Just Say No to Farm Subsidies Lawrence W. Reed Congress is busy tying itself in knots of anguish over the future of federal farm subsidies.
Many lawmakers are unwilling to stand up to the farm lobby and do what's right.
But exactly 100 years ago, one Secretary of Agriculture had the courage to do just that. His name was J. Sterling Morton, and he served in the second administration of President Grover Cleveland. With the encouragement of his grandfather and uncle, young Morton devoured the writings of economist Adam Smith and statesman Thomas Jefferson. He became a staunch proponent of their ideas of free markets and limited government by the time he went to college in his home state of Michigan. The notion that no free society could survive if government started redistributing the people's wealth became a lifelong guiding principle for Morton.