NFO-100 (AV10507): US Farm Report: Unity in Community

[music] welcome to us farm report the public information program brought to you in the interest of agriculture rural business and the welfare of our nation by the members of the national farmers organization of this local area today's special guest is pastor Alvin P Brucklacher who is now serving the Florence Rural Lutheran Parish of the American Lutheran Church at Florence South Dakota for it the first time pastor Brucklacher will discuss a three-phase plan of action for all people from the National to county level in urban and rural America and will point out specific steps that can be taken to achieve unity u.s. farm report presents unity and community with pastor Brucklacher hello folks I'm happy to come into your home today and to speak with you with a few of my concerns I was just looking and glancing at a few notes here in a recent book which I have purchased entitled roots in the soil an introduction to the philosophy of Agriculture by Johnson D Hill and Walter E Stuermann I was noting especially the two basic things mentioned in this book first there is an indispensable link between the superstructure of a complex civilization and the soil and secondly the chief product of the farm is the person's can constitute that link and they are the most important agricultural resource for our national health and good character now one of my concerns is concerning this national health there has been an unhealthy thing in rural America and it has been the disunity that prevails often time between and amongst farm groups for that reason I would like to speak with you on the unity in community we've heard this word community a lot of times but how many times have we ever thought about the last half of this word unity in community this is our spiritual concern today the solution to our survival of rural America I believe will be found in a renewal and not in a retreat or a removing of our resources and the main resources are people the solution will begin with unity it has been said that unity is not a problem to be solved but a process to be begun it is a fact that is recognized by many people throughout our country that the disunity and disharmony amongst the farmer is the main thing that is blocking this solution now we must understand this as human beings in our existence under God man fell from God through disobedience there was something else that happened in this process man fell from his neighbor and in a positive relationship with him so there not only had has been a separation between God and man there has also been a separation between man and man and this has been described as disunity or disharmony so therefore it is a spiritual concern that we proceed to cut into this problem of disunity and solve it with unity not too long ago a representative Elvin Oginski of Wisconsin raised the question how can the government solve the farm problem when the farmers themselves and the farm organizations are divided on what should be in the committee print on food cost and farm price from the 88th Congress second division of which Harold E Cooley was the chairman of the committee on agriculture in 1964 he stated to develop the essential bargaining power with or without government stabilization will require great unity and cooperation among farmers such solidarity to this writing appears to be remote indeed there is great disharmony among farmers as to public policies relating to their well-being further he adds the future of agriculture as an enterprise adequately rewarded in the marketplace is not encouraging one of the greatest accomplishments has been the speaking out of our spiritual leaders in urging the farmers to halt bitter controversies and reform thinking and attitude a leader in this movement is the father Edward O'Rourke a great leader in the National Catholic rural life I noticed a copy of his speech to the NFO convention in 1962 wherein he said your enemy is not your neighbor or the other farm organizations your enemy is the disunity among farmers and the unwarranted attacks which are being directed toward good organizations and policies I also noticed a comment of father Lewis Miller of Elk in,South Dakota from a recent article in the East River electiv- Electric Guardian of South Dakota where and he urged farm organizations must present a common front to solve this crisis they don't realize the desperate need to work together the most tragic thing is the terrible disunity among farm groups Dr. E. W. Mueller of the National Lutheran Council in his article the silent struggle makes an interesting point which speaks the message we need to hear in our day and I quote people who wrestle with the farm problem must approach their assignment in the spirit of men of goodwill unless a spirit of goodwill is the major concern of the farm groups an individual seeking a solution little can be accomplished at the present time it does seem very hopeless and at times the outlook appears very dismal for any future projection of unity among farmers and farm organizations yet rural renewal at present is moving toward fulfillment through the cooperative efforts of the rank-and-file of local people in our rural communities there is unity in community on the move today we are witnessing the combined efforts of the people in the grassroots level working together for the unity in community for a long time the continued success in agriculture has been hampered by the unwillingness of the farm organizations to work together disunity has been the chief factor in keeping the farm the farmer from group action that will bring common good to all disunity is a spiritual concern therefore the church and its ministers and people must take the leadership which is their Christian calling to call together the various groups in the community to one voice I believe this to be a command of love from our Lord Jesus Christ in the 17th chapter of the Gospel of St. John in the Holy Bible we read the words of our Lord Jesus Christ recorded as spoken by him over nineteen hundred years ago in which he prayed that his people would be one even as he and the heavenly father were one I do not believe that he had reference only to his disciples but for all men and in all walks of life as well as in church circles in the prayers and liturgy of our churches we pray for the unity of all and if we really mean it we ought to do more to bring it about in our everyday relationships where people live there is a lot of conflict in the world today but this should not leave us with alarm oftentimes God permits us to frustrate ourselves and in our feverish attempts we may lean more upon him to accomplish his purposes if we will but review the progress of the history of mankind we will note that in the midst of conflict and strife unity is born it is my firm conviction that the new birth of freedom of which Abraham Lincoln spoke is being realized today oh it is not making the headlines nor is it being realized that top level but it is surely and slowly progressing and moving with increasing swiftness to a climactic fulfillment it is being realized by people who are determined to make it happen this disunity is being eliminated little by little and the barriers of bigotry are being busted I would like to review at this time for you the progress that has been made and my personal acquaintance with it in South Dakota when I first spoke out about three years ago there were those who were equipped to silence me in my convictions but I could not quench the inner voice now a new climate exists within three years in many communities the doors are opening I recall speaking at a business men's group once we're in we discussed the importance of keeping our people and keeping their income in the farm communities I also recall in 1964 speaking to a men's club group at Britton South Dakota where approximately a hundred men were present in which we discussed the importance of the farm problem and the farmers income I remember several meetings also in in Catholic parish halls I recall one in winter South Dakota one in Eden South Dakota and one at Bristol I especially remember the one in Eden South Dakota in the Catholic parish hall where in a mixed audience Catholic and Protestant assembled together some over 300 people in which we discussed openly and frankly the importance of working together for unity and community I also recall the beginning of the Town & Country forums in South Dakota this has been something new in the recent years the first one was held at Coleman South Dakota the next one at the Mitchell Corn Palace and then the last one at Dismith South Dakota all three of these meetings were called by the clergy working together and providing a framework and a structure whereby and wherein the farmers businessmen and people representing every segment of community could come together and talk I especially remember the church conventions 1965 to 1966 I recall once sharing on a panel with leaders of farm organizations I remember 1965 at the Watertown conference convention of our church where in the farm problem was discussed and the relationships of Town and Country recently a couple of weeks ago in 1966 this year we had for the first time a dialogue Roman Catholics and Lutheran's in dialogue at Watertown South Dakota I believe we are beginning to cut through the walls of separation and I would ask this question have we as the spiritual leaders in our church have we been expecting our communities to get together when in the past history it has been hard for us clergy to get together and to talk things over I truly believe that the local clergy in the grassroots community will finish the job that be is being started today by shepherding the people into oneness one of my greatest delights has been meeting with my fellow ministers we call once a ministerial meeting in Iowa in a little while I shall be attending a ministerial meeting in O'Neill Nebraska where 40 ministers will be in attendance each one bringing two businessmen I believe that this is the beginning and the continuing of something great through my experience I have come to put down what I believe is a program including steps or further unity and I have called them by phases phase one I believe must begin with communicating resources this we may call dialogue for a long time in the history of our country each one representing our own church or our own segment or our own position in society have talked a lot with individual interest and have expressed our own viewpoints but there has not been the listening that there ought to have been I believe that there is listening going on today we are at a crossroads in which we are willing to listen to one another and I believe that communicating resources begins then by calling together the leaders of our nation to present and share their resources and ideas and knowledge this means educators bankers economists sociologists ministers and others these leaders must be experienced qualified action people who are willing to build constructively in a combined effort to solve the nation's problem furthermore communicating resources means that there should be a discussion of policy and program which must always be slanted toward strengthening and involving the local people on the county level anything else which does not reach down this far there's only so much talk and will not accomplish anything that will amount to something this means that we must use all media possible such as television radio and the press meetings of every nature to inform people of the true nature of every problem in rural and urban communities and encourage action towards a solution now the work of phase 1 which I have just mentioned has been going on for some time on an individual basis convictions have been expressed by individual groups but now there must be a willingness to listen to each other and talk things out I refer specifically to a meeting of this type in Kansas City Missouri where there was a meeting on policy and program held September 9th through the 10th this year this meeting was attended by top leaders of the community in church and society we have had some good speakers on radio and television we have witnessed discussion groups in panel and in forums we have read publication from many groups in both church and agency of society public and private and I've had a part in all of this but this will not solve our total problem with good results until we are able to put this into action right down on the county level in the grassroots area we must now at this point move from individual to group action all the way from the county level to the national level the second phase which I would like to outline can be stated as cooperating local resources here I am referring to bringing together the farm organizations and the groups in our rural society before communities can take place or before communications can take place there must be cooperation so far we have seen evidence toward fulfillment sufficient enough to know that we are moving in the right direction I would then say in the first place as far as cooperating local resources is concerned here again we must have experienced and qualified action people who are willing to meet with the ministers on the county level this can be done at church conventions ministerial meetings and any other group where there are leaders who express a concern and these leaders can be mobilized to action one of the things that I think we have learned from our town and country meetings in South Dakota is that we as ministers just can't depend upon setting a meeting and that all of the farm groups are going to come automatically to this publicly called meeting we find that some of the farm groups have attended these meeting more than others others have been poorly represented so I believe what it means at this point is that we as ministers perhaps together with businessmen in our local villages and towns must make a personal contact to the leaders of each farm organization asking for their willingness and cooperation to come to such a meeting and I believe that we should ask the farm organizations within their group to elect what we may call a unity and community committee from each farm organization so that these representatives may come together with the representatives of other farm organizations together with the clergy and businessmen and then begin to plan and prepare for a total talk out once the local church leaders have succeeded in getting the farm organizations together they then should stand by I believe with encouragement letting the people arrive at a policy and plan for action now the same thing can be accomplished in urban areas simultaneously as with farm groups urban society must keep in mind that we are suffering with problems in urban society because of our first neglect to solve our problems of disunity in rural America once we achieve together Nassim our rural areas it will be more possible to find a lasting solution to the problems in urban society here also the above three steps that I have mentioned can be followed and applied in the same manner to the urban areas which involves ministers getting together secondly calling meetings of the different groups and then thirdly that the minister should stand by with encouragement and see to it that it is kept going in conclusion then phase three which I have entitled combining all resources in rural and urban interdependence in some instances especially in rural America we have tried for too much too long we have for example called town and country forms when really we had not achieved together nests as individual segments of society I have set in on town in country forms where it was easily to see that the farmers could not talk unity with the businessmen because they were not united themselves and perhaps sometimes the businessmen were not united in policy therefore were not ready to talk unity with rural society in specific how could the farm organizations talk unity with the city when they themselves were not united well and urban communities must first set their own house in order then will they be ready to talk a unity of interdependent life by that I mean where each one of us will come to the realization that we need one another I don't believe that it helps manners anything for the farmer to say well the city folk need us and they best realize it nor does it work in the reverse until we come to a common understanding and we realize that we are dependent upon one another especially in this age in which we live and that we should be working toward getting together and talking these things / combining all resources in rural and urban interdependence will mean very specifically then that the local pastors will need to work toward unity and understanding of each other's place and take the leadership in team group effort by setting examples of cooperation amongst the belly of the fellow clergy if a minister is called to be a shepherd how can we as the shepherds of the flock to use the scriptural language how can we expect that our people will get together if we as clergymen cannot see eye-to-eye nor are willing to see eye-to-eye we must be as Peter admonished us in the Holy Bible an example to the flock and this means being an example of unity willingness to talk willingness to understand willingness willingness to love one another it also means that local pastors together plan and arrange Town & Country forms with intense planning to permit exchange of ideas and work toward an understanding of the same it further means that we will need to call on qualified leadership for ideas knowledge and education and information to direct the action of our local people now once the local pastors have acted as shepherds in getting Town & Country people together they should then back off or kind of move in the background as supporting resource people and continue to lend encouragement and stimulus I would like then at this point to summarize these three phases in essence there must be communicating resources all people at the top level as we may use this term in our society people who are experienced people who have been involved people who have done research for example I would like to hear what a historian has to say about the history of farming and what happens when we dismiss our people I would like to hear what a sociologist would say about the efficiency of removing more people from our countryside I would like to hear what our bankers have to say about what it means when we lose the resource of our people and the purchasing power in our countryside I would like to hear what our educators and our ministers have to say as to what is involved in this problem this communicating resources then slanted to the local areas in which the local ministers pick up the ball and start it rolling by getting the people together and asking them to unite together in understanding and then bringing all the resources both in rural and in urban together in an interdependent understanding of one another to fulfill the word of our Lord Jesus Christ that they may be one I would like then to close with a statement by Reverend McKenna in the book entitled farm goals in conflict wherein he says the time has come for our church leaders to be shepherds in helping our people solve this problem of dish the people who need help the most must find an articulate voice local pastors more than any other group can aid in stimulating or initiative they can both seek out and help the dispossessed with one voice in unity it is up to the pastors and is dedicated and sensitive laymen u.s. farm report as presented unity and community with Pastor Brucklacher of the Florence Rural Lutheran parish of the American Lutheran Church of Florence South Dakota pastor Brucklacher who has a deep interest in rural America and its survival and urges all people to unite in the Spirit of Christ to solve our present problems members of the National Farmers Organization invites you to tune in again next week for more facts on agriculture and rural America Collective Bargaining for agriculture the economic keystone of America [music]