Address at Butler University, Indianapolis, Before the National Institute of Animal Agriculture

Dean Reed, and my fellow Americans:

I hope you will permit me, first, a personal message from my wife who, because of slight indisposition, couldn't come this evening and stayed on her plane. She heard that this magnificent chorus was going to sing "Mamie," and she asked me particularly to thank the chorus on her behalf.

I feel a deep sense of distinction in meeting so many of you tonight, both you in this great hall and those I am privileged to greet by radio and by television in their own homes across this land.

May I, first, on behalf of all of us, pay my respects to the distinguished leaders of American agriculture here with us this evening. Likewise, I salute the leaders in research, science, and industry who are taking part in this meeting through the National Institute of Animal Agriculture.

And, my friends, will you permit me to pay a personal tribute to a former county agricultural agent who is with us tonight. I refer to the most devoted, most dedicated friend of American agriculture I know: our Secretary of Agriculture, Ezra Taft Benson.

Now, my principal purpose this evening is to give you an account of this administration's stewardship in matters specially affecting our agricultural community. In doing so I do not mean to imply that our farmers' interests are limited to farming. Far from it! Nor is a prosperous agriculture of interest to the farmer alone. The welfare of 163 million Americans is bound up with our Nation's agriculture--just as every farmer is affected by all national and world affairs.

First, our farmers, like the rest of us, want and need peace. They want their boys at home, and not at war. So, it is important to all of us that the seemingly endless and frustrating war in Korea was ended 14 months ago. Today we have peace. For the first time in 20 years, there is no active battlefield anywhere in the world. And I pledge to you that every resource of this country is being tirelessly used to make it a lasting peace. Our Nation extends the hand of friendship to all in the world who will grasp it in honesty and good faith. We will confer on this subject with any and all--if only we can have some assurance of sincerity of purpose, which must underlie all progress toward permanent peace. In this I know I speak for every American citizen, regardless of partisan or any other consideration.

Our farmers, just as all of us, want America strongly defended. Now, under methods that assure the least possible cost to the taxpayer, our military strength grows daily. And we have today the strongest Armed Forces in our peacetime history, and by far the most efficient.

Our farmers, like all the rest of us, want relief from oppressive taxation. In 21 months we have cut the cost of Government by 11 billion dollars. This tremendous saving made possible a tax cut of 7 billion, 400 million dollars. It is the largest tax cut in history--an equivalent of about $180 for every family in America.

Our farmers, like all the rest of us, demand efficient Government. In 1 1/2 years 211 thousand excess positions have been dropped from the Federal payroll.

Our farmers, as all of us, want a trustworthy government--a government that deals quickly and effectively with those in its employ who are unfit, or corrupt, or tinged with communism. Misfits are being tirelessly searched out and removed from sensitive government positions. New laws passed by the 83d Congress have powerfully strengthened the efforts of the Department of Justice and the FBI to deal with the Communist menace in our country.

Our farmers, and all of us, want a national economy strong in all its parts, not dependent on the froth of inflation or the blood of the battlefield. We have moved from war to peace without the economic collapse so widely predicted last winter by professionally pessimistic but politically hopeful prophets. For our Nation as a whole, this year 1954 is the most prosperous peacetime year in our entire history.

Even so, as the inevitable aftermath of war and inflation, economic dislocations and individual hardships exist in some industrial communities and in some farming areas. My heart truly goes out to every citizen who wants to work and has no job, or who, in other ways, suffers these hardships. Methods to eliminate distress and to build enduring economic strength in these localities are being thoroughly explored and pursued.

So, peace, lower taxes, honest government, a strong economy, personal security--these we must seek for every American. We must never forget that the fortunes of all of us are tightly intertwined. This interdependency applies also among the nations of the world--certainly among the nations which are free.

This was not so widely understood when I was a boy working on the farms of Kansas. Then, a half-century ago, we were, except for the weekly newspaper, somewhat isolated from the rest of the world- In those days we plowed with a team of horses and a one-bottom plow. We stacked our hay by hand. When a calm stopped the windmill we had to pump countless buckets of water for use in home and stable. The nearest thing to a tractor we saw were the big engines used for running threshing machines.

And then came automobiles, mechanization, electricity, telephone, radio, and television, and life today on our farms is a far different thing.

And yet, in many ways, it hasn't changed. Markets and weather are still unpredictable. Wind and hail, mud and dust, floods and drought still exist. There are still the insects and plant and animal disease. Watering and feeding the stock, and milking the cows, still have to be done right on time. In short, good farming is still sun-up to sun-down work.

But just look at what this hard work has done for America

A skilled American farm worker today produces food and clothing for eighteen other Americans. What a contrast with countries where as many as nine must toil to provide food for themselves and one other person.

And yet, in large sections of agriculture, this work has not received its fair reward. Two years ago, the farmers of America were fearful--they were fearful for reasons that went beyond their suspicions of corruption and subversion in government and the Korean war. They saw definite signs of impending disaster in farm programs and in our agricultural economy.

They wanted a stop to falling income, a stop to rising farm costs, a stop to the loss of markets, a stop to the piling up of threatening and unmanageable surpluses.

In the 2 years before this administration took office in January 1953, the parity ratio dropped nineteen points. Our farmers suffered a serious loss in buying power. Here are the facts.

In 1947, a cotton farmer could buy a pickup truck with 9 bales. By the end of 1952, it took not 9 but 14 bales.

In 1947, 800 bushels of corn would buy a tractor. By the end of 1952, it took not 800 but over 1,300 bushels--two-thirds more.

In 1947, 930 bushels of wheat would buy a combine. By the end of 1952, it took not 930 but over 1,600 bushels--three-fourths more.

My friends, this steady decline in farmers' buying power took place under the old farm law--a law that is still in effect. Yet, some would have our farmers believe that in the future this law will do what it has failed miserably to do in the past.

Now every farmer knows why his income declined. Agriculture was losing markets. Prices were depressed by uneconomic production which was encouraged by the old farm law.

The truth is, this vital problem of markets and surpluses had never been faced head on. Two wars had postponed the day of inevitable reckoning.

It was war--World War II--which supplied the markets for farm surpluses that had piled up in the late 1930's.

In 1950, another war, this time in Korea, postponed the problem until 1952.

Now, clearly war is not an American solution for any problem. At Kasson, Minnesota, two years ago, I pledged that a Republican administration would seek a lasting, peaceable agricultural program.

Twenty-one months ago we set out to develop a durable, logical plan. We sought objective, expert advice from practical farmers, farm groups, commodity specialists. We consulted with educators, law makers, food processors. The final result was a comprehensive program passed by the 83d Congress, under Republican leadership.

So, at last, we have a program which attacks our farm problem on both crucial fronts--markets and production. We have a farm program geared not to war, but to peace--a program that will encourage consumption, expand markets, and realistically adjust farm production to markets. It will begin the movement toward that full parity in the market place which 2 years ago at Kasson I set as a goal.

By removing from normal trade channels a large part of the stocks now owned by the Government, we have reduced their depressing effect on farm prices and price support levels.

The program provides, of course, for price supports. They are essential. They are, however, only one of many steps essential to a prosperous agriculture--steps that should have been taken long ago.

Now let's review some of the progressive measures passed by the 83d Congress in this general area.

First, it passed a new law to use a billion dollars' worth of our farm commodities to expand our foreign markets.

Second, this same Congress overcame 30 years of frustration and authorized the St. Lawrence Seaway which will bring to millions of farmers low-cost transportation and readier access to foreign markets.

And I warn you, my friends, this list of accomplishments of the 83d Congress is a long one.

Third, this same Congress extended social security to five and a half million farmers and farm workers. For years these farmers had been indirectly helping to pay the costs of the social security system. Now, for the first time, our farmers will receive its benefits.

Fourth, this same Congress permits farmers to deduct for tax purposes up to 25 percent of their income each year for the costs of many soil conservation practices.

Fifth, this same Congress accelerated the depreciation period for newly-constructed grain storage facilities and liberalized depreciation for new farm equipment.

Sixth, this same Congress launched a program that provided storage for more than 500 million bushels of grain.

Seventh, this same Congress provided effective incentives to wool growers.

Eighth, this same Congress gave independence to the Farm Credit Administration and provided for its eventual control by farmers themselves--something that farmers had been demanding for many, many years.

Ninth, this same Congress increased Federal funds for agricultural research.

Tenth, the administration and this same Congress vigorously advanced the farm electrification program. Loans to electric and telephone borrowers during the 1954 fiscal year totaled $242 million. With this help, telephone borrowers provided more modern service, more new lines, and connected more subscribers than during the four previous years combined.

Eleventh, this same Congress passed a law to develop the upstream protection of watersheds by assuring Federal technical and financial help to local groups. And very important, these programs will not be planned by an all-wise bureaucracy in far-off Washington. They will be planned at the instance of local people, with the cooperation and participation of State and local governments.

Twelfth, this same Congress made loans available to develop water improvements on farms and ranches throughout America--loans formerly limited to 17 States.

Thirteenth, this same Congress authorized loans for drainage facilities, reforestation, and other water and soil conservation practices.

Fourteenth, this same Congress authorized the establishment of the Farm Cooperative Service as a separate and vital agency in the Department of Agriculture. This action is in line with our determination to strengthen farmer cooperatives.

Fifteenth, this same Congress, working with the administration, has swiftly met sudden crises in agriculture.

You remember the terrible drought of 1953 and the help provided by the Federal Government. Tragically, it is true that this year, in large regions of our country, a serious drought still exists. Again we are extending help. In 15 States--in more than 850 counties--we are providing credits and low-cost feed.

Recently we worked out with the railroads a 50 percent reduction in all freight rates on hay shipments in the drought areas. This cooperation of the railroads is a valued contribution to the common good. And in your name I thank those railroads.

So, my friends, in 21 months we have gone far toward building for our agriculture a foundation of enduring prosperity, in an America at peace. And yet, much remains to be done.

We must, for example, do more, much more, for the operators of small farms who in programs of previous years have been too often forgotten.

We must advance atomic research to assist and develop low-cost electric power for our farms and increase efficiency in food production and preservation.

We must continue to foster conservation of our valuable soil and water resources and improve the productivity of our land.

We must prepare for that day when our concern will not be surpluses, but the production of enough food for a gigantic population.

We must continue to free our farmers from paralyzing bureaucratic control.

We must constantly improve existing programs, adapting them as new conditions arise.

My friends, all 163 million of our citizens have an enormous stake in making certain that this program is carried through in its entirety. Your leaders in the executive and legislative branches of your Government are determined to bring it to pass.

As we forge ahead with this program, we know that awaiting all of us is opportunity undreamed of but a few years ago. This opportunity is surely ours if we keep vital and strong our unmatched will to advance and grow our individual initiative and our personal freedoms.

Opportunity is ours if we continue to reject policies that lead to ever higher taxes, to regimentation, to dependence on a government far from our homes.

Opportunity will be ours if we keep a government of teamwork--a government of harmony and good will--to continue the advance along the course charted 21 months ago.

We need a Congress and an executive department both guided by leaders of the same general political philosophy. The leaders of both those great branches must be dedicated to the same broad programs and objectives. These are the reasons for my deep conviction that for the next 2 years our national welfare will be best served by a Republican-led Congress.

But, my friends, let us--all of us--strive together for that kind of future for America--a future boundless in opportunity, unlimited in rich promise for our farmers, for all of us, for our children. For it is given to us to do our part in building and preserving America--an America whose shining faith and hope and freedom will continue to light the way for all in the world who, with us, love liberty and peace.

Thank you very much--thank you.