Imperial Valley press., 1922-02-23
FARMERS CONTROL

u AS1lINGTE'N Feb, 23.-l"e re-
futation of the charge that the dele
gates TO the farm conference, called by
President Harding ut, the suggestion OF
Secretary of Agriculture Wallace, who
mad personal charge of all arrange
ments. were "hand- picked by Secre-
tarv Wallace is found in the fact that
those who were most vehement in max
ing the charge and circulating 1t were
among the delegates whom Mr.. Wal
lace selected. Had there been any in
tention upon his part, either as an IN
dividual or as a representative OF the
administration to "hand-pick del
egates for the purpose of packing
the conference with strictly partisan
friends of the administration, he
would have omitted from the list not
only those delegates who launched the
attack upon the conference, after they
found they found they could not run
it. but he would not have had a number
of other delegates who, from partisan
standpoint, are wholly ut variance with
anything and everything the Republi-
can administration stands for.
a study of the list of official dele
gates discloscs the fact that onethird
of them were men who are ''dirt-farm
ers, that is, men actively identified IN
agricultural pursuits, either us grow
ers of grain, or cotton, or livestock, or
oreharlists, or those actively identified
with dairy or dairy product interests.
Another third consists of state agri-
cultural officials and those actively
identified with agricultural publica-
tions and agricultural organizations.
In short. two-thirds of the personnel
of the conference were men and we
men of the strictly agricultural group.
The other third consists of those who
represent interests intimately related
to agriculture, such us fertilizer man
ufaeturers, farm implement manufac
turers, packers, railroad representa-
tive, farm bankers, etc.
These men were invited to attend
the conference for two reasons. First,
in order that they might he present and
hear from "dirt farmers an exposi-
tion of what, in the opinion of the
| farmers, are the bad spots III existing
! agricultural conditions and what is
| necessary 20 remedy these conditions.
| In the second place, it gave these
representatives n chance TO meet the
dirt farmer sit with him in con
| ference and discuss those problems
which affect both of them. No one is
so foolish rs 10 believe the farmer, any
more than any other single interest in
/ the country, is able to prosper without
! cooperation with those interests that
/ come in contact with them. Without
the cooperation of transpotationinter-
/ ests, banking interests, packing and
milling interests and manufacturing in
! terests, the farmer would be unable to
! get anywhere, just as no one of those
! interests would be able to get any
where without the cooperation OF the
! farmer.
The chage that the conference was
| "packed for the purpose of carry
! ing out cut and dried program was
/ contradicted by the fact that every
opportunity was offered on the floor
| OF the conference for free discussion
! of all problems. Any delegate had the
| right TO speak his views without re
strietion or censorship, and those who
later publicly charged that the con
| ference was ''paeked were among
| those who took most liberal advantage
of the opportunities of free speech
on the floor Of the conference. Furth-
ermore those who launched the criii-
| eism were members of the committees
/ where the fullest and freest discussion
was had and where any one or a mum
| Der of the committee wag free to pre-
sent q minority report and thrash ii
ont on the floor of the conference Ev-
| erydelegate, in short, had Il free voice
| and a free vote. There was no steam
roller tactics employed al any stage of
| the conference.
The attack upon the conference and
1.-THE charge that il was packed and con
vened for the purpose Of putting over
q partisan program was launched by
| fewer than half n dozen delegates and
was not launched by them until they
| found they were not able to impose
/ their views upon the conference. Find
/ ing that they couid not run it, they
decided To attempt to wreck it. In
both attempts, however, their efforts