April 26, 1967
Page 10918
THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE NATIONAL GRANGE
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, the year 1967 marks the 100th anniversary of a great farm organization, the National Grange. It is indeed proper, therefore, that the Post Office Department saw fit to issue a stamp commemorating this event in American history.
In ceremonies held last week in the patio of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Secretary of Agriculture Orville L. Freeman addressed a large group gathered for the unveiling of the stamp.
He took the opportunity to make some trenchant and timely comments on the farm price situation and the outlook for U.S. farming under the Food and Agriculture Act of 1965.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Secretary's remarks be printed in the RECORD.
There being no objection, the Secretary's remarks were ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:
REMARKS BY SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE ORVILLE L. FREEMAN AT THE NATIONAL GRANGE COMMEMORATIVE STAMP CEREMONY, MONDAY, APRIL 17, 1967, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, WASHINGTON, D.C.
National Master Newsom, Mr. Belen, honored guests, and my friends of the National Grange:
I'm honored to take part in this program and pleased to add my congratulations to the Grange on this auspicious occasion. I'm particularly pleased to have the opportunity to pay tribute to this organization's many and significant contributions to America and to express my personal appreciation of the Grange's leadership in the struggle to reach parity of income for the American farmer and revitalize the entire rural economy. And in the process I would make a confident prediction: The National Master of the Grange will go down in history as one of America's, indeed the world's, great statesmen of agriculture.
The Grange has written an indelible record of achievement in its first hundred years. And, Herschel, a fellow told me a story the other day that would indicate the Grange has even brighter days ahead.
It seems two farmers were trying to decide which farm organization to join.
"I don't know what to do," one said to the other. "The NFO won't let me sell anything and the NFU won't let me buy anything. Seems to me that leaves the Grange. At least I could dance every Saturday night." Well, it takes more than Saturday night dances to earn the honor of a commemorative stamp, and I, for one, am delighted that this occasion will draw the entire nation's attention to what the Grange has done for this country the past century.
Let me call the roll quickly.
You pioneered farm education, laid the groundwork for the establishment of farmer cooperatives, developed the original Farm Credit Act, and you championed interstate highway programs, legislation to remove the federal tax on fuel for "on the farm" use, Rural Free Delivery and the Parcel Post System, REA, the Soil Conservation Service, Farmers Home Administration, Extension Service, Vocational Agriculture Program, Crop Insurance, Upstream Small Watershed, School Lunch and Milk Program, Great Plains, Food for Peace and Food for Freedom, and Rural Area Development.
The passage of the Granger Laws brought about judicial and official recognition that the public does have a proper interest in the policy and decisions of big business.
And you were a key factor in the formation of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and the International Federation of Agricultural Producers.
If a single word could describe the National Grange, that word would be "responsible."
Historically, you have avoided extremes . . choosing, instead, to move inexorably ahead on a solid middle path.
In the matter of farm commodity policy, you reject complete reliance on the "free market" at the same time you reject overregulation of agriculture.
You have recognized that farm commodity supplies must be brought into balance with the real needs of the nation . . . including its foreign commitments . . and you backed this up with your wise support of the Food and Agriculture Act of 1965.
I use the word "wise" deliberately, for in the first year of the four years this Act will span, we rounded the turn into a New Era of American agriculture.
The surpluses of the Fifties are, for the most part, gone, and for the first time in years our farmers are being asked to grow more ... instead of less.
Today, the market is nearer supply-demand balance than it has been a half a century, and the market is freer of Government than it has been in 30 years.
And last year farm income made almost unprecedented gains. Gross farm income and net farm income set new records, and total net farm income was the second highest in history.
Since the 1966 high income watermark we have slipped some this year. Temporary but familiar forces mostly beyond our control – a bumper grain crop in Canada, Australia, and Russia and increased production of fed cattle and hogs – have come together all at once and are exerting heavy downward pressure on farm prices. We are all worried about the 7 percent farm price sag since last fall. The prices the farmer must pay continue to climb. The cost-price squeeze which improved markedly last year is again severely punishing the American farmer.
I am deeply concerned with these recent developments. However, I do believe them to be temporary in nature. There is no way I know to completely eliminate the peaks and valleys in agriculture. Nature is always unpredictable. But we are learning to smooth them out and avoid boom and bust. This is what the Food and Agriculture Act of 1965, which might be called a Granger law because it incorporates longstanding Grange two-price principles, seeks to do. I believe it will work if we work at it and don't discourage too easily.
I am confident that prices will strengthen later in the year, and that over the four year pull of the Food and Agriculture Act of 1965 the hills and valleys will level out ... and the good will far outweigh the bad.
Remember, we've had only one year under the Act. And in that year, farm income made the greatest advance in 20 years.
Earlier this month, the President said: "we are trying to use the Act of 1965 – and the four years of stability it gives us – to increase farm income substantially. There will be price fluctuations. There will be price frustrations. But these, we believe, during this four-year period will straighten out."
What we need most today are the confidence that we now have the tools to build a bigger, stronger, healthier American agriculture ... and the perseverance to give those tools a fair test.
We can take a lesson from the little boy who was learning to skate. His tumbles aroused the sympathy of a bystander, who said: "Sonny, don't you think you've had enough? Why don't you stop for a while and just watch the others?"
With tears streaming down his face from the last spill, the youngster looked up and said: "Mister, I didn't get these skates to give up with. I got 'em to learn how with."
We didn't get the last five great farm bills to give up with. We got 'em to succeed with. And we will succeed . . . if we don't let a tumble or two discourage us.
Master Herschel Newsom and members of the Grange, here and all about this great United States of ours, on behalf of the President of the United States, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and, yes, of all America, I extend to you thanks and congratulations on 100 years of service and accomplishment!