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Show Page 2 UTAH FARM BUREAU UTAH January, 1966 NEWS Published each month by the Utah State Farm Bureau Federation at Salt Lake City, and Business Office, 629 East Fourth South, Salt Lake City, Utah. POSTMASTER: Please address PO Form 3569 to PO Box 1668, Salt Lake City, Utah 841 1. Subscription price of twenty-fiv- e cents 'per year to members is included in class fee. Entered second as matter March 24, 1948 at the Post Office membership at Salt Lake City, Utah under act of March 3, 1879. Utah. Editorial 1 LBJ And The U.S. Budget 1 UTAH STATE FARM BUREAU FEDERATION OFFICIALS President Elmo W. Hamilton, Riverton, Utah S. Jay Child, Clearfield, Utah Mrs. Willis Whitbeck, V. Allen Olsen Kenneth J. Rice Bennion, Vice-Preside- Chairman, Farm Bureau Women Executive Secretary Utah Editor DIRECTORS Salt Lake City Balt Lake City Logan Logan Logan Barton Mark Nichols Dr. W. H. Bennett Glenn T. Baird, Jr Dr. D. Wynne Thorne Alden K. DIRECTORS Mrs. Willis Whitbeck. Farm Bureau Women; Mrs. Paul Nelson, Farm Bureau Women; Jan Turner, Farm Bureau Young People; William Wood, Beaver; A. Alton Hoffman, Cache; Lloyd Olsen, Cache; Ferris Allen, North Box Elder; William C. Douse, Carbon; S. Jay Child, Davis,- - Joseph Kemp, Duchesne; Kenneth Brasher, Emery; Carl Hatch, Garfield; Richard Nelson, Iron; Roy Bowles, Juab; Isaac Chamberlain, Kane; Leo Robins, Millard; Mark Thackeray, Morgan; Ambrose Dalton, Piute; Robert Rex, Rich; Elmo Hamilton, Salt Lake; Arion Erekson, Salt Lake; Ashton Harris, San Juan; Lee Barton, Sanpete; Grant Morrey, Sevier; D. O. Roberts, Summit: Jack Brown, Tooele; A. DeMar Dudley, Uintah; Don T. Allen, Utah; Eldon Money, Utuh; Emer Wilson, Wasatch; Don F. Schmutz, Washington; Hugh King, Wayne; William C. Holmes, Weber; Carl Fowers, Weber; John P. Holmgren, South Box Elder; Gay Peltingill, Utah Horticultural Society; John Roghaar, Intermountain Farmers Assn.; Virgil H. Peterson, Utah Sugar Beet Growers Assn.; Tom Lowe, Utah Canning Crops Assn.; Joe I. Jacobs, Producers Livestock Marketing Assn.,- - J. R. Garrett, Norbest Turkey Growers Assn.; H. M. Blackhursl, Country Mutual Life. Editorials FACTS ABOUT FOOD PRICES ... Today's factory worker earns the cost of his monthly grocery basket in less than 37 hours, the smallest number of hours in history. Fifteen years ago, it took him 60 hours. lFinmF to Th Th by Ken Rice This is the month of the fourth State of the Union message by President Lyndon B. Johnson. In the three years of the Johnson Administration the Presidents popularity has dropped to what today, must be its lowest point. And 1968 is an election year. It might be interesting to examine the rancher from Texas record and see how it looks to the other farmers and ranchers r in the country. Anyone who watches television or reads the papers knows about the ranch in Texas. Mr. Johnson frequently flies to the ranch for rest periods and is equipped to turn out quite a bit of work from his Texas office. Washington-styl- e Down On The Ranch The ranch is located near Johnson City, Texas, in desert land that wasnt worth a plugged nickel before the Johnsons developed it. Since assuming the presidency, the land has become even more valuable because tourists have come in droves to smell the air the President breathes. New building activity dots the landscape around the sleepy burg of Johnson City. The Johnson ranch specializes in raising purebred beef cattle, but one doubts that Mr. Johnson gets closer to them than an occasional look at the books. Conservation practices get a high rating on the Johnson ranch with water development and range management tops on the list. The Man from Minnesota When Lyndon Baines Johnson became president he kept Orville Freeman, John F. Kennedys choice for Secretary of Agriculture. Mr. Freeman had a dubious background in agriculture but he was close to Hubert Humphrey, a contender for the Democratic nomination for president in 1960, and a powerful Democratic liberal in his own right. Mr. Freeman has prompted considerable criticism many times during his years as Secretary of Agriculture and despite persistent rumors of changes in the cabinet involving Freeman, LBJ has stayed with him. The President had a reputation as a conservative when he acrole on the 1960 Democratic ticket cepted the and he helped carry the South on this basis. His infrequent contacts with agricultural policy since that time have given only a hint of that nature remaining. His 1966 message to Congress outlined a Food for Freedom program that bore part of the title and some of the ideas called for in the Farm Bureaus recommendations of their 1965 annual convention. On the whole, Mr. Johnson has preferred to remain in the background when it came to agricultural policy. Mr. Freemans was the face in the foreground making the speeches and carrying the administrations bills to Congress. And it was Mr. Freemans foot that was caught in the mouth when there was any foot chewing vice-presiden- , to be done. ital By Creston Plagued with continued rising costs of production, farmers could find little encouragement in the President's State of the Union with its monotonous message theme of spend and spend and tax and tax. There was nothing in the dreary hour and 15 minute recital of Great Society platitudes to narrow the credibility gap between the American people and the Chief Executive as to the total spending budget for the coming fiscal year. The image of a frugal executive who talked of keeping federal expenditures under the $100 billion mark has long disappeared from the Washington scene. A year ago, the administrative spending budget was estimated at $112.8 billion for fiscal 1967, and this is expected to be some $14 billion short of the mark, In his State of the Union message, the President said that the spending budget for the fiscal year starting July 1 would be $135 billion and that estimated income would run $126.9 billion, assuming Congress passes the 6 percent surcharge tax. This would Who9 Pork Chops Frying Foster leave a deficit of $8.1 billion. Even if the Administration's budget figures could be taken at face value, the Johnson policy of deficit spending and refusal se to make any cuts in expenditures, can only mean more inflation. Continued inflation spells further increases in production costs for operating farmers, and further slashes in the buying power of the dollar of everyone, including those living on pensions and income from savings. The feigned interest of the Chief Executive in the plight of those solely dependent on Social Security payments is a cruel mockery. As a sop to such recipients who have had their dollars repeatedly devalued, the Administration is proposing a 20 percent in Social Security Increase payments. Such chicanery increases the significance of last November's elections. Congress can do no less than to carry out the mandate of the people and demand substantial cuts in federal spending for the coming fiscal year. non-defen- Hm It was Orville Freeman who made the statement early last year that he was pleased to see farm prices down. On the other hand, LBJ did advise housewives, in one of his TV appearances, to buy the cheaper cuts. When someone smelled the pork chops frying, it was Orville Freeman it seems, who had sent a letter to Secretary MacNamara recommending cutback in pork purchases for defense. The administration had also, it turned out, cut back on purchases of butter and cheese for the troops. It was Secretary Freeman who was issuing the doubletalk on those issues too, not the President. LBJs advisers must have passed the word about the farmers as summer began. It seems they were angry. So the President and Mr. Freeman packed their bags and headed for the Midwest and a round of speeches. Farmers werent too impressed but Mr. Freeman issued a statement that there was nothing to the talk that farmers were angry over administration activities in their realm. During this whole time, another activity was moving along. sale of wheat, feed grains and com on This was the large-sca- le the open market. Its effect was to lower prices for these commodities. Its difficult to picture the President and the Secretary making speeches about the bright prespects of agriculture, while a few miles away, buyers were ordering wheat and com from CCC stocks buyers that would otherwise be paying higher prices for these commodities right off the farm. Taking it out of the Hides Within a short time livestock producers learned that an export quota had been imposed on hides. Even though we normally import six times as many hides as we export, we found ourselves cut off from some of our best overseas markets for hides. Within days the value of a steer would drop as much as six dollars as a result of this action. The President too, would feel some loss as a result of the action, but he does have other sources of income possibly could use the tax advantage. The quota was lifted, put back, then lifted again but in the meantime we had lost the Japanese market for our hides they couldnt wait. Mr. Johnsons Great Society programs have stung farmers and ranchers too. Most taxes have gone up and the Social Security payments have become almost impossible to bear. Meanwhile Back at the Ranch Mr. Johnson can always go back to the ranch when he leaves office, but some of the other farmers and ranchers wont be so lucky. Farm people have shown their displeasure at the polls by refusing to return a large number of congressmen who rode the Great Society bandwagon, including the chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture and nine other members of the committee. Its not too late for Mr. Johnson and Mr. Freeman to give their friends on the farm a little help. Most helpful would be to turn them loose and let them fix their own fences. If rancher Johnson hat. cant do that much, we recommend he turn in his five-gall- on |