeeding the Armistice looms above them all. Had he failed in his superb effort, not only would the farm industry have crashed beyond recovery for a decade, but in its fall it would have involved the whole economic structure of the United States. His prompt and decisive action averted a disaster of colossal proportions. With the Allies making the last supreme effort, Hoover had speeded American food production three-folEurope was under contract to buy this enormous output. With the sudden end of the war European governments repudiated their .contracts and tried to shake off the burden of all war purchases. Every Atlantic and d. Manufactured and Guaranteed by UTAH OIL REFINING CO. Salt Lake City j . 11 Gulf dock was glutted with grain en route to the war fields. Every warehouse bulged with the enormous store. To dump back that supply on the American market meant disaster ' beyond measurement. Meanwhile, the fields of Argentine were pouring their product into Europe at a price far below that named in American contracts. If the edict was not withdrawn American agriculture was doomed. The forthcoming harvests would be less than valueless, and bankruptcy impended. Hoover sped to Europe. Perhaps no one without his claims to European gratitude and his prestige could have reasoned with governments angry with war passions and swept by With uncurrents of flagging patience he pressed his cause. He brought about the opening of the blockade on Germany and poured the self-intere-st. surplus grain into the starving countries. He exacted compliance with contracts by appeals to honor where honor was the only law to which appeal could be made. He cleared the docks of foodstuffs. The dry government documents by which this patient, diplomatic and sincere man moulded hostile governments, fed hungry races and saved the American farmer, deserve a place among the historic records of mankind. Herbert Hoover apAt fifty-fou- r proaches the Presidency. Behind him lie a score of accomplishments, any one of which would entitle him to the remembrance of history. His career typifies all that we would preserve of American traditions. Of humblest origin; of sober, tolerant, Quaker heeding; of international understanding and intensely national spirit, he represents the finest contribution of the West to the advancement of American usefulness and prestige. MEND YOUR ROOF IN FAIR WEATHER WE HAVE reduced the National debt by almost $6,000,000,000 in seven years because of steadfast and courageous adherence of Secretary Mellon to sound financial principles and his determination to take advantage of the years of prosperity to diminish the tax burden for all time. No one could state the principle more simply, and forcibly than he did when he said that the time to mend your roof is in fair weather; the time to pay your debts is when you can. Such a policy is not a happy contrast to that followed in New York under Governor Smiths rule during a period when its already abundant revenue resources have been vastly augfar mented by the general from witnessing a reduction of the debt, we have seen an enormous debt expansion, and breaking down of the followed for wise three-fourtof a century, and the financing of recurring capital expenditures by bond issues in a period of increasing revenues and unexampled plenty. In the case of a rich state enjoying vast current resources, there is no possible economic jurisdiction for mortgaging its future in such a manner. From 1921 to 1929 the cost of Gov well-bein- g, hs ernment in Washington has decreased 36 per cent; from 1919 to 1929 in Albany it increased 197 per cent; from 1921 to 1929 Federal taxes decreased 31 per cent and from 1919 to 1929 New York State taxes increased IS per cent. During these same periods the National debt was cut by 27 per cent and the net debt of New York grew by 48 per cent. The Democratic candidate for President, denying that there has been either efficiency or economy under President Coolidge, attempted to prove his contention by stating that the appropriation for independent bureau offices increased from $3,400,-00- 0 in 1914 to $163,000,000 in 1921, and to $556,000,000 in 1928. He ascribed this increase to the desire on the part of the Republican party to sacrifice efficiency and economic management to patronage. The figures he gave are accurate, but. Governor Smith was careful not to disclose that of the $556,000,000 appropriated in are accounted for by the United States Veterans Bureau, which was not in existence in 1928, $500,000,000 1914, and whose expenditures in 1921 had not reached their present level because the United States Government had not begun to meet completely its obligations to the wounded and disabled soldiers. Ogden L. Mills, under Secretary of the Treasury in a radio address delivered at PASSING OF THE COAL RANGE I MOURN the passing of the coal range. Heat is now purchased by the foot. It is a sad, sad state. For, who is going to keep a Kettle always boiling, now, for the friendly cup of tea? And who is going to leave cocoa simmeiing for the late homecomers when there are no dying coals to keep it hot ? And who will use hours and hours of costly heat for home baked beans, and rice pudding, and tapioca, and frequently baked potatoes? And who is going to heat an oven in the morning for breakfast muffins ? And how are we going to keep as spick and span as formerly? For we cant keep an electric iron always ready for bits of pressing. Or water hot for every few dishes as they become soiled, or for small faces and hands that get smudged, or for rinsing baby clothes every hour of the day. What chores shall we give the boy when no coal hauling is needed ? And where are we going to dry wet shoes and coats when it rains ? And what is going to take the chill off when there is no fire In the furnace? And where shall we sit on chilly evenings ? And what is home, anyway, without a coal stove ? But it is going. Isnt it a pity ? THOSE who scoff at politics and sneer at the electorate may be brainy citizens, but they are not helping their country any if they fail to take sufficient trouble to vote. |