The daily independent., 1936-10-10
Designed To Meet .
Long Neglected
Of Agriculture

st. Paul, Mimi, Oct. 9.-WH--
In his speech at the state capitol
building here tonight. President
Roosevelt pledged continued sup
port to the cooperative movement
in America. r.....
when in 1888 this administra-
ton undertook to meet the des-
perate and long neglected needs
of agriculture" he said, I'VE turn
ed to the cooperative idea and
called to Washington representa-
tives of the great cooperatives and
other farm organizations to work
out a program with us.
1.-The triple A. itself had as its
foundation and its essence the
cooperative idea. Administered 10
cally by community committees
selected by the farmers themselves
it was a picture of economic de-
mocracy in action.
This administration from the
very start came to the support Of
the cooperative ideal by vigorous
action and that support has con-
tinued. That support will continue.
1t established a control bank for
cooperatives with IL regional
banks to aid in marketing and
purchasing.
1T held out the helping hand
on credit to production credit as
sociations to enable farmers to fl
nance production through their
own banks.
THE triple A. has worked di-
rectly with the cooperatives in
their marketing agreement pro-
gram. BY loans to cooperatives we
haev helped to bring the comforts
of electricity to many farms of the
nation.
I'VE did not stop at merely
lending money. When farm prices
were threatened, the adminiStra-
ton held them up by purchasing
surplus products through farm
cooperatives for distribution to
hundreds of thousands of families
faced with hunger in our great
cities.
Must Come From the People
Nevertheless while the gov
ernment can help through its re-
sources, we in Washington have
recognized that cooperation and
cooperatives must come from the
people themselves. Government
can see to 1t that the rules Of the
game are fair as between coopera-
tive enterprise and other enter
prise. But the initiative, the man
agement itself. must spring from
and carry on from the bottom ra-
ther than from the top down.
This administration is deter
mined to continue in active sup
port of the ever-growing farm CO.
operative movement. .'''
Il am happy in the strengthen
ing of this movement at home.
But let us remember that the
same spirit of cooperation is an
essential part of our relations with
the other nations of the world. 1t
is this realistic appreciation of
the benefits of cooperation that
lies behind our efforts to re-estab-
lish foreign markets for our farm
products.
I'm the spring of 1888 our for
eign trade had fallen off to about
one-third of it's former value. That
was what inherited. "',..
The very word trade" means
articles of commerce flowing in
two directions. 1t is not a one way
street. At least we understand
this in our domestic trade. No sin
gle state can produce either crops
or merchandise and continue in
definitely to sell them to other
states for money alone. Eventual
ly they have to be paid for in 9TH
er products.
If We Sell We Must Buy
Foreign trade is just like that.
There cannot be revival of for
eign exports without a revival Of
foreign imports unless of course
we do as we did between 1920 and
1880 and lend our money to for
eign nations to enable them to buy
our own farm and industrial pro-
ducts. ,...
But America has learned her
lesson once and for all about that