Evening star., 1935-05-15
MARCH" SUCCESS
E[ATESFARMERS
4.5OO Here Hail Presidents
Pledge That Aid Will
Continue.
BY BLAIR BOLLES.

Jubilant sons Of the soil from rs
States wandered about Washingtons
downtown streets today, well pleased
at having heard President Roosevelt
speak to them personally in severe
condemnation of the "specious lies"
told by high and mighty" opponents
of the A. A. A.
The bronzed farmers, still excited
and tense from the day full Of
speeches, cheers and demonstrations
that ended only with the close of
dozen banquets at am. today, made
ready for sightseeing tours of the city
most of them never saw before.
The President shore told them big
fellas what's what" q lanky Texan
commented today on the White House
address.
While the $500 visitors late yester-
day packed the green south lawn of
the Executive Mansion, the President
stood on the portico and. amid hand
claps and hurrahs. made a fighting
talk in which he 1ashed at New Deal
critics:
The crocodile tears shed by the
professional mourners Of an old and
obsolete order over the slaughter of
little pigs and other measures to re-
duce surplus agricultural inventories
deceive very few thinking people and
least Of all the farmers themselves"
Farmers Cheer Speech.
In the shade of magnolias and
naples, the pilgrims, many of them
shirt-sleeved, set up a noisy outburst
of enthusiasm at this unrestrained at
tack from on high against the group
whose denunciations of the processing
tax and the A. A. A. the farmers had
come to answer.
Despite declaration by Senator
Dickinson, Republican, of Iowa, that
the march" was an administration
inspiration, the pilgrims to a man
scoffed at this contention and said
emphatically they themselves decided
it was time to present their wishes
to the Government.
But Agriculture Department county
agents, paid by Federal, State and
county governments, and members of
the County Production Control Com
mittees aided the organization of the
march, called meetings to choose
county delegates to the show and
helped arouse the farmers to finance
the expedition by contributions,
although the Government gave no
financial aid itself to the demonstra-
ton.
The President, in a review of the
course Of farm legislation during re-
cent years. cited three possible courses
the New Deal might have taken to re-
habilitate Americas agriculture, and
dismissed price-fixing and dumping as
unfeasible.
Holds Policy Successful.
Production control and adjustment
answered the problem the President
declared, and went on in the face of
q bedlam of whoops and prairie yells:
II think that you and I are agreed
in seeking a continuance of a ma
tional policy which on the whole is
proving successful.
The memory of old conditions un-
der which the product of a whole
years work often would not bring
you the cost of transporting it to
market Is too fresh in your minds to
let you be led astray by the solemn
admonitions and specious lies of those
who in the past profited most when
your distress was greatest"
He drew laughs from his audience
when he poked jokes at the agricul-
tural ignorance Of the banker who
thought Winter wheat was harvested
in the midst of snowfalls and of the
editor who mistook q field of cotton
for a raspberry patch.
His listeners, full believers in the
equality of man, injected remarks of
their own during the speech. The
name of Gov. Eugene Talmadge of
Georgia, A. A. A. opponent, who was
derided earlier in the day during the
farmers Constitution Hall meeting,
was shouted from the crowd when the
President mentioned that among the
A. A. A. critics were "few leading
citizens who have gone astray."
From Atlanta Talmadge commented
=