Milford chronicle., 1961-08-25
Annual REA Meeting
Was Largely Attended
continued from page one)

continued from page one)
Electric heat displays were
shown by. Aircraft Electric Sup
ply. Salisbury. Maryland; M. A.
Keller, Lewes; Westinghouse Elec-
trio Supply Company. Wilmington |;
r. A. Johnson and Company, Glen
side, Pa.
Roger Fleming, secretary-trea-
surer of the American Farm Bur-
eau Federation, told members that
/ the long term interest of rural
electric cooperatives and their
user-members lies inf strengthen
ing the private, competitive enter
prise system.
Abiding to moves being made by
public power advocates to greatly
broaden the scope of their activ-
tiles, Fleming told the Delaware
group:
81 can see no reason why ma
tionali1ation is any more desire
able for the power business than
for any other business.
prises are taken over by govern
ment, the greater the tax burden
on the rest of the economy. Every
society which has experimental
with public ownership of CONNER
cial enterprises has discovered that
it is the politically managed Sec
tor of the economy that becomes
Inefficient, stagnates and must be
subsidized by the private sector"
z The elected voting delegates of
the member state Farm Bureaus
at the most recent annual meet
ing of tn AFBF, reiterated their
opposition to the conversion of rur-
al electric cooperatives into a pub
lie power system, Fleming de-
clared:
"COOperatives, like other private
businesses. are owned by individ-
uals, rather than by government"
he went on. Both seek to provide
service on a business basis, both
seek to minimize costs and to
maximize returns, both endeavor
to return any benefits from their
operations to individual citizens
rather than to government, both
are managed by boards Of directors
representing ownership and men,
bership and both are relatively free
of government control"
He said he felt one Of the things
most needed is for rural electric
cOOperatives to cause their men,
bers to feel and know they own
a specified interest in the coOpera-
tive. and to make that ownership
more significant than mere possess
sion Of a piece OF paper or a book
keeping entry.
The power field is not the only
area where government planners"
see broadscale government inter-
vention as a panacea, Fleming
He pointed to the proposal that
federal marketing orderssuccess-
commodities-be expanded to cover
the nation and to include all or
most agricultural commodities.
Saying that federal marketing
orders have been relatively sue
cessful in the dairy and fresh
fruit and vegetable fields because
they have been used locally. Flem-
lng warned that national market
ing orders are not cure-alls for
all farm problems.
Even in the dairy marketing ord
sr field, he said, there have been
problems arising from bloc voting
and from attempted expansions OF
the areas covered by existing ord
ers. Further, he added, Farm Bur-
eau never had agreed that federal
orders should be used
to control production or to col
lect money for advertising and
sales promotion.
Marketing, he said. is the logical
concern Of farmers and their or
CARNATIONS and the Farm Bureau
is aggressively pursuing market
ing practices.
Recently. he added. Farm Bur-
eau organized the American Ag-
Marketing Association
to help farmers develop their own
groups. In addition,
rdTfn BUREAU has us own trade
Corporation, with an
office in Rotterdam, Holland, to
assist American agriculture devel-
op dollar sales for farm products
Fleming told his audience that
as desirable as improved market
ing practices are, they should not
be regarded as the whole answer
to problems piled up as the result
of the longtime disruption of ag-
ricultural production by unwise
programs, which have
induced the production OF huge
SURPRISES.
He said Farm Bureau Is con-
tinuing to push in the Congress
for its cropland adjustment pro-
gram under which 60 to 80 mill
lion acres Of productive land would
be retired on a voluntary basis to
help farmers make the transition
from surplus production to produc-
ton for the market.
The cropland adjustment pro-
gram, he said, would require a
minimum Of control and would al
low farmers to produce for con-
sumner demand rather than for |
government storage
n