The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1920-09-08
HARDING GIVES G. 0. P. POLICY
TOWARD FARMERS OF NATION IN
SPEECH AT GOPHER STATE FAIR
Price Fixing by Government Is
Held Wrong as General Policy
NOT FOR t'DOLLAR WHEAT''
Candidate Explodes Story Cir
culated Concerning Utterance
of Years Ago

Minneapolis, Mimi, Sept. g.
The Republican party's attitude
toward agriculture and toward
the farmer was outlined by
Senator Warren G.. Harding
Republican nominee for the
presidency, in an address at the
Minnesota state fair this after.
noon.
The party's attitude is one OF
promoting the best interests OF
the farmer, without injury tc
any other industry or class OF
people, he told the great crowd
assembled here. 1t is to encour-
age agriculture'in every respect,
to foster it's development, but
not to work out an elaborate
system of agriculture and then
try to impose it on the farmers
Of the country"
The farmer needs just laws, can
profit by cooperation, but should MOI
ue the object of government pater-
nalism, the nominee said
Want No Special Fav0rs
Government paternalism. whether
applied to agriculture or to any other
Of our great national industries
would stifle ambition, impair effi-ci
ency, lessen production and make us
nation of dependent incompetents.
said Senator Harding. "The farmer
requires no special favors at the
hands of the government All he needs
is fair chance and such just con
sideration for agriculture as VIC
ought to give to basic industry
and ever seek to promote the com,
mon good"
At the outset of his speech Sena
tor Harding his determination not to
appeal to any special class or in
terests in his campaign for the presi-
dency.
II come to you with a common in
terests and very common concern
for the welfare of our country" sale
the speaker. while it is in my
thought to speak to you specifically
concerning agriculture, I want to Sc
convey my thought as to have y
known that am thinking not of the
welfare alone of those engaged ir
agriculture, but the welfare of agri-
culture as it relates to the good for
tunes of the United States of Amer
ica. ~
DeplOres Class Appeal
II very much deplore the present
day tendency to appeal to the par
ticular group in American activities. y
If America is to go on, he said, 1--WE
must Of necessity be all for one and
one for ALL"
Senator Harding exploded the "dol-
lar wheat story" at the outset, ridicul-
ing the idea that he, in the presen;
days, had said that dollar wheat was
sufficient for the farmer.
II have helped to cut sixty-cen
wheat, I have known it to sell al
forty cents" he said. II have fol-
lowed the cradle and sweated behind
the reaper when binding was a cross
to bear, and I know I spoke the
truth when I said, some years ago
that Ohio farmers, in the days before
the war, rejoiced to raise dollar
wheat. That statement had no ref
erence to wartime; none to the pres
ent after-war period. Conditions, AZ
we'll as prices, have changed since
l made that perfectly natural anc
truthful statement, and other great
and important changes are in con
temptation, and no Misrepresentation
Sc To hrino fhon1 ohO11f ~
Development Of Agriculture
Tracing the history of agriculture,
the speaker dwelt on the great in,
crease" in city population. Farm
products brought low prices for years
because there was a period of over
production, he said. AS the cities
gained in population, as the American
people turned more to industrial pur-
suits, the over-production became an
under-production and prices advanc-
ed With it land increased in price.
I'm truth, here in America, farm
ing came to that stage where it ceas-
ed to be a mere struggle for susten-
ance, and it found it's place amid
the competition for achievement" he
said.
Senator Harding compliments the
farmers on the wonderful effort dur
ing the war when the army and navy
took away from the farms rs per
cent of the soldiers and sailors, and
men and women increased production
with no thought of restricted hours
in a mighty effort to feed the world.
Restoring Balance
War conditions, he said, put pre-
MUM on grain growing at the ex-
pense of livestock production. AS
consequence, he said, many stock
producers and feeders have suffered
heavy and, in some cases, ruinous
losses.
"If this condition should continue,
we are in danger, in the near future
of having to pay very high prices for
our meats" he said.
For two outstanding reasons the
maintenance of normal balance be-
tween livestock and grain production
is matter of national concern he
added. f .
. One reason is, he said, that we are
a meat-eating nation. The other is
that the over-stimulation Of grain
production depletes the fertility of OUR
land.
''No one can forecast with certainty