Evening star., 1932-09-30
BY the Associated Press.

| conceived TO De tne prODlem Ol dSIl-
culture in this country, with particular
reference to the Middle West and West,
and what the Government of the Ma
ton can do to meet that problem.
I have been highly gratifled to re-
ceive from all parts of the country, and
particularly from farm leaders, assur-
ances OF their hearty support and
promises of cooperation, in the ef-
forts that I proposed, to improve the
! dep,o-able condition into which agri-
culture has fallen. These assurances OF
cooperation mean a great deal to the
program which I submitted, because to
| get practical results we who have the
| farm problem at heart cannot afford
to let the stand-pat politicians, and
certain narrow minded industrialists
and bankers use dissension end discord
among farmers as an excuse for deny
ing to us the legislation and the results
We seek
Two Factors Necessary.
| The meeting Of the farm problem is
going to be successful only if two fac
tors are present.
The first is sympathetic adminis-
! tration in Washington and the second
the hearty support and patient coop
Grafton of agriculture itself and Its
leaders.
The proposals I made in Topeka were
! set forth IN this spirit. l nave stated
principles in which nearly all farm in
terestS can unite. They embrace the
common purpose of practically all farm
leaders to inaugurate a broad construc-
tion policy, and I am confident that
sympathetic leadership in Washington
| can bring about substantial agreement
/ I-E, iENr of
! the legislation necessary to put the
principles into practical effect.
| have set up these proposals as
definite standard to which men and
women of all parties will repair, to the
end that the desperate plight Of ag-
riculture may be remedied.
I come today to the same great Mid
die West to meet farmers whose prob
lens and needs are similar to those of
the Kansans and whose suffering has
been no less.
! I cannot avoid a word concerning
what this plight of agriculture means
to you all. 1t means that product Of
your labor brings half of what it
brought before the war. 1t means that
no matter how hard you work and how
long and how carefully you save, and
! how much efficiency you apply to your
! d
ing return. AS farm leader said to
me, you have been caught like man
in deep pit. helpless in the grip CT
forces beyond your control. II has
meant my friends, that in spite of the
maxims that we have learned when
We were in school that we ought to
work and save, and be prulent and
| temperate-in spite of all of the rest
of the homely virtues, the return on
these virtues has belied the hopes and
| the promises On which We were raised.
Tragic Consequences.
That is one of the tragic conse-
| quences of this depression. The things
we were taught have not come true.
We were taught to save, and in many
parts of this country the savings of
| prudent people have been dissipated
| by careless and constituencies financial
| manipulation. Were were taught to
work and We have been denied the op-
| portunity to work. We were taught to
increase the products of our labor, and
we have found that while the products
| increased the return has decreased. We
were taught to bring forth the fruits of
the earth, and we have found that the
! fruits of the earth have found no
| market
The results of cur labor have been
| lost in the smash of an economic Sys-
tenn unable to fulfill its purposes.
| 1t is moral as well as an economic
| question which We face. Moral because
We want to re-establish the standards
that in times past were our goal We
want the opportunity to live in COM
fort, reasonable comfort, so that we
may build out of this comfort spiritual
| Tho cOnsornoproc of royertV
bring a loss of spiritual and moral val
| ues. And even more important Is the
| loss OF the opportunity that we had
hoped to give to the younger generation.
! We want our children to have a chance
! for an education, for the sound devel-
| opment of American standards to be
| applied in their daily lives at play and
work. These opportunities can come
only if the condition of agriculture is
made more prosperous.
This high purpose cannot be met by
cynical disregard CT plain necessity. 1t
! cannot be met by the appeal that
Warrington has made so often to So
called irlmutable and interchangeable
economic laws As 1 have said. men
and women and children may starve
while We wait It cannot come through
saying that nothing by the slow growth
of prosperity will improve the condition
of the farmer. because the very return
! of that prosperity depends upon the
condition of the farmer.
| The farmer-and when I speak of the
farmer l mean not only those who live
| in the Corn Belt. but also those in the
East or the Northwest who are in the
dairy business. and those in the South
who are raising cotton and those on
the plains who are raising cattle and
sheep. and those in the many sections
of the country who are raising fruits
of all kind--the farmer in the broad
sense has been attacked simults neously
from two sides.
Expenses Rise Steadily.
On the one side his expenses, chiefly
! in the form of increased taxeG. have
! been going up steadily during the past
| genera ion On the other side he has
been attacked by a constantly deprc-
! ciating farm dollar during the past II
I years
Therefore, it seems to me to be moth
ing less than old fashioned horse sense
! to seek means to circumvent both OF
these attacks ct the same time. That
means, first. to seek relief for him from
the burden of his expense account, and
second, to try to restore the purchasing
power of his dollar by getting for him
higher prices for the products OF the
! sol
These two great purposes are the
basis of my farm policy. have def
nitelv connected both of them with the
broadect aspects Of a new national
, economy. and I shall continue during
| the ensuing weeks to argue that pros
perlty in its broadest Sense-coverlnG
every Part Of the Nation, and covering
industry and business as well as farm
! ing-springs first of all from the soil
itself. ard second from cur ability as
Nation to restore our trade with the
other nations of the world.
First of all I want to discuss with
YOU one of the angles Of the mounting
expenses of agriculture in practically
every community and in every State
the problem of the taxes which we have
to pay.
Let us examine the proportion OF oul
o. <t@A inIYc