Evening star., 1940-06-04
Rural Electricity,
Is Boon 10 Nation,
Yattery Declares
600 Systems Serving
Half Million Formers,
He Says in Forum Talk


He Says in Forum Talk
Harry Slattery, administrator of
the Rural Electrification Admins
trstion, spoke on the growing ex-
tension of electrification facilities
to farm families in an address last
night in the Radio Forum, arranged
by The Star. The address was
broadcast over a national hookup
OF the National Broadcasting Co..
and was heard locally over Station
WMAL.
The text Of the address follows:
The lights are going out all over
Europe. The Rural Electriflcation
Administration is helping to turn
them on all over rural America"
They were striking words, spoken
to me from the heart of a man high
IN the esteem of the American peo-
pie and high in the ranks of Ameri-
can jurisprudence as 1 sat with him
on a recent evening.
Those words stuck in nv heart
AND II phrase can embrace all the
challenge and significance of an
idea, that phrase is today's inspira-
ton for the rural identification pro-
gram: The lights are going out all
over Europe . R. E. A., as we call
the Rural Identification Admins
tration, is helping to turn them on
all over rural America. And as I
speak to you tonight there are
thousands OF farm families along
new r. E. A.-financed rural power
lines from coast to coast who listen
by the light, and hear by the magic
OF radio that electricity has brought
at long last to their farms. They
know much of the story shall tell,
and l trust they hear me with ap-
proval. To all of you, 1 report the
progress of development for the
people of rural America that is
closely linked with the lives and
llvelihoods of every one of us.
America needs light today; light
Tor the mind, and light for the eyes.
with that thought in mind I want
TO acknowledge with deep sincerity
my gratitude for the opportunity to
speak to you tonight-my gratitude
TO the blue network of the N. &C.
and to The Washington Evening
Star. For these Star Forum pro-
grams are designed to bring light
10 our minds. And this brief dis
cuSslon OF the R. E. AS endeayor
to help bring light to the eyes of
rural America will, I think, stand
up to that tradition.
Beginnings of Movement.
For more than 80 years I have
been intimately associated with the
conservation and electric power
program In America. TWENTY-FIVE
years ago l watched the beginnings
OF the movement to bring the bene-
hts OF electricity to the farms of
the country. I heard the late
Senator Robert M. La Toilette
sterling leader and statesman, re-
peat often the slogan which he
carried on the masthead of his
weekly paper. Where there is no
vision. the people perish" He was
one OF the first to voice the hone
OF bringing the blessings of cleo
tr1clty to the families of rural
America. He had the vision.
1Wenty-elght years ago l saw the
great strides already achieved in
rural electrification in Ontario
Canada, and on my return from
that trip. I saw and talked with the
great Steinmetz. wizard of cleo
trlclty, at work in his General Elec-
trlc Co. laboratories in Schenectady
he spoke even then of his belief in
a network of transmission lines
that would grid this country border
to border, and reach into every
hamlet and every home. He had
the vision.
l watched Clifford Pinchot. when
hrst Governor of PENNSYLVANIA, en-
deavor to awaken the keystone
State to the need for rural elec-
trlhcatlon. He had the vision.
In his efforts to decentralize in
dustrlal activity, Justice Louis D
Brandels early saw the need and
personalities of electricity in small
villages, towns and on the farm
He also had the vision-and still
has, assure you.
During the administration of
Theodore Roosevelt the grand
father of the present Secretary of
Agriculture, affectionately known to
thousands of you in the Middle
West as Uncle Henry" Wallace
urged the cooperative electrifca-
ton OF our rural areas.
He had the vision then. His
grandson, Henry A. Wallace, the
present Secretary of Agriculture
mas the vision now as indicated bv
his achievements for the farmers
welfare, and for rural identification
Idea Crystallized Into Action.
President Roosevelt has told how
While he was visiting Warm Springs
some years ago, an idea crystallized
into plan of action. The idea
which he had long cherished was:
'Electrlclty is a necessity of mod
ern life and ought to be found in
every village, every home, every
farm, in every part of the United
States" The plan of action was
the creation of the Rural Electrifi-
cation Administration. All of us
know he had the vision.
Today the work of the Rural
Electriflcation Administration has
brought that vision of these men
and many others to reality
electricity on the farm is a fact for
hundreds of thousands of our peo-
pie. For many more-it is on the
march!
wish it were somehow possible
for you out there on the loud
speaker end of this discussion to
shoot questions at me as 20 along
then we'd have a real forum-but
think I can anticipate many of
your possible queries.
What Is this rural electrification?
Why is the Federal Government
stimulating the DEVELOPMENT of elec-