Evening star., 1938-07-12
~ the Associated Press.

AMARILLO, July 1.-THE text OF
President Rooseveft's address here last
night follows:
Even " Marvin Jones had not kept
on telling me about Amarillo once .
week for the past i've and half years,
would have known all about It, be-.
cause this Il the spot where my wife
was presented with the biggest bunch
Of flowers in the world.
Before I left home Mrs. Roosevelt
asked me especially to convey her
greetings to Amarillo and to tell you
how much she enjoyed every moment
Of her visit with you.
The biggest bouquet in the world
and here you are greeting me with the
biggest band in the world. Back East
enterprising communities have thought
they were creating world records by
assembling bands of 500 instruments.
but out here you think nothing of .
band with 1000 pieces In it.
All this shows what you can do in
the Panhandle If you put your minds
to 1t, andsthat Is why 1 am very happy
that you are putting your minds on
the subject of water and land use.
Problem Of Land Use
II Found in Every State.
Everywhere you go in the United
States you find the problem OF land
use, and the same thing Is true within
any given State. For instance, here
In Marvin Jones district the problem
Is to get water to the land and to keep
the land from blowing away. Down in
Austin the problem Of my friend, Con-
gresham Lyndon johnson. is to keep
his land from washing away-down
the rivers and into the sea. And fur
ther down at San Antonio, where my
friend. Congressman Maury Maverick,
represents . great city and its sur
rounding territory, the problem of
land use is tied up with better housing
and the needs Of a great municipality.
I wish that more people from the
South and East and the Middle West
could visit this plains country. If
they did you would hear less talk
about great American desert, less rid
lcule of our efforts to conserve water,
to restore grazing lands and to plant
trees
In Washington and on the Hudson
River I have seen the top soil of the
Panhandle and of Western Kansas
and Nebraska borne by the wind high
In the air eastward to. the Atlantic
Ocean itself. want that sight to
come to an end.
National Effort Needed
To Correct the Condition.
1t can be ended only by a united
national effort backed up 100 per
cent by you who live in this area.
Money spent for the building of
ponds and small lakes. damming Of
rivers. for planting shelter belts, for
other forms Of afforestation, for put
ting plow land back into grass is
money well spent.
1t pays to do it not only for this
generation but for the children who
will succeed to the land q few years
hence.
People who are ignorant and peo-
pie who think only in terms of the
moment scoff At our efforts and say
'let the next generation take care OF
itself-if people out in the dry parts
Of the country cannot live there let
them move out and hand the land
back to the Indians" That Is not
my idea or yours. We seek perma-
nently to establish this part Of the
country AS a fine and safe place which
= large number of Americans can call
home
Every year that passes We are
learning more and more about best
use of land. about conserving Of our
soil and the improvements Of it by
getting everything We can out Of every
drop Of water that falls from the
heavens. Back in the Alleghan MES
many of the rivers are called flash
streams''-dry beds or rivulets most
of the year, raging torrents sweep
ing all before them when a cloud
burst or heavy rain occurs. And you
have fash streams here.
Greater Annual Security
Needed for Those Who Use Soil.
We are fortunate in Washington In
having as chairman Of the Agricul-
ture Committee of the House of Rep
resenta tives q man who has q we'll
rounded knowledge of the agriculture
programs in every part of the United
States. He and have discussed many
times the great objective of putting
agriculture and cattle raising on q
safe basis-giving assurance to those
who engage in these pursuits that
they will not be broke one year and
flush the next. We need great
permanency and greater annual Sc
curity for those who use the soil.
The farming and cattle raising
population of the United States has
no desire to be paid q subsidy or given
q handout from the Federal Treasury.
They have come to understand and
the rest Of the country is learning, too.
that the agriculture program of this
administration is not subsidy. 1t
is divided into three principal parts.
The first part represents Govern
ment assistance to help the individual
farmer use his land for those products
for which it Is best fitted and to
maintain and improve its fertility.
rrhn oncord objective Ii with thu