The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1919-04-02

Senate Committee on Agriculture toi
s December seventeenth nineteen hun
dred and eighteen. and need not be
gone oyer again here | have no
doubt that Senator Gore would have
this letter printed and distributed if
sufficient number Of requests are re-
sceiyed for it. 1t was printed in full
!: in Farm, Food, and Home January
first
In al, twenty three reports on cost
Of producing various farm products
were delivered to Secretary Houston,
most Of them on July 18th. 1918.
Several OF these dealt with the cost
of producing beef Included in them
were the results Of five years care
fully kept records. by trained book
keepers. covering ore hundred and
forty-one farm years and the fat
tening Of more than forty-eight thou
sand steers. One Of the reports on
wheat was based on five years care
fully kept records on a large number
Of farms. Yet the secretary, in his
letter to the senate. regretted that ne
could not send TO the senate depeE;i-
able data on the subject" of the cost
of producing wheat and other farm
products" There is no shadow Of
doubt that it has all along been Sec
retary Eouston's fixed purpose to pre-
vent the farmers Of this country from
benefting by these Investigations. To
accomplish this it was necessary Cor
him, by deliberate misstatement OF
fcc <n h,.S,,o ~
These twenty-three reports were,
promptly pigeonholed, as I fully cx-
pected them to be. TO force them
out, I appeared before the senate
Committee on Agriculture the last
week in August and gave the facts
concerning them. together with some
of the results they contained. This
was the first publicity given these re-
ports. Yet the Secretary. in his let
ter TO the senate. states that these
reports We're not brought to his At
tcntion until after some publicity had
been given them This statement Of
the Secretary does not square with the
facts
In his determination to prevent
farmers from getting any benefit from
this work, the secretary rcsortetl 10
desperate measures. l can NOT give
You the fun facts about this matter
without exposing honest and hon
orab!e men to the fury OF this brutal
autocrat, under whom they unfor:u-
nately have to serve. / will say,
however, that browbeating and il,:in-
idation were resorted to. I will a!so
say, that the secretarys letter
to the senate deliberately misrcpre-
sents the opinions Of the committee
of experts he called in. These facts
could all be brought out fully in an
by an official body au-
to summon witnesses and
compel testimony. / have reason to
believe that congress would make
such an investigation if the farmers
of the country are sufficiently insist
cnt in their demands for it.
This opposition Of Secretary Hcus-
tons to cost investigations was no
sudden Inspiration. Early in his ad-
there was circulated
the department a tyrewTit-
ten sheet said to have been written
by member Of Mr. Rockefeiler,s
General Education Eoard, and which
was said TO represent Mr.. Rockefcl-
ler's siews in which Secretary Hons
ton c0ncurred THIS sheet purported
to outline the duties OF the depart
ment It stated that the depart
ment should make no Investigations
that would reveal the profits made
by farmers, or that would determine
the cost of producing farm products.
No representative Of the department
should ever under any circumstances
even intimate that it is possible %
ovcrproduce any farm product ,
The entire business Of the departner-
was to teach farmers how to prc-
duce more than they now produce.
Although the entire department has
been working under these orders,
and Mr.. Houston has made it plain
on several occasions that ne desired
these orders carried out, he did not
have the temerity> to enforce them
openly. 1 was able, by persistent ef-
fort. to push to publication seTcral
bulletins dealing with cost Of pro-
duction. More than once I was Sc
verely brought to task for this. Time
ana again he told me he disapprov-
cd Of such publications. Anyone con-
aected with the Division Of Publica-
tons can tel! you tise difficulties en-
countered by manuscripts submitted
for publication when these manu-
scripts related to any phase of farm
profits or costs. Mr. Houston did not
summon up courage TO stop the inves-
legations completely until he received
my request for thirteen letters Of au-
thcrization for extending this work
during the summer Of 1917.
1t will be recalled that when Mr.
Houston became Secretary he was
member Of the Southern Education
Board. (, subsidiary OF MT. Rookie
fcllcr.s General Education Board OF
New York The following incident
throws some light on the purposes q;
this Goar<,. Sc,oe nine years ago. u
wealthy friend OF mine approached
me With the statement that MI
Rocrefcller's object in establishing
the General Education Board WAS to