The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1941-01-23
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FARM BUREAU CHIEF
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The Presidents chat with Ed
O'Neal, soft-spoken head of the
American Farm Bureau federation,
was not as harmonious as the i'm
preston given when he emerged
beaming from the White House.
On foreign policy the two men saw
eye to eye, but it was quite different
on the farm question. O'Neal
bluntly chided Roosevelt for not CIV
ing more consideration to agricul-
tural interests in the defense pro-
gram.
''We've been hearing how business
will prosper and the rights of
labor will be protected" O'Neal
said. you've had plenty to say
about this in your speeches, but
you've been silent on the farm ques-
ton as related to national defense"
maybe that's because I have no
complaint against the farmers"
said Roosevelt, in effect.
''Well, we have a complaint
against you," shot back O'Neal,
with no trace of jocularity. Cali
this pickering and indecision in con-
gress about farm legislation to be
submitted at this session is due
chiefly to the administration fail
ure to agree on steps that should be
taken"
O'Neal had no real success in
urging on the President the Farm
Bureaus plan for government loans
up to IS per cent of parity on basic
crops to keep production up to de-
mand. (Parity loans now range
from So to rs per cent? Acreage
control benefits, plus the loan guar
antee, he commended, would enable
farmers to get full parity, while
dumping" on government ware
houses of cotton and wheat sur
pluses could be stopped by the i'm
position of penalties for overproduc-
ton.
This plan was a compromise,
O'Neal told Roosevelt, between the
present loan program and the proc
essing (sales) tax proposal of the
Republican-backed income certifi-
cate plan.
Roosevelt agreed that farm prices
would have to be lacked up and pro-
duction restricted, but demured
at appropriating more funds for
parity loans. He argued that the
vast defense expenditures would
boost crop prices automatically. But
this line of reasoning did not per-
suade O'Neal.
"Mr. President" he said with a
grin, "I'm telling you now that
we're going to demand full parity
from this congress. Our convention
in Baltimore approved the plan I
have outlined to you and we won't
rest until we get it,
U. S. FAR BEHIND EUROPE IN
PLANES PROTECTIVE ARMOR
One hushed-up sore spot in the
dragging plane program is in armor
protection-a field that, like so many
other aviation developments, origi-
mated in the United States but was
left to others to exploit.
Armor-plate protection for fighting
planes first saw the light of day in
the Nicaraguan campaign against
the rebel General SANDING during
the Coolidge administration. To pro-
tect themselves against snipers lurk-
ing in the jungle, marine corps pi-
lots equipped the undersides of their
ships with makeshift armor guards.
Although crude, this protection
saved more than one pilots life. But
beyond this start, the army and
navy did almost nothing. And it re-
manned for the alert Nazis to devel-
op the idea, just as they did the
Stuka dive bombers which original
ed with the u. S. navy. AS result
Nazi planes are among the best pro-
tected in the world.
simultaneously, the Nazis began
increasing the caliber of their air.
plane guns in order to Offset enemy
armor plating. Belatedly England
turned to armor protection and
heavier guns, but we did nothing
regarding arrnor and very little re-
garding guns-until recently.
AS a result, the United States is
now up against a double bottleneck.
One is limited technical experience
on how to armor planes without
diminishing speed and maneuvera-
bility. Two is lack of plant facilities
to produce lightweight, bullet
resistant armor.