Imperial Valley press., 1922-01-25
President Harding On
Agricultural Conditions
United Press xIeased Wire


o dent Harding's address follows:
Secretary Wallace and members o:
thc conference:
f 1t is an occasion of the greates1
satisfaction to me that Secretary
Wall3ce's invitation has been widely
and cordially accepted. l confess tho
firm belief that in the public life OF
a PEOPLE so intelligent as the Ameri-
can nation most problems may be re-
gar ded as we'll on the way to solution
when they are once reduced to their
simplest terms and generally under
with the aim to bring about such a
general understanding of the critical
situation now confronting American
agriculture.
Concerning the grim reality of the
present crisis in agriculture, there
can be no difference of opinion among
Informed people. The depressions
and discouragements are not peculiar
to agriculture, ard, l think it fair to
say there could have been no avoid
IanCe of great slump from war time
excesses to the hardships of read
justment We can have no helpful
understanding by assuming that agri
culture suffers alone, but we may
fail ly recognize the fundamental diff
ficulties which accentuate the agri-
cultural Encouragement and menace
the healthful life of this basic and
absolutely necessary industry.
do not need to tell you or the
country of the supreme service that
the farmer rendered our nation and
the world during the war. Peculiar
cir, umstances placed our allies in
Europe, as we'll as our own country,
in a position of peculiar and unpre.
cedented dependence on the Ameri-
can farmer. With his labor supply
limited and in conditins which made
producing costs high beyond all pre-.
cedent, the farmer rose to the emer-
goncy. Now, in his hour of disaster,
consequent on the reaction from the
feyerish conditions Of war, he comes
to US asking that he be given sup
port and assistance, which shall test
ify our appreciation of mis- service. To
this he is entitled, not only for the
service he has done, but because ii
we fail him we will precipitate a dis
aster that will affect every industrial
ant commercial activity of the ma
tior.
The administration has been keen
ly alive 10 the situation and has
given encouragement and support to
every measure which it believed cal
culated to ameiorate the conditions
OF agriculture. In the effort to fin
ance crop movements, 20 expand for
eign markets, to expand credits at
home and abroad, much has been ac-.
complished. These have been, it IS
trre, largely IN the nature of emer-
gency measures. SO long as the emer-.
gercy continues, it must be dealt
with as such; but at the time there
is every reason for us to consider
thoge permanent notifications of
policy which make relief permanent,
may secure agriculture as far as
possible against the danger that such
conditions will arise again, and place
it as an industry in the firmesr and
most assured position for the future.
Agriculture IS the oldest and most
elemental of industries. Every other
activity is intimately related to an.
largely dependent upon it. 1t is the
first industry TO which society makes
appeal in every period of distress and
difficulty. When the war is precip-
itated, the first demand is made on
the farmer, that he will produce the
whcrewithal for both combatants and
the civil population to be fed, and in
large part also to be clothed and
equipped.
Even in our own times and under
the most modern and enlightened es-
tabiishments the soil has continued to
enjoy less liberal institutions for its
encouragement and promotion than
nnGny other forms OF industry. Com
merce and manufacturing have been
afforded ample financial facilities
for their encouragement and eXpan-
sior., while agriculture on the wholc
has Jagged behind.
The merchant, the manufacturer
the great instruments Of public trans
portation, have b e n provided
methods by which they enlist neces
say capital more readily than does
the farmer.
The great industrial corporation
coII- i4g InpJc in nrdor tn Dnf 1,b a