| Show president hits from shoulder tells Fai H how selfish interests have lied AAA Is but a beginning by EARL GODWIN ASIT INGTON franklin washington D roosevelt stood on the south portico of the white house and talked to six thousand farmers in words they understood der stood telling thero thern that the financial interests had not taken him Int into camp and promising them that tho the nw now deal was going to do even more for agriculture than it had done so BO far in the brief two years ot of the AAA I 1 I 1 have been here in washington covering events for various newspapers since the days or of the first roosevelt and J I 1 have never neve r seen been anything as honi homelike and real as that gathering of farmers on the white house lawn it was a county farm meeting transferred to the national capital and multiplied by all the agricultural counties in the U S A there has sot not been anything like this march of farmers to washington coming from states growers of cotton wheat corn tobacco and live stock to thank the president and the administration for the things they are doing for agriculture it was claimed that there was not a community in the cotton belt not represented in this march to the capital and the same Is true for many man T other crop and live stock regions it was not only an endor endorsement semen t of the new deal but a slap in the face of the special interests who have been spreading propaganda against the AAA to the detriment of the farmer roosevelt called them high and mighty interests almost without exception when large bodies of men come to washington they are pleading for some special privilege or denouncing something that has been done the six thousand farmers who marched on washington had bad not a hordof word of denunciation except the false news and tho the vicious attacks that opponents of agricultural equality have been spreading these farmers came came hero here to say that tho the AAA program which has done so much to restore economic conditions on the farms and which for the first time has brought farmers something of equality with industry labor and finance must be continued chester A davis AAA administrator henry wallace secretary of agriculture and the president tall all three told them it would not only bo be continued b but ut that the farm policies would be improved that the present AAA la Is but a beginning this army of farmers which arrived here on the second anniversary of the signing of the AAA ad act started with an idea idda originating in ate the fertile brain of clinton Cllnton day a texas T basco cotton afton farmer henegan he began writing to farmers ia n his state and elsewhere until finally it all crystallized in a miles maag movement t on WashIng foil for a certain date in may As I 1 say bay ax six thousand arrived in in trains busses automobiles all paid their own way or were financed by their neighbors who sent them as no soon sooner oe had they arrived rived than the opposition set in motion a rumor th thai qt there Is some ome dark secret connected with the organization and financing of this visit to wash ington that rumor will be spread through the country in an kort effort 0 a discredit the sincerity of ot tile cicet bu but t it la Is not true irue SOME STRAIGHT TALK tile the farmers metin n constitution hall tremendous tremendous audit auditorium orlum which 1 holds ild nearly lily they first heard henry wallace secretary of aarl culture who likened the tafe AAA to an automobile lie said bald its engine needed tuning up but that hat fil it was being improved by experts while the opposition wanted to repair the llie automobile by taking out the engine entirely they heard chester davis administrator of the AAA who told the farmers that it I 1 they remained united they could forever write the count rys agricultural policies ue he reminded them that tant out of slightly more than american farmers OW had signed contracts with the AAA this he fie said cald Is the largest group of farmers ever organized in history but the high point was noose veils talk he la Is at his best when he can shake loose from formality and talk man fashion straight from aiom the shoulder he likes the language of the mass of people anil and of course he be Is super best when talking to friendly crowds ile ho has that magnetic quality which holds holda the attention of every man in the largest of crowds ho he seems to 0 o look right at each individual and to talk straight to him the crowd follows him eagerly there Is igent in herpst and appreciation in n each face the whole crowd smiles with roosvelt ve and cheers intermittently they are the sort of cheers that come without effort i genuine bursts of Is As he be tallied talked to tile tho farmers making it plain lie has no sympathy with their opponents they stopped him with wild yells sells rf of approval and the crowd nearly became hysterical when he danou denounced need the propaganda against tile the farm policies as plain alea lie ile has ha no hesitancy to use the right word roosevelt reminded tho the farmers that the old order had no remedy 1 for the dis disastrous form farm situation but to let lei the sheriffs sales rates continue Igno ignorant of tho the fact that empty pocketbooks cocket books on the farms would not turn factory wheels in the cities when he mentioned leading citizens who had gone astray from ignorance louisiana and georgia farmers thought he referred to huey long and governor talmadge and applauded with the unrestrained vigor of people who greed agreed heartily the crowd laughed uproariously at ills his tale of tile the city man who wondered how winter wheat Is cut when it Is all covered with snow 1 and it laughed again as lie he told of a city friend of his who had bad not known cotton plants froni raspberry bushes SOUNDS T THE E KEYNOTE there hid had been three possible farm policies when the new deal came into office one was government price fixing discarded because it would not solve the problem of overproduction over oyer production the second ilai was limited production the government to take all surplus and durall dump it on the other nations this was useless because the other nation refused to accept dumped surpluses therefore he explained we come came to the third plan a plan fot foi the adjustment of oc our totals in ou ow major crops so that prodoc tion and consumption would be kept la in reasonable balance with each other to io the end that reasonable prices would be paid to farmers and unwieldy surpluses would not depress our markets and up set the balances roosevelt reminded his farm friends that new deal policies had saved a million nill llon farms from mortgage foreclosures fore closures and had accod polished the first great reduction in exorbitant interest rates lie also discussed the paradoxical condi condition tiou of the old order when surpluses on farms were matched with it a greater poverty than exists today when people had less to eat and wear than today and yet with all the surplus and all the need for food farmers were forced almost to give their stuff away this talk starts the ahe campaign roosevelt sounded the keynote key noto he answers the liberty league the 0 0 P and the reaction reactionaries arles and do de democrats of his own party parts he Is also giving a common sense answer to the lunatic fringe now following huey lon long and eugene talmadge the vigor rigor with which roosevelt lets the farmers know he la Is with ith them will be matched when he e comes to any other subject 0 0 LONG LOSES GROND huey long has lost considerable ground around here ho he may be boss down in Lou louisiana latana and have considerable influence in Arkans arkansas and mississippi but auf the united states senate pay any attention to him any more long has been ing up a case against postmaster general parley trying to throw him film out of office on charges of dishonesty and after having bellowed ills his charges to the ifie four winds the sen sea ate dismissed long with a gesture an and a ro refused to go gd into the case slaty seft senators tors against lon long voted with him among those who voted sg s against g at n st lo 10 long ng were borah of idaho land and hiram johnson of california who bare are generally sere sine to ask for an examination of anything crooked cheap cl deap ELECTRIC POWER among the objectives under the now new work rel relief atef fund 1 la is cheap electric power and appliances for farms fanus anif and rural homes generally it II IX a cooke a pennsylvania power expert line haa just been besign designated aed by president roosevelt to head this part of the new work and he Is about to go to work electric power for forms farms has been the subject of study and controversy for bior a long time until quite recently e most farms have gone without electric power because private utilities have insisted on too high a cost of installation and even then the rates have made electricity more of a luxury than I 1 tin an ecot economy ionly it has only been since the governments m ants drive for cheap rural electrification that the private power companies have shown aDy addreal real interest in the farmer the administrations tion pro program gram includes methods by which farmers and ana small town dwellers generally can bo be financed in the file purchase of appliances for washing ironing pumping and rao mo tor or driven machinery in addition to light and radio the average farmer cannot afford to pay more than two or three cents ce ants per kilowatt hour for the current needed and if anything happens to lo raise that r rate a te to five cents or ten cents them the ibe purposes of tho the present program are defeated and tho the money expended on the whole program wilt will have been wasted one thing to fear in this elec trill catlon cation program will be tile the ment of private companies against public ownership and the eventual installation of power costs far abo above what they need bo be a 0 western |
