Imperial Valley press., 1922-02-23
FARMERS CALLED TO
CONSIDER THEIR
AFFAIRS
Charge That Delegates Were
"H0nd Picked" prOUes 10
BE False

WASIIINGTON, Feb. 23.--Thc rcfu
tation of the charge that the dele.
gates to The farm con Inference called By
President Harding at the suggestion Of
Secretary of Agriculture Wallace, who
had personal charge Of all the arrange.
ments. were hand-pickea by Sncre
tarv Wallace is found in the fact tha;
those who were most vehement in inNt-
ing the charge and circulating il
were among the delegates whom Mr.
Wallace selected. Had there been any
intention upon his part, either as IN
| individual or rs representative Of the
| administration, to "hand pick dele
gates for the purposa Of "packin:;
| the conference with strictly partisan
| friends Of the administration, he woui6
| have omitted from the list not OILY
| those delegates who launched the at,
I tack upon the conference, after tAev
| found they could not run il, but he
would not have had number Of
other delegates who, from u partisan
standpoint, are wholly at, varia,ct
with anything and everything the re
publican administration stands for
A study of the list Of official dele
| gates disclOses the fact that onp-thrd
Of them were men who are "dirt farm
| ere, that is. men actively identified
in agricultural pursuits, either rs
growers of grain. or cotton, or live.
stock. or Orchardists, or those active
~ identified with dairv and dairy
| product interests. Another third con.
| ci nf 4ato .t,1{ al ,ff
ricultural COLLEGE officials and those
actively identified with agricultural
publications and agricultural organize
tions. I'm short, two-thrds OF the per
sonnel Of the conference war, mel
and women Of the strictly agricultural
group. The other third consists of those
who represent interests Intimately re-
lated to agriculture, su.h as felti-
,izer manufacturers. furn imp'cme Mt
manufacturers, packers, railroad le-
presentativcs, farm bankers. etc.
These men were invited to attrnd the
conference for two reasons. First, m
order that thev might be present ana
hear from 'dirt farmers an cNpcSi
tion of what, in the opinion OF the
farmers, are the bad spots in existno
agricultural conditions and what i
necessary to remedy these condition. :.
In the second place, 1t gave these re
prcsentativcs a chance to meet the
"dirt farmer sit with him in con
ference and discuss those problems
which effect both of them. No one j.
so foolish Us to believe the farmer, any
more than any other single interest IN
the country, is able to prosper with
out cocperatio, with those interests
that come in. contact with him. With
out the cooperation of transportation
interests. banking interests, packing
and milling interests and manufactur
ing interests, the farmer would he I'm
able to get anywhere Just as no one
of those interests would be able to get
anywhere without the cooperation of
the farmer.
The charge that the conference was
"packed - for the purpose of carving
out Il cut and dried program was CON
tradicted by the fact that every op.
portunity was offered on the floor of
the conference for free discussion OF
all problems. Any delegate had The
right to speak his views withou; re.
strietion or censorship. and those who
| '''tNl HtbiiNiS Sttt tH' ftH
ference was "packcd were among
those who took the most liberal ad-
vantage of the opportunities of free
speech on the floor of the conference
Furthermore, those who launched the
criticism were members of conmittees
where the fullest and freest discus
sion was had and where any one or :,
number of the committee was free to
Inesent II minority report and thrash
it out on the floor of the conference.
Every delegate, in short, had q free
voice and Il free vote. There were no
sieam roller tactics employed at any
stage of the conference.
The attack upon the conference and
the charge that il was packed and con
vened for the purpose Of putting over
Il partisan program was launched by
fewer than half Il 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 could not run it, they de
cidcd to attempt to wreck it. In both
attempts, however, their efforts were :
failure. The decisions Of the conference
speak for themselves ~ to whether or
not they represent the real sentiments
I of the real farmers of the country.
UNCLE SANS NAVY FINEST
| rnr uJ.OpT rN NIrAp A CrEp ANTI