NFO 144 (AV10642): Meeting for Action

this is Veterans Memorial Auditorium at Des Moines Iowa the capital city of Iowa which is located in the grass roots of agriculture country this is a setting for the National Farmers Organization meeting for action no price no production silence is golden according to an old maxim but in time of crisis it can be costly when vital issues are at stake silence denies democracy and invites justice the present crisis in the countryside is a time for speaking and the time seems to be now the made majority of the nation's farmers as well as businessmen church leaders and others all realize the collective bargaining is the key to the farmers success the Main Street businessman know that they have just as much at stake in agriculture as the farmers themselves for all new wealth comes from raw materials and agriculture produces about 70% of the nation's raw materials the remaining 30% is from oil coal minerals and the stones and others every industry in America the manufacturers the processors and the laboring class in every city all depend on raw materials for their production the wealth of this nation from this production and proper pricing of the production at every level is a key to full employment to prosperity and a high standard of living The Silence of the American farmer is to be lifted here today with some 30,000 farmers which is expected to be attendance here and the largest in the world under one roof this is US farm report and I am Don Mack along with Eadie Chima and Phil Allen we'll be bringing this to you which is sponsored by the members of the National Farmers Organization now we will go to the des moines Municipal Airport where Phil Allen is covering the airplanes and the farmers as they come into this meeting this big four motor dc-6 Mainliner is not part of a regularly charter or scheduled airline this is a charter flight which a number of Pennsylvania people have taken or this occasion coming to Des Moines here to attend the big meeting for action it seats about 200 upwards you see there Pennsylvania nfo no price no production there will be upwards of 80 or 90 people getting off this plane and the reason we're out here today to talk to these folks is not that this is the only chartered flight this is just one of the big ones one of the 80 or 90 passengers aboard the big guy a Mainliner that came into the Des Moines Airport was Dave Dickerson who is an extension service representative from the state of Pennsylvania he's assistant extension agent for Erick County welcome to Des Moines Dave thank you now as an observer I understand in discussing this with you a moment ago that you're here just to observe this big meeting for action of the nfo could you tell us a bit about the agriculture in Pennsylvania well it's quite a bit different here from Iowa we have a lot more Rolling Hills our soil isn't quite as good as what you have out here and I suppose it isn't the same kind of emphasis as we have and what some I suppose you folks would think of this is the corn livestock area yes in the area Connie we have potatoes and dairy and we have a small fruit a fairly good sized fruit belt there along the lake and so mr. Dickerson is here as an observer from the state of Pennsylvania and I expect you to do one of the significant things about this is that there are enough folks in Pennsylvania who belong to the nfo that they chartered a whole Mainliner to come to des moines to our meeting of action I'm going to talk now - Clara Flynn who is the chairman of Erie County mr. Flynn is from Edinboro Pennsylvania welcome to the Moines thank you I'm glad to be here and enjoyed the trip very much this is quite a meeting for our organization we have an organization in our County of a considerable number and I myself and all the members in our area have seen depressed prices in milk and all deaf arm and dairy commodity I hope this meeting does what it's supposed to do today we've gone through kickbacks if some of you people are not familiar with that that's two-way pricing of milk the burning of milk and everything else our County there is primarily dairy although we have some beef feeding and as mr. Dickerson said before considerable grapes ball grain and proof this is a team at the veteran's auditorium where the crowd is rolling in for the 1967 National Farmers Organization meeting for action and we go to Don Mac interview some of the people that are here I'm visiting with Ukraine state of Minnesota public relations coordinator q what is the attitude in the state of Minnesota among the farmers well the farmers in my state are real unhappy with the grain prices and the prices of other farm products because in the last four or five months as we all know corn for an example has gone down 25 30 cents a bushel this condition has brought on a as a result a situation which could well this fall spend spell the end for a lot of real good farmers because who can stand that kind of drop in price and as a result of this feeling of unhappiness and chagrin and anger they're up in arms so to speak and are real unhappy with the powers that be and they're going to be in attendance here today by the busload by the planeload by the carload our county has three buses five cars and the county to the north of us is coming by plane so we do expect a real big turnout here and we know that there will be farmers from so many other states feeling I think the same as we do that we would expect that today we will have a meeting of minds and decide for what kind of an action we ought to take regarding these present prices and these present conditions Don thank you that was Ukraine state of Minnesota public relations coordinator the first major address at the meeting for action in Des Moines is given by mr. Homer Jackson of rifle Colorado the reason this crowd wants to hear from mr. Jackson is not only that they have heard and read his remarks he has spoken at many farm meetings but also he has appeared in important farm publications and more than that he has been experienced for many years in the production the financing of beef cattle he knows that industry backwards and forwards and he also has a point of view and this huge crowd that the Veterans Memorial thorium are anxious to hear the remarks of Homer W Jackson of rifle Colorado in nearly every section of the country real estate valuations are escalating and by using the inflationary spiral of real estate values as loan collateral farmers and livestock men have been able to finance their programs and hold on just hoping that conditions will improve the facts are that most borrowers have used up the equity in their real estate valuation and they have reached the maximum borrowing limits on their land they must receive prices for their product equal to operating costs or they simply cannot continue in business this is the crisis year in agricultural credit rural banks production credit associations farm lenders are beginning to question how much longer can they continue to finance a losing business as well as question the wisdom of continuing to lend on the inflationary spiral of real estate value now some may draw the conclusion because agricultural loan volume is increasing but farm assets are increasing likewise or that the loans are bigger because of the increased size of farm and ranch operation likewise there's often accepted theory that the larger operations are more economical and more efficiently managed than the smaller but these conditions are not borne out by our loan experience first the expanding size alone does not represent a like expansion in farm assets nationally since 1960 all farm assets have increased in value 33 percent while in this same period of time total farm debts have increased by 84 percent and for the most part this increased in farm debt represents the lack of farm income that is being made up with borrowed funds secondly the larger operations that we financed are not showing any more profit per unit than the small single-family setup with calves selling you know with cash selling at 37 dollars a head below the cost of production the incentive is not there to want to grow very big under those conditions under present conditions the American farmers are now subsidizing the retail profits and the consumers grocery bills by furnishing food below production costs rural America is entitled to parity prices for its produce the monopolistic controls in the food industry cannot be ignored by anyone seeking a solution to Agriculture's economic problems and unless the monopolies issue is publicly recognized honestly and fairly dealt with a financial collapse of the rural economy is certain to result in a national crisis unequaled in this nation's history thank you I'm talking now of mr. JC Holland who is from Plantersville Mississippi mr. Holland I'd like to have you know is an observer at this great meeting for action and he was also chosen as one of four outstanding young farmers of the whole United States for 1966 we certainly want to welcome you to Des Moines mr. Holland thank you sir the privilege to be here what would you say from your standpoint as a Mississippian and is one of the long experience and certain distinction in farming ought to be the one of the points of emphasis of this meeting here research and promotion and prices on the products that we produce in agriculture today you see that one of the emphases is price that's right yes sir we about price we take what the prices that our markets want to give us we don't have enough voice in price we should that the cost is the tremendous cost that we have today our overhead in agriculture which we're certainly ought to have a better price for the products that reproduce today because the farmers is a backbone of the United States of America that's why I'm worried Americus of great was their ability to feed and clothe their nation this is certainly encouraging to hear you put it this way ah mr. Holland of course you understand national farmers organization is is meeting here in an effort to put the price tag on the product are you pretty substantially in sympathy with this yes I am yes sir well we want to welcome you here to this meeting and we know that as an observer you're one of the really intelligent ones and we're certainly glad you made the scene thank you sir Maya nice to be here another highlight of this meeting in Des Moines is the appearance of Edie Wimmer of Covington Kentucky mr. Wimmer is vice president and public relations director of the National Federation of Independent Business representing some 240,000 Main Street business people now ladies and gentlemen we have four documents the Constitution the Bill of Rights the Declaration of Independence and the Sermon on the Mount and in those four documents is everything that the world is waiting for in our four kids and our schools and colleges don't know it my boy is here with me today and he's decided to follow in my footsteps believe it or not isn't the dream of every family in this audience today the dream of keeping their boys and girls on the farms and finding a way of life for them that they know is good and best for them how much juvenile delinquency is on the farms of America today has there been a ten percent increase a 20 percent increase no but where is this increase do you want your boys and girls to end up in the tenements of Detroit no of course you don't so what are you going to do about it you're going to have to come to one conclusion above all others then if we don't put a Christian foundation under labor business and government we're not going to have any and without morals in business morals behind agriculture morals in organizations like this year it's not going to be anywhere and I believe that this organization is built on a moral foundation or I wouldn't be here mr. Wimmers appearance here at Des Moines was quite a crowd-pleaser he kept returning to this one point which seemed to satisfy the crowd he kept saying that it's high time for American business and he meant Main Street business people to join forces with American farmers to save our private enterprise system I'm visiting with mrs. Doris McIlwain one of the top workers in the national farmers organization from the state of Minnesota Doris I like to have your viewpoints on what do you think is a woman's place in this farm movement well I think that our place is right there with our husbands trying to get a just price there certainly isn't anything unfeminine about knowing your own business and farming happens to be our business we need to stay informed of what's going on so we can keep up with our husbands we must remember that half of the 6% population that live in the rural areas are women so if we don't pitch in and help you automatically cut your fighting force down to one half before you even start there are many things we can do we can read to keep up with our husbands and Mark things for him so that he could read them when he has time we can go to meetings if he can't or we can go with him to meetings we can pitch in and help with a lot of County activities district or state projects whenever we're asked these things are all to our own advantage any gain that's made in NF roland is made for everyone who belongs to it we have letters to write to the editors letters to write to congressmen we have so many things that we can do I think that a woman's place in this is limited only by her resourcefulness and imagination that was Doris Mac Wayne from Graceville Minnesota I'm talking now with Reverend DW Mueller of he's a staff member of the Lutheran Council of the United States Reverend Muller I've had the pleasure of hearing you at many farm meetings but would you like to see come out of this meeting for action and deploy and today I would like to see the farmers leave this meeting with a real resolve to make a commitment to stick together and ask for a adequate price and and the second thing like to see come out of this is that more of the people who are not farmers like the Main Street people that they reseed or that they realize that they have in state and give real encouragement to the farmer to make use of the collective bargaining tool those are two things that let's see come out of it thank you very much Reverend DW Muller from this point onward undoubtedly many nfo people will consider the President or 'only Staley as the Abraham Lincoln of American agriculture that's the way Vice President fingsten introduced him to the crowd and then of course there was an immense ovation as the president of the nfo began to speak or in least daily nfo present something about I do not believe that you left your farms at your own expense and came the distance you did not to come here become em to meet your problems as fibers and there's only one problem in American agriculture and that problem is low farm priceless nothing else and the only reason that today we have the low farm prices that exist is because enough of the American farmers are willing to sell their products at those low prices nothing more and nothing less we have been in a position to get a to the nation's 15 largest meat processors to accept reduction from nfo members under meat marketing arrangements last week another of the majors to make us nine and why and why was this important he had said four years ago I'll do business with nfo if I have to and I guess he made up his mind he is going to have to because he started accepting supply and I understand that in a publication he stated that it appeared that now the processors were going to have to deal with organize finer and pay them an additional price for volume this was a very processor that a few years ago said I'll deal with in fo and I have to and one of the facts was that I am sure that he was convinced that we mean business it's time that the American fighters that are members of the NFL adopt a slogan no price no production and absolutely carry out what it means step by step that if they're going to buy our product and if they're going to buy our products in the future that we do it saw it only when we get a price for it as a result of step by step we believe that the sound approach is to go out of here today and let the processes of this nation know that we are building for an all-out holding action that would include every commodity with the intention of shutting down the agricultural plant until we got a price for our products on all commodities we want the establishment as the year goes on to put a floor of a dollar and fifty cents a bushel on corn two dollars on weed and three dollars on soybean as a major commodity and how are we going to do it we want this to be the Florida that's established that farmers will sell for and that they put their production in the initial green bank not to be sold for less than an hour and fifty cents a bushel on corn two dollars on wheat and three dollars on soybeans and then whatever is left over if we get the participation that we believe we should get whatever is left over will sell for export for whatever we can get for it but we'd start out next year at zero when harvest came if we can get the support of the grain farmers of this country one of the most distinguished guests of this meeting for action today is hair class brochure who is an observer here from the European Common Market mr. brochure is Undersecretary of State for agricultural affairs for Germany he is also a consultant for the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development which is oftentimes known in this country as the World Bank he is also a consultant for the Kennedy round of the general agreement on tariffs and trade which we know by the initials GATT and he also works in his own country as consultant for banks and insurance companies so you see he is he's well versed and long experienced in agricultural affairs in Europe and he has come here to watch this historic meeting at des moines her brochure why don't you just go ahead and make the comments that you'd like to make about this meeting for action well first of all this is that I'm very much impressed by what I have seen and today well I do understand you resolutions quite well as I might say that the American farmer is going to have an organization what has been more or less today concluded what the European market already has completed in some respect at least and I understand that the share of the American farmer he gets from the retail price is idea say the lowest in the world so you must lose something to get the advantage of the margins and so I understand that you've got ambitions to run the whole thing by yourself as far as you can I think this should be done for the future also in the responsibility for the coming generations this is what I would like to mention to this big meeting I understand the biggest in the world because family think of the world that has ever been taken place one thing I've heard said sometimes is that the cooperatives that we have in the United States worst were inherited pretty much unaltered from cooperative structures in agriculture in Europe in the 19th century would you say that that's true I think so and if I may say so I would say if the co-operative system would have worked in the whole line as many had expected until now well they could have taken over a lot of the work what is your goal for the future I see in other words the nfo seems to be carrying on a goal that originally might have been or should have been theirs exactly what it is I've heard farmers in this country say so - I see I've certainly enjoyed visiting with you her brochure talking with mr. Klaus brochure who was an observer from the European Common Market this brings us to a close to this dramatic event of history of the NFL meeting for action as Homer Jackson expressed it in his speech he said that this was the largest farm group held under one roof and that the national farmers organization is the only organization that could accomplish this and I'd like to ask you exactly what do you think the attitude of the farmers will be after they go home I think it's wrong nothing but determination to do ad complete job of collective bargaining for farmers in terms of getting a better price for the products what was the attendance here today according to the manager of the Veterans Memorial Building the attendant for thirty five thousand four hundred done Phil what is your observation today of the meeting it seemed to me that after they'd had considerable discussion of a number of points they had adopted three major items on an agenda that president Staley put before them and after this I got it seemed to me one of the best quotes of the whole day when Staley said that what they had authorized doing was conducting the granddaddy of them all as far as holding actions were concerned and then he said in a more serious vein that these farmers had served notice to the American public in general and also to agriculture that farmers are no longer willing to put up with the present price structure for farm products and he said that what they had actually done is authorized an all-out holding action on all farm commodities in other words as he put it to shut down the whole agricultural plant in order to back up their feeling that this price structure absolutely will not do Staley also said at another point after they'd had a discussion and adopted several points on the agenda that what collective bargaining means and he kept returning to this point is bargaining together and selling together he kept returning that point and he also said that what they were going to have to do is to go out and talk to their neighbors and get them to join with the NFL it seems to me it was a great and historic meeting as he said it was one of the greatest demonstrations of solidarity and agriculture that I've ever seen this has been Phil Allen and Ed Shima and myself Don Mack bringing to you the action from Des Moines Veterans Auditorium on the nfo meeting for action for us farm report