Show president hi hits ts from shoulder tells farmers how selfish hite interests rests have lied AAA Is but a beginning by EARL GODWIN Fran franklin hlin D washington roosevelt stood on the lie south portico of the white house and talked to six si thousand farmers in words they understood telling them that the financial interests inter cuts had not taken him into camp and promising them that the new deal was going to do even more for agriculture than it had done so far in the brief two years of the AAA I 1 have been here in washington covering events for various since the days of the first roosevelt and I 1 have never seen anything as 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 not been anything I 1 like ike this march of farmers to washington 1 coming from twenty five live 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 other crop and live stock regions it was not only an endorsement 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 te almost without exception when nhen largo 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 not a word of denunciation for anything except the false news and the vicious attacks that opponents of agricultural equality have been spreading these farmers came here to say that 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 daus dails AAA administrator henry wallace secretary of agriculture and t president all three old them it would not only be continued but 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 act started with an idea in the fertile brain of clinton day a texas cotton farmer he began writing to farmers in his state and elsewhere until finally it all crystallized in a mass movement on washington tor for a certain date in may As I 1 say six thousand arrived in trains buses automobiles all paid their own way or were financed by their neighbors who sent them as representatives no sooner had they arrived thin than the opposition set in motion the rumor that there Is some dark secret connected with the organization and financing of this visit to washington that rumor will be spread through the country in an effort to discredit the sincerity of the event but it Is not true e SOME STRAIGHT TALK the farmers met anet in constitution hall tremendous auditorium which holds nearly 11 tile aliey first heard beard henry wallace secretary of 0 agriculture who A bo likened the AAA to an automobile lie he said its engine needed tuning up but that it was being improved by experts while the opposition wanted to repair the automobile by taking out the engine entirely they heard chester davis administrator of the AAA who told the farmers that it if they remained united they could forever write the count rys agricultural policies ue lie reminded them that 0 out t ll 11 ot of slightly more than amerlean american farmers had signed contracts with the AAA this he be said bald Is 13 the largest group of farmers over ever organized in history but the high point m vas as Roosevel ts talk he Is at his big best when he can shake loose from formality and talk man fashion straight from the shoulder he likes the language of the mass of people and of course he Is super best when talking to friendly crowds ne he has that magnetic quality which holds the attention of every man in the largest of crowds he seems to look right at each individual and to talk straight to him the crowd follows him eagerly there Is intelligent interest and a appreciation p in each face the whole crowd smiles with roosevelt and cheers intermittently they are the sort of cheers that come without effort genuine bursts of enthusiasm As aa he talked to the farmers making it plain he has no sympathy with air opponents they stopped him with wild ild yells of approval and the crowd nearly became hysterical when alien lie he denounced the propaganda against the tha farm policies as plain lies iles ile he has no hesitancy to use the right word roosevelt remi reminded aided the farmers that the old 0 order had bad no remedy fo for the disastrous farm situa situation tion but to let the th sheriffs sales bales continue igno rant of the fact that empty pocket books on the farms would not turn factory wheels in the file cities when lie he mentioned loading leading citizens who ho had gone fi astray tray from ignorance louisiana and georgia farmers thought he referred to huey long and governor malmid talmadge ge and applauded with the unrestrained i vigor igor of people who agreed heartily the crowd laughed uproariously at his tale of the city man who wondered on dered how winter wheat Is cut w when hen it Is a all 11 covered with fill snowy snow and it lail laughed glied again as he told of a 1 city I ty friend of his who had not known cotton plants from raspberry bushes 1 THE SOUNDS THE K KEYNOTE there had been three possible farm policies when the new deal came into office one was government price using fixing discarded because it would not solve the problem of overproduction over production the second was limited production the goern government merit to take all surplus and dump it on the other nations this was useless because the other nations refused to accept dumped surpluses therefore lie ex explained plaine 1 we came to the oie third plan a plan for the adjustment of our totals in our major crops so that production and consumption would be kept in reasonable balance with each other to the end that reasonable prices would be paid to farmers and unwieldy surpluses would not depress our mark bets and upset the balances roosevelt reminded his farm friends that new deal policies had saved a million farms from mortgage fore closures and had accomplished the first great reduction in exorbitant interest rates he also discussed the paradoxical condition of the old order when surpluses on farms were matched with a greater poverty than exists today when people had less to eat and wen wear than today and yet with all thesia the surplus and all the need for food farmers were forced almost to give their stuff away this talk starts the campaign roosevelt sounded the keynote he answers the liberty league the G 0 P and the reactionaries and de democrats of bis big own party ile he Is also giving a common sense answer to the lunatic fringe now following huey long and eugene talmadge the vigor with which roosevelt lets the farmers know he Is with them will be matched when he comes to any other subject and I 1 am thinking particularly ticul arly of the fact that he has asked congress to revise the blue eagle and extend for two years from june 18 16 when it expires by law he made it plain to congress that he wants a full two years now the senate answers him by passing a bill to extend tor for ten months only after roosevelt had refused to agree to such a brief term in this case roosevelt stands with organized labor just as steadfastly as he stands with the farmers on AAA labor has declared mai that it wants two years of or nothing the senate snaps its fingers at labor and roosevelt but somehow or other I 1 imagine roosevelt will make the senate wish it had bad never started its rather petty defiance LONG LOSES GROUND huey long has lost considerable ground around here he be may be boss down in louisiana and have considerable influence in arkansas and mississippi but the united states sonata senate pay any attention to him any more long has been working up a case against postmaster general farley trying to throw him out of office on charges of dishonesty and after having bellowed his charges to the four winds the senate dismissed long with a gesture and refused to go into the case sixty senators voted against long twenty voted with him among those who voted against long were borah of idaho and hiram johnson of california who are generally sure to ask for an ot of anything crooked in this case they were convinced that huey was simply entering a smearing campaign and could produce no proof CHEAP ELECTRIC POWER among the objectives under the new work relief fund Is cheap electric power and appliances for farms and rural homes generally SI L cooke a pennsylvania power expert has just been designated by president roosevelt to head this part of the new work and he Is about to go tt it work electric power for farms has been the subject of study and controversy for a long time until quite recently arost 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 an economy it has only been since the governments drive for cheap rural electrification that the private power companies have haie shown any real interest in the farmer the administrations electrification program includes methods by which farmers and small town dwellers generally can be financed in the purchase of appliances for washing ironing pumping and motor driven machinery in addition to light and radio et the be average farmer cannot afford to pay more than two or three cents per kilowatt hour for the current needed and it if anything happens to raise that rate to five cents or ten cents then the purposes of the present program are defeated and the money expended on oil the abole program will have bare been wasted one thing to tear fear in this tion program will be the argument i of private companies against public ownership and the eventual installation of power costs far above clial hat they need tie be a western |