Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1952-06-06
Conservation Is q Job
Mainly for Local Areas

SOsSSbV0StOb - " JVU
Mainly for Local Areas
@. Crowder Of the st. Paul
Dispatch: VIII you state your
views on farm price supports and
soil conservation?
A. The question Is my views
on farm price support and soil
conservation. I am going to
take it backwards for the simple
reason that the second part, In
my opinion. Is so easily dis
posed Of.
I believe, and when we are
talking about the. wastage Of
our natural resources and we
talk in terms Of copper and tin
and zinc and all the rest Of 1t,
we have nothing so precious as
our soil and we have been
negligent in these over the past
800 years in allowing it to float
down our rivers. We must get
after 1t and again I want to do
it so far as it can be done
locally. with the major part Of
the responsibility and the con-
troll and the authority in the
local areas and the Federal
Government devoting such aid
and assistance and technical
work as 1t can and is necessary.
The second part, on your
farm prices: This is Just as far
as I can 60 at this moment be-
cause I have had at least five
or six different representatives
of several farm organizations
talk to me about 1t. ! believe
that because of the peculiar
conditions of agriculture we
must make certain that it never
suffers disaster due to natural
causes and things which they
cannot foreSee.
When you talk to me, IS per
cent. IS per cent. 95 per cent.
gentlemen, I don't know. and 1t
is the farm organizations and
people representing all Of the
public. My passion is the pub
lies interest and is the thing
that must be guarded; we get
them all together and certainly
it is to the public's interest
that we have a prosperous ag-
riculture. Besides that, my
heart is with it and that Is as
accurately as I can answer the
question at this moment.
@. From the floor: Gen.
Eisenhower, President Truman
has said that it would be dan
gerous, in. his opinion, for q
Republican to be elected Presi-
dent. What Is your opinion
about a Democrat being elected?
A. / think I have had my say
on 1t. I said it yesterday. I
will take one more question.
@. From the floor: General,
how do you like this routine?
A. Gentlemen, I want to say
something. When I put my
hand to my pillow, I know only
one rule--to work as hard as
you possibly can. I am Ger
tainly going to try to work
honestly. honorably. and in
keeping with what really be-
lieve the American people would
like me to- do.
b. Now, that in doing so, I run
into many. things that disrupt
personal plans, personal aspira-
tions, to my mind, is of no mo-
ment. There are none of us
here whose Importance is such
that it makes a bit of difference
whether or not he likes the
routine, so I just can't. I don't
want to lie to you and say that
I love all this. I do say that
I am in it now with heart and
soul because I want to see
whether I have a duty.
This is my last question,
gentlemen. There are going to
be more press conferences and
I really can't answer all ques-
tons.
@. From the floor: Will you
make an estimate on your dele
gate strength at the Republican
National Convention?
A. No, because I don't know
enough about 1t. I have heard
estimates even from my own
friends that vary very widely
and I don't know.
@. From the floor: Mr.. Els
enhower, from Movietone News
reel, did you ever dream some
day when you left Abilene that
you would come back some day
and run for the. presidency Of
the United States?
A. I don't know what dreams
crowd the head Of a young boy.
but think that before I left,
my real problem was whether
to try to be q Hans Wagner or
a railroad conductor. I remem-
Der that both Of them were very
important.