The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1920-10-01
Declares Definite National Agri-
cultural Policy Is Vital to
Country's Welfare.
WOULD PUT END TO PRICE
FIXING OF FARM PRODUCTS
IN Address Before Minnesota State
Fair Republican Nominee Shows
Profound Understanding Of
Farming and Its Problems.

mas come when, as a nation, we must
determine upon q definite agricultural
policy. We must decide whether we
snail undertake to make Of the United
states a self-sustaining nation-which
means that we shall grow within our
own boundaries all Of the staple food
products needed to maintain the high
est type Of civilization-or whether
we shall continue to exploit our agri-
cultural resources for the benefit of
our Industrial and commercial life, and
to leave to posterity the task of finding
food enough, by strong-arm methods,
II necessary, to support the coming
hundreds of millions.
believe In the seIf-sustaininq, In
dependent, seIf-reliant nation, agricuI-
turally, industriaIIy and politically.
We are then the guarantors of our own
security and are equal to the task"
SO declared Senator Harding in a
mastery address before the Minnesota
State Fair here, In which he revealed
most profound understanding of
agriculture, its problems and its rela-
ton to the farmer and the consumer in
the cities. This speech has been de-
scribed as the greatest speech on agri-
culture which has ever been made by
q Presidential candidate.
Among other things he said:
"A good many years ago a Chinese
philosopher uttered a profound truth
when he said: The well-being of a
people is like a tree; agriculture is its
root, manufacture and commerce are
its branches and its life; If the root
Is injured the leaves fall, the branches
break and the tree dies
Cause for Concern.
ut may seem strange to many good
people that at this particular time any
one should quote this saying of a wise
old Chinese. Never in all our history
have prices Of farm products ruled
SO high, measured In dollars, as during
the past four years. Farm land in the
great surplus-producing states has ad-
vanced to unheard Of prices, with
every indication that, but for the tight
money conditions, 1t would go still
higher. Apparently the farmers Of the
land are enjoying unprecedented pros
perity. Why then, even by implica-
ton, suggest that something may be
wrong with our agriculture, and that
the trouble may be communicated to
our manufactures and commerce? Peo-
pie In the cities are disposed to think
that II there Is anything wrong 1t Is
in the cities where food Is selling at
such high prices, and not in the coun-
try where the food is produced. But
both farm and city students Of national
problems see In the present agricul-
tural situation certain conditions
which give cause for real concern to
every lover Of his country"
He then referred In most interest
ing way to the development Of the
great central west and sketched briefly
the settlement Of the great central val
legs, as follows:
''Through the homestead law the
government gave farm OF the richest
land in the world to every man who
wanted one. Railroads were built, the
prairies were plowed up, and almost
overnight the agricultural production
of the United States increased by
30 per cent. Grains were produced
and sold at the bare cost Of utilizing
the soil, and the farmers of the older
states to the east were smothered by
this food Of cheap grain. The only
thing that could be done with this
superabupdance of food was to build
cities out Of II. And great cities we
did build, not only in the United
States, but across the seas"
He spoke of the hard conditions
which came upon the farmers Of the
central west as a result of their over
production, and then Of the gradual
Improvement which began about 1905,
when the increased population In the
cities began to catch up with farm pro-
duction, and how this increased de-
mand for food was accelerated by the
great World War.
Speaking of the part played by the
farmer during the war, he said:
Splendid Part Of Farmers.
"The splendid part played by the
farmers Of the nation during the war
probably never will be understood or
fully appreciated by our people More
than 25 per cent Of all our fighting
men came from the farms, and after
sending their sons to the camps, the
fathers and mothers, with the help OF
the Younger children, turned to and
produced more food than was ever be-
fore produced In the history Of the
world in the same time and from the
same area of land Their working
DAYS were measured not by the clock,
but by the number of daylight hours
They took to themselves the respon-
sibility of feeding not only our own
people, but also our allies across the
sea. In more ways than one, our farm
ers made the war their war, and count
cd no sacrifice too great to help fight IL
.L...,~t. 90 a eucceSSfI1l finish The
story of what they did, written by
Some one who understands 1t, will
furnish one Of the most glorious chap
ters in American history. One thing
/ may say--in every American con.
Nict. from the revolution for independ.
erce TO the world war for maintained
riohts, the farmer has been 1oo per
cent American and ready for every
sacrifice"
He then pointed out some Of the un-