US Presidency
1956

We are equally determined that farm prices and income, which were needlessly pushed down under surpluses, surpluses induced first by war and then by unwise political action that was stubbornly and recklessly prolonged, shall in the coming months and years get back on a genuinely healthy basis. This improvement must continue until a rightful share of our prosperity is permanently enjoyed by agriculture on which our very life depends. A second example: labor relations. Expediency said: When a major labor dispute looms, the government must do something, anything'to settle the dispute even before the parties have finished negotiating. Get an injunction. Seize the steel mills. Appoint a board. Knock their heads together. Principle says: Free collective bargaining without government interference is the cornerstone of the American philosophy of labor-management relations. If the government charges impatiently into every major dispute, the negotiations between parties will become a pointless preliminary farce, while everyone waits around to see what the government will do. This Administration has faith in the rightness of the collective bargaining principle.