Sequachee Valley news. (Sequachee [Sequatchie], Tenn.) 1896-1952, 1920-09-30
Declares Definite National Auri-
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.

Minneapolis, tSpeciaD. THE tim
has come when, as a nation, we mus
determine upon a definite agriculture
policy. We must decide whether W,
Shall undertake TO make of the United
States a self-sustaining nation-whlcl
means that we shall grow within ou
own boundaries all OF the staple fooC
products needed to maintain the high
est type of civillzation-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.
"a believe In the self-sustaIning, In.
dependent, self-reliant nation, agricul-
turally, Industrlally 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-
tion 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
Presidential candidate.
Among other things he said:
"A good many years ago q Chinese
philosopher uttered profound truth
when he said: The well-being of a
people is like 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 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 adj
vanced to unheard of prices, with
every indication that but for the tight
money conditions, it would go still
higher. Apparently the farmers of the
land are enjoying unprecedented pros
perity. Why then, even by impllca-
tlon, 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 II 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 a most interest
ing way to the development of the
great central west and sketched briefly
the settlement of the great central val.
leys, 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
80 per cent. Grains were produced
and sold at the bare cost Of utilizing
he soil, and the farmers of the older
states to the east were smothered by
his flood of cheap grain. The only
hing that could be done with this
of food was to build |
,ities out of it. And great cities we
lid 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
and then Of the gradual
which began about 1905, !
when the increased population In the
ties began to catch up with farm pro-
luction, and how this increased de-
nand for food was accelerated by the
,reat World War.
Speaking of the part played by the
armer during the war, he said:
Splendid Part of Farmers.
"The splendid part played by the
armers of the nation during the war
robably never will be understood or
ully appreciated by our people. More
han % per cent of all our fighting
1en came from the farms. and after
ending their sons to the camps the
athers and mothers, with the help of
he younger children, turned to and
reduced more food than was ever be-
ore produced in the history of the
yorld In the same time and from the
anne area of land Their working
avs were measured not by the clock,
ut by the number of daylight hours.
hey took to themselves the respon-
lbility of feeding not only our own
eople, but also our allies across the
ca. In more ways than one, our farm
RS made the war their war, and count
d no sacrifice too great to help fight it
trough to a successful finish. The
tory Of what they did, written by
ONE one who understands 1t, will
lrnish one Of the most glorious chap
srs in American history. One thing
may say--ln every American con.
let, from the revolution for Independ.
nee 70 The world war for maintained
ahts, the farmer has been 100 Per
snt American and ready fer every
loriHce."
He then pointed eat some Of ne IN