Evening star., 1932-10-25
Text of Roosevelt Speech
Democratic Presidential Nominee Outlines Farm Aid
Plan, Free of "Politics," in address 81
at atlanta Rally.

| the farmers and the foresters will
| recognize as one Of their own. We are
certainly paying enough for the De-
partment Of Agriculture to get some
thing more useful than we are now
| getting
I have already proposed its reorgani-
zation. am going TO insist that we
get more service for the farmers for
| less money
Th> first principle of my asricul-
| tural program I have already men
toned. It consists in lifting from the
back Of the farmer some OF the crush
ing burden Of taxation that he u car
rying.
The second also have already men
toned 1t relates to the farmers bur-
den of debt. One Of the basic planks
in my farm platform Is that the situa-
ton with regard to farm mortgages be
improved to the advantage Of the
farmer who Is struggling to ward of
foreclosure and e1ectment from his
home. I have made that clear in de-
tail. not only at Topeka but last week
in Springfield. have called attention
to the necessity Of constructive action
in this connection, and In Springfield
said that the seven or more unco-ordi
mated activities Of the Government with
reference to farm mortgages be brought
into complete, harmonious plan con-
sistent with the general farm program
that have been discussing.
The situation that exists with refer
ence to the foreclosure Of mortgages by
the land banks Is one that has not only
aroused my sincere sympathy but has
inspired within me determination to
! fUbt Iv
President of the United States in his
Des Moines speech stated that the ad-
ministration had endeavored to pro-
vide by appropriating S125, 100000 to
purchase additional stock in the Fed
eral Land Banks Of the system. 1t is
only fair to say that the bill appro-
priating funds to purchase additional
stock in the Federal Land Bank was
| introduced in the House Of Representa-
tives by Democratic Representative
from the State of Alabama, Mr.. Stegall;
and in the Senate the amount was in
creased from $100, 900 900 to $125,000.-
900 by an amendment offered by an
other Democrat from the State Of Ala
bama, Senator Hugo Black.
Administration of Funds.
However, the administration of the
funds thus appropriated was neces-
sarily left entirely to the appointees OF
this administration, and the farmers of
America have been justly disappointed
in the manner in which 1t has been
administered.
At Des Moines the President stated
that not more than l per cent of the
mortgages held by the land banks were
being foreclosed. Percentages may mis-.
lead one. The farmers OF the United
StafpS knnw fhot fndav fhn11conds nf
mortgages upon the farms of the United
States are being foreclosed. The Presi-
dent stated that most Of those mort
cages now being foreclosed represented
cases where the farmers were willing
to have such mortgages foreclosed. I
think I know the mind and the heart
of the American farmer, and it is in
conceivable to me that the President
Of the United States can believe that
the farmers of the United States are
willing and anxious to have foreclosed
the mortgages upon their homes in
which their fathers and mothers lived
and died and in which their children
were born.
If the President is sincerely of the
opinion that these farmers are willing
to be driven from their homes. we can
not hope for any enthusiastic action
upon his part to stop the foreclosures.
I know that the last thing upon earth
that farmer wants is to be foreclosed
to give up his home, and it will be our
aim to provide practical and imme-
diate remedy for the intolerable situa-
ton now existing. -
Another principle of farm relief is
to make it possible for the farmer to
get larger return for his product. I
believe that We owe it to the farmers
| Of America to have as Secretary of
Agriculture an agricultural leader in
stead of political leader.
A basic purpose of my farm program
is to raise prices on certain agricultural
products by some form of what the
farmers of this country know as a
tariff benefit. There is nothing myster1-
GUS about this and nothing visionary.
Agriculture and Industry.
1t is recognized by the leaders not
only of agriculture but Of the indus
trial world as well that this is a per-
fectly sound method. In fact, it is one
of the essential methods to lead agri-
culture out Of the present depression
| and thus to lead to restoration of in
dustry as well.
I want to make one point very clear,
both in the case of readjustment of the
tariff so that the farmer will really get
benefit and in the temporary meas
ures that I propose to be used before
that becomes operative. The increase
in price does not as in the case of Mr..
Hoover's Farm Board, come out Of the
public Treasury.
The American people know that as a
result Of this experiment of Mr. Hoover
$500, 900. .000 of the money of the tax
payers was squandered large surpluses
Nf %1kH
mulated, which hung over the markets
like sword, depressing the price of
these basic agricultural products.
Though this was apparent to all
| thoughtful men, and though bills were
| pending to correct the situation and
prevent these ruinous so-called stabili-
Zation operations. absolutely nothing
| was done by the President or the party
in power in a legislative way to pre-
vent it.
The Democratic party in its platform
| declares: I'VE condemn the extrava-
| gance of the Farm Board. its disas-
trous action which made the Govern
ment speculator of farm products
and the unsound policy Of restricting
agricultural products to the demands
| of domestic markets"
This has had the splendid effect Of
causing an awakening in the White
House and forced The President for
political expediency in the closing days
of campaign to confess this abject
failure of his experiments, and to prom
Use that after the election he will see
what can be done to put an end to
these false stabilization operations of
which the Nation complains and by
which the farmers have been destroyed.
The great manufacturing and busi-
ness centers of our country have COM
menced to realize that their own pros
perity depends upon the prosperity of
the agricultural centers of the country
ana i the purchasing leI, power oi its people:
the Republican leaders, although they
refrain from discussing the subject
that the depression in the manufactur-
ing industry of the country is due
| chiefly to the fact that Agricultural