The Sauk Centre herald., 1928-10-25

nothing Of the distortion of mean
ing done by taking the sentence out
of it's context. Reed said:
"Whatever Hoover's friends may
say now, Mr.. Hoover has not con-
cealed the fact that it was the in
tent of this commission whose ap-
pointment he urged, to hold the
price of wheat DOWN, stating on
April 80, 1918, in New York city: /:
l agree entirely with the
contention of some farmers
that they would have receiv-
ed SIS and perhaps $40
bushel for wheat had it not
been for the restraints i'm
posed by the government.
In this single sentence which
Reed quotes so falsely from Hoo
ver's speech, he has left out 81
words.
We will quote Hoover's sentence
just preceding this mutilated one,
recalling that this speech was made
just after we entered the war,
when all of Europe was starving
and when there had already been
bread riots in New York city.
Hoover said:
These are not times when
any man, whether farmer,
workman, manufacturer or
grain dealer, has a right to
take cent of profit over his
prewar normal earnings, 9TH
erwise he is taking money
from the blood and sacrifice
of the nation today.
The next sentence is the one
which Reed falsiied to the extent
of 81 words. What Hoover actually
said was:
l agree entirely with the
contention of some farmers
that they would have received
SIS and perhaps $40 bushel
for wheat had it not been for
the restraint imposed by the
government, but would say
to these farmers that they
would have been taking mon
ey not only from the blood
of our soldiers and from the
suffering of the poor sections
in our consuming centers,
but every farmer in this
country would himself have
paid so times over in the
national damage resulting in
reactions from labor and in
stability in our population
that would have thundered at
the farm door sooner or later
but the quality of justice in
this case is now capable of
proof.
Reed continued his Justification
in his next quotation by the device
of taking one sentence out of the
middle of "a paragraph. 1t is "a
short sentence so he couldn't strike
out 81 words to alter its meaning.
Reed said: "In this same address
Hoover again divulges the intent
tc drive the price down by point
ing out how he achieved the re-
suit"
In order that the fair price
should be maintained we
! asked the millers of the coun-
try not to pay more than the
fair price and the majority of
them adhered to it.
We will quote the entire para
graph of what Hoover actually
said, and leave it to any citizen
who calls himself an American, or
to any farmer, if he will not ap-
plaud and approve of Hoover's
sentiments. Hoover said:
In order to stabilize the
price of wheat our first duty
to both producer and consum-
er was to eliminate absolute
ly every shred of speculation
in the staff of life. In order
to carry this out of necessity
we had to close the dealing
in wheat on the whole of the
grain exchanges. We had to
prevent speculation in the
commodity itself by limiting
the period which an individual
could hold possession of the
commodity. Having thus eli
mated speculation we had to
inject the government as
buyer to take any surplus of
wheat that came. to the mar
ket. In order that the fair
price should maintain we
asked the millers of the coun-
try not to pay more than the
fair price and majority of
them have adhered to it. Fur
thermore, as a mass of wheat
was damned back in other
parts of the world which
would flood the markets in
event of peace, we had to
guarantee the millers that we
would buy it at the fair price.
In all Hoover's long speech be-
fore the Grain Trade, delivered
over 10 years ago, in the heat of
the war, there is not one para
graph which will not meet with the
assent of every American citizen
today. After reading this perora-
tion with which Hoover closed, and
after considering the falsifcations
of Reed, we are certain that every
citizen will join us in congratulate
ing the Minnesota Farm Bureau
federation ON the resignation of
j. F. Reed as president. Hoover's
concluding words were as follows !:
We should always bear in
mind that a depth of senti-
ment surrounds wheat. This
sentiment has grown through
of - ols L.