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Show GOOD TALK TOFARMERS St. 'Paul, Sept. 8 Senator Harding stepped off his front porch today and addressed the farmers of the Great Northwest at the Minnesota State fairgrounds. A large crowd enthusiastically received him as the next president of the United States. In part the Senator said: I come to you with a common interest in-terest and a very common concern for the welfare of our country. While it is In my thought to speak to you specifically concerning agriculture, agri-culture, I want to so convey my thought as to have it known that I am thinking not of the welfare alone of those engaged in agriculture, agricul-ture, hut the welfare of agriculture as it relates to the good fortunes of the United States of America. I very much deplore the present-day tendency to appeal to the particular groups in American activities. It has become a very common practice to make one address to those who constitute the ranks of labor, another an-other to those who make up th great farming community and still another to the manufacturing world and its associates in commerce, and to other groups of less Importance There is a very natural and a very genuine interest in' each and every one, but the utterances of a political party nominee ought, in every instance, in-stance, to be inspired by a purpose to serve our common country. If America is to go on and come to the heights of achievement, we must of necessity be "all for one and one for j all." No one can forecast with certainty certain-ty the trend of prices of farm products pro-ducts during the next two or three years. Recovery from a world crisis cri-sis such as we have experienced, Is slow, inevitably. It is like the human hu-man convalescence from a long and dangerous illness. Our relations with the world at large are such that important happenings in other oth-er lands have a marked effect upon up-on conditions here at home. Order .must be restored, industries rebuilt, devastated lands reclaimed, transportation trans-portation reestablished, the vast armies ar-mies reabsorbed in the occupations of normal life. The near future promises to be a period of uncertainty uncertain-ty for the farmer as well as for men engaged In industrial enterprises. America has no greater problem than returning securely to the normal, onward road again. This isn't looking look-ing backward it i a forward look to stability and seear'fy No longer are there great and eay and awaiting area3 of fertile land awaiting, the land hungry. We have now under the plow practically all of our easily tillable land, though idle areas await reclamation and determination de-termination which ever have made nature respond to human needs. Additions Ad-ditions of consequence, which we may make to our farming area, from this time on, must come by putting water on the dry lands of the arid and semi-arid country, or by taking water off of the swamp lands, of which we have large areas in some sections, or by digging the stumps out of the cutover timber lands of the North and South. There are of course, large possibilities in intensive intensi-ve farming, in that land thrift which admit of neither waste nor neglect, and in ever-improving methods, which must be as inspiring to agricul tural life as to the professions or to commercial leadership. " I have no thought of suggesting that the government should work out an elaborate system of agriculture agricul-ture and then try to impose it on the farmers of the country. That would be utterly repugrant to American ideals. Government paternalism, whether applied to agriculture or to any other of our great national industries, in-dustries, would stifle ambition, impair im-pair efficiency, lessen production and make us a nation of dependent incompetents. in-competents. The farmer requires no special favors at the hands of the government. All he needs is a fair chance and such just consideration for agriculture as we ought to give to a basic industry, and ever seek to promote for our common good. j Some of the things which ought to; be done, if we are to put our agrf-! culture on a sound foundation, have' (Continued to page 5) j (continued fro nipage 1) HAIiDINfi ADDRESSED FARMERS been mentioned in the national platform plat-form of the party to whose pledges I I am committed. j First the need of farm representa- tion in larger governmental affairs is recognized. During the past seven I years the right of agriculture to a I voice in government administration i has been practically ignored, and at j Imies, the farmer has suffered grie-J grie-J viously as a result. The farmer has a vital interest in our trade relati-! relati-! ens with other countries, in the administration ad-ministration of our financial policies and in many of the larger activities c the government. His interests must be safeguarded by men who understand his needs, he must be actually and practically represented. Second, the right of farmers to form cooperative associations for the marketing of their products must bo granted. The concert of agriculture agricul-ture is as essential to farmers as a 'similar concert of action is to factories. fac-tories. A prosperous agriculture de mnnds not only efficiency in production, produc-tion, but efficiency in marketing. Through cooper?.tive associations the rcite hetweei: :h producer and the consumer can nd tust be shorter-. Wasteful effort can and must be avoided. The parasite in distribution who proys on both produce.- a::ri consumer consum-er must no longor sap the vitality of th:s fundamental life. Third, the Republican party pledgee pled-gee itself to a scientific study of agricultural ag-ricultural prices and farm production produc-tion costs, both at home and abroad, with a view to reducing the frequency frequen-cy of abnormal fluctuations here. "Farmers have complained bitterly bitter-ly of the frequent and violent fluctuations fluc-tuations in prices of farm products, and especially in prices of live stock. They do not find fluctuation such fluctuations in the products of oth er industries. In a general way prices pric-es of farm products must go up or down according to whether there is a plentiful crop or a short one. The farmer's raw materials are the fertility fer-tility of the soil, the sunshine and the rain; and the size of his cro-is cro-is measured by the supply of these raw materials and the skill with which he makes use of them. He cannot control his production and adjust it to the demand as can the manufacturer. But he can see good reason why the prices of his products should fluctuate so violent-j violent-j ly from week to week, and sometir es from day to day. We do not offer of-fer any quack remedies in this mat-j mat-j tor, but we do pledge ourselves to I make a thorough study of the dis-j lease, find out what causes it and then appjy the remedy which promisor promi-sor to cure. ' Fourth, we promise to put an end to unnecessary price-fixing of farm 'products and to ill-considered efforts arbitrarily to reduce farm product 1 prices. In times of national crisis when there is a known scarcity of 1 any necessity, price control for the (purpose of making a fair distribution distribu-tion of the stores on hand may be both necessary and wise. But we know that there can be no repeal of natural laws the eternal fundamen tals. The history of the past three i tltoifsand vears records the follv of - such efforts. If the price of any farm product, for example, is arbitrarily arbi-trarily fixed at a point which does not cover the cost of production, thej farmer is compelled to reduce the production of that particular crop. This results in a shortage which in turn brings about higher prices than before, and thus intensifies the dan- ger from which it was sought to es-1 es-1 cape. In times past many nations : have tried to hold down living costs ' by arbitrarily fixing prices of farm products. All such efforts have fail- ed. and have usually brought national nation-al disaster. Government drives against food prices such as we have experienced during the past two years are equally equal-ly vain and useless. The ostensible purpose of such drives is to reduce the price the consumer pays for the food. The actual result is unjustly to depress for a time thi prices thj the prices the farmer receives for his grains and livestock, but with no appreciable reduction in the price the consumer pays. Such drives simply give the speculator and the profiteer additional opportunities to add to their exactions, while they add to the uncertainty and discour-agreement discour-agreement under which the farmer is laboring during the period of adjustment. adjust-ment. Fifth, we favor the administration of the farm loan act so as to help men who farm to secure farms of fheir own, and to give to them longtime long-time credits needed to practice the best methods of diversified farming. We should concern ourselves not : only in helping men to secure farms of their own, and in helping the , tenant secure the working capital he . needs to carry on the best methods of diversified farming, but we should work out a system of land leasing, which, while doing full justice to both landord and tenant, will at the same time conserve the fertility of the soil. "Sixth, we do not longor recognize recogni-ze the right to speculative profit in the operation of our transportation systems, but we are pledged to restore re-store thorn to the highest state of efficiency as quickly as possible. Agriculture Ag-riculture has suffered more severely than any other industry through the inefficient railroad service of the last two years. Many farmers have incurred in-curred disastrous losses through the inability to market their grain and livestock. Such a condition must not be permitted to continue. We must bring about conditions which rf ill give us prompt service at the lowest possible rates. Seventh, we are pledged to the revision re-vision of the tariff as soon as condi-'ions condi-'ions shall make it necessary for the preservation of the home market for American labor, American agriculture agricul-ture and American ii.dustry. Vor a permanent good fortune all must have a common interest. If we are to build up a self sustaining agriculture agricul-ture here at home, the farmer must be protected from unfair competi-'tion competi-'tion from these countries where agriculture ag-riculture is still being exploited and where the standards of living on the farm are much lower than here. We have asked for higher American stan :'ards. let us maintain them. - |