Evening star., 1950-05-14
Truman Text at Forqo

II HmQn ] ext
Following is a partial tert of
President Truman's address In
Fargo. N. Ddk.::
I have watched with great con
Germ the reports of the flood
which have swept through the Re,
River Valley, and other valley
nearby.
Floods like these are not jus
local affairs. They concern tn
whole nation.
I am glad that have been abl
to allocate 100000, from tn
small amount of emergency fund
; at my disposal, to aid in relievin!
the distress in North Dakota ant
Minnesota.
But I know, just as you do, tina
lno relief program can fully repair
the damage caused by floods
Nothing can bring back crops lost
or cattle drowned, or topsoil car
ried away, or homes destroyed.
Relief after floods is not gooe
enough. We have got to preven
floods.
To do this we must hold more
water in and on the land. WI
must build check dams on the
small streams. We must con.
struct large dams and levees or
the rivers. =.
Cites BaldhiIl Dam.
You folks here in Fargo know
how important this work is. The
Baldhill Dam, on the Cheyenne
River west of here, has been put
into emergency operation to help
out in this flood. And it has
helped.
But Baldhill Dam is only one
step toward the full control OF
the water in this valley, and in
all the other great valleys in our
! country. That must be our goal
This will take a good many
years to accomplish. >.
believe that money spent this
way, to conserve and make better
use of our natural resources is
money soundly invested in the
future welfare and prosperity OF
our country.
Unfortunately, too many people
still can't see this plain, obvious
fact
This whole job of trying to pre-
vent disastrous floods is 9
lot like what we're doing to bring
about world peace.
Similar to War Prevention.
Floods are natural disasters
which can be prevented. Wars
are man-made disasters, but they
can be prevented, too.
The job of preventing another
was is, of course, much more diff
f1cult than the job of preventing
floods. But the two jobs are alike
in requiring many years. tre-
mendous effort. and a lot OF
money.
The people who say, "yes, but it
costs too much" complain about
the cost of our armed forces, and
the Marshall Plan and all the
other work we are doing to build
a peaceful world, just as they COM
plain about the expense of de-
veloping our natural resuorces
OF course, there is much more
to building world peace than
simply investing part of the Fed
eral budget. Building q peace
ful world Is a job that everybody
has to work at because everybody
is concerned with it's success !.
You have seen a clear example
OF that, right here in North
Dakota.
For the past five years, the farm
ers OF this area have helped to
save millions of people from star
vation.
Wheat Fighting Communism.
The wheat that has been going
abroad from our farms has en-
abled millions of people in foreign
countries to have the strength to
stand up against communism and
keep their countries free.
That has been a real contribu-
ton to peace. ..
We have been working for years
to put our wheat trade on a firm
basis.
In April, 1948, an international
wheat agreement, which had beer
worked out with other countries
after years of effort, was sent tt
the Senate of the 80th Congress
Under that agreement, we would
have had dependable market ir
foreign countries for nearly two
hundred million bushels of whea
each year for five years. -.
| But the Senate of the 80th Con
gress did not ratify that whea
agreement, and it died.
That was a victory for the grair
spectators, but a costly defea
for wheat farmers.
We started all over again, ant
negotiated a new wheat agree
ment with foreign countries.
And this time, the Senate of tn
; 81st Congress approved it, in June
1949.
The wheat agreement is jus
one example of the kind of fol-
ward looking step that we need t,
take to build a healthy and ex
,, panding system of world trade. {.
World Trade Importance.
World trade is of Fundamental
Importance to us in two ways
$ First, it affects the question
whether we shall have worl,
, peace or world war. Second,
affects the question whether W
shall have prosperity or depression
v in our own country.
t Try to imagine what it woul
be like if each of our 48 State
were a. separate country, eacl
with its own system of tariffs, an
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