Remarks to Employees at the Department of Agriculture.

Mr. Secretary, and ladies and gentlemen:

It is a very great privilege for me to return to this Department and to this auditorium. I well remember that visit in 1954. Some of you were here then, but most of you were not here then. I think some of you may have been in school then. Who knows?

But in any event, I did want to come to this Department, as well as some of the other departments of Government, for several reasons that I will enunciate, I trust, rather briefly, but with great feeling as far as this group is concerned.

In the first place, I wanted to say a word about your new Secretary. Now, I know in this group that is before me for the most part you are people who have been in this Department for most of your lives, your adult lives. I know that very few of you, as this is the case in Government, have been appointed by the new President and the new Secretary. So, consequently, a new Secretary, I suppose, is always being tested by the Department. They wonder: "Well, what kind of a man is he going to be? Is he going to be an effective advocate of the points of view of that Department in the Cabinet? Is he going to be a good leader of the people in this great Department?"

When I selected the Secretary, it was one of the more difficult of the Cabinet selections. They are all difficult, because you are choosing among many very competent men and women. But I do want to say that since his selection and in watching him not only in his appointments that he has made and recommended to me, watching him also in the very effective and eloquent way that he has represented the Department of Agriculture and its points of view in the Cabinet, as well as in the meetings of the Council of Urban Affairs and the other groups on which he sits, I believe that in Secretary Hardin we have a man that you will be proud to work for. I think he is going to be one of the great Secretaries of Agriculture.

He has already indicated some of the substance that I wanted to emphasize in my remarks.

In the old days--I say the old days, looking back 25 years ago when I first came to Washington or knew it well, or 30 years ago--this Department was considered to be primarily the Department interested in providing better facilities and better incentives for production by America's farmers. That is still, of course, a major responsibility, a major mission for this Department.

I know that the Secretary in his opening statement made it quite clear that one of the first priority assignments of his administration of this Department would be to see to it that America's farmers received their fair share of the increasing growth and wealth and productivity of this Nation. That, however, while it is the primary function of this Department, and traditionally when it first began perhaps its only major function, there are others which the Secretary very properly has emphasized.

The fact that now the role of this Department in waging effectively the battle against poverty and particularly the battle against hunger as it relates to poverty, not only in the United States and the world, this is something which goes beyond simply producing more agricultural products, as all of you know better than I. It goes to other problems.

I noted the tremendous interest--and I think it is encouraging that such an interest finally is developing among the people at large--the interest in the problem of hunger in the United States. You will recall when the public conscience finally became aroused, really aroused, about the problem of hunger in the United States. It was a CBS television program a few months ago in which millions of Americans for the first time, living in what is really the best fed, the best housed, the best clothed Nation in the world, millions of Americans saw on television that in this rich land there is hunger--hunger not simply due to lack of food, but also hunger due to failure to have the right kind of food, the problem of nutrition to which the Secretary has referred.

And so as we look at this problem, it seems to me that there is no department in Government that has a more exciting opportunity, for a reason that you are more aware of than I am.

When we consider America's problems today, one at the top of the list is our agricultural surpluses. We are constantly worrying about that and the budget, and we are worrying about it in terms of our agricultural programs.

But I know that all of you are aware, as I am, that those surpluses are a great bounty for the United States of America. It means that we can effectively deal with the problems of hunger in this country and help with the problems of hunger in the world because we are able to produce so much.

And so that presents the challenge to the men and women in this room, the leaders of this Department, those upon whom the Secretary is going to rely to obtain the advice so that we can effectively use this tremendous productive capacity which this Department has helped to build through the years; so that we can effectively use it in a scientific way to attack the problems of hunger, of malnutrition and all of its facets in this Nation, and thereby also perhaps to set an example to other nations in the world.

It is an exciting problem. It is one in which I have asked the Secretary to assume a special responsibility in the meetings in the Cabinet and in the other various groups in which he sits and in which I am also present. We are going to work on this problem. Other administrations have, too. But we have had it brought to our attention, it seems to me, more directly than has been the case in other administrations for the reasons that I have already mentioned.

I want you to know that this is one of the missions that I trust this Department will undertake with all the success that it has been able to apply to its primary mission of increasing production of agricultural products in the United States.

Then, the third point that I wish to urge upon the group here again is one that I know will be like carrying coals to Newcastle or as the Japanese say, bringing sake to Nada.

What I wish to emphasize is that as we consider the problems, as we did this morning in our Urban Affairs Council, the new Cabinet committee, it was significant to note--and I am sure you noticed this as you checked the press reports--that the Secretary of Agriculture is a member of the Urban Affairs Council. That was at my insistence, at my insistence for two reasons, because we know that the problems of rural America today will be the problems of urban America tomorrow. We know that as life in rural America is less attractive, there is a tendency for people from the farms and from agricultural America to move into the cities.

Of course, we also know that when we look at the very thing that I mentioned a moment ago as being an asset, the productivity, the new methods whereby less farmers, less people on the farm can produce more, this means that all of these new developments result in unemployment for farm workers and eventually they gravitate from the farms to the cities.

So the Secretary of Agriculture is on that particular Council, the Urban Affairs Council, for that reason--but for another reason as well. And the reason is that as we look to America down the road to the end of this century, to the kind of a nation we are going to be, present projections are that our population will increase from 200 million to 300 million and that 80 percent, possibly even 90 percent of that increase will be in the cities of America.

It will happen that way unless there is a change with regard to life in rural America. I am glad that we have in the Secretary of Agriculture a man who understands this problem, understands it and has done some very exciting thinking about it. He is also a man that understands the problems of hunger and nutrition, a man who understands the role that the United States has in the world.

As you know, he has had some publications in this field most recently. But referring particularly to the problems of rural America as they relate to urban America, I think that you would be interested to know that on the evening that I made the sale to the Secretary of Agriculture and was able to convince him that he should lose he didn't lose it; he wasn't fired; most college presidents are these days-but in any event, that he should leave-he was a very successful chancellor of the University of Nebraska--that he should leave that post and come into Government.

He will remember, I am sure and I am telling you, that over half of the discussion was on this great, exciting mission which this Department and other departments in the Government in support of this Department must work on: That is to look at rural America--the 50 million people who live in what is called "rural America"--to deal with its problems in just an effective way and with the same sense of urgency that we deal with the problems of urban America.

I mention these things which are routine to you. I noted that the Secretary in his opening statement had covered them when he addressed the members of his Department after he was confirmed.

I mention them to you only to indicate to you that at the Presidential level, at the White House level, that I understand the importance of the work of this Department. I understand that your primary responsibility is to the farmers of America and to increasing farm production, more effective methods for production.

I understand, too, your responsibility to those who live on the farms in terms of income and the rest. But I also want you to know that I put a special emphasis, as does your new Secretary, on the other problems that are mentioned: the problems of hunger in this Nation as it affects not only the amount of food, but as it affects also nutrition and diet generally and, finally, that we put a special emphasis on this overall problem of the kind of nation we are going to build looking down the road to the end of this century.

There is no department in this Government that will play a bigger role in seeing what kind of a nation this is going to be than the members of this Department.

You are referred to, as you know, as an "old line department." But I would remind you that when this Department was set up by Abraham Lincoln or during his administration, he said that it was "the department of the people," because it was more concerned with people than any other department of Government.

That was undoubtedly true in the rural America of Lincoln's time. What I am saying to you today is this is still the department of the people because you are concerned with the problems of people. And while it is an old line department, you have a new, fresh challenge.

I am glad that you have here the new thinking, the new ideas, that this country needs in these fields.

And Mr. Secretary, if I could conclude with one final thought that I have tried to emphasize in my visits to the various departments. I do not think it is necessary to emphasize here but if you will permit me, I would like to spend just one moment on this point.

In this room are the leaders. In this room are those who are responsible for the conduct of the thousands of employees of the Department of Agriculture in Washington and across the Nation.

The kind of leadership that you provide in this room will determine the morale of the people in this great Department and it will also determine their effectiveness.

And I simply want you to know that, as I mentioned at the outset, I am completely aware of the fact that only a very few people, those in these front rows, were appointed by the new administration.

I recognize that no matter how effective those people that were appointed by this administration are, that they are going to fail unless they have the backing, unless they have the dedication of the thousands of career people who have been in the Department of Agriculture and who will make the difference between success and failure for whatever administration comes in.

I respect the career service in this Government. I respect the fact, as I came through the hall, that one man told me that he had been in the Department for 35 years. I appreciate the fact that that man had he gone perhaps into business or into some other kind of activity, he might have done better economically. But he was in government because he felt that this gave his life a sense of purpose that he could not get in some other kind of activity.

And I want you to know that in this new administration, we not only respect those who are the career servants. We realize that you have made and are making a tremendous contribution to this country. We realize that our successes in administration will depend upon what you do.

We want you to know that we are going to back you up because we are convinced that as we back you up, you are going to give us the support that we need to give America the kind of leadership it wants.

Thank you.