The Governor Speaks (1955)

w in the series of special reports to the people of Iowa by Governor Leo hoy governor hike as a citizen and as the governor of the great state of Iowa I shall never be satisfied until the farm income provides the farmer a standard of living which is comparable to that of the other citizens of our nation it is with that in mind that the the Iowa Governor called this conference of Governors on October 13th and 14th in order that we could make some recommendations as to how to solve the present farm dry squeeze we had in mind of course first to apprise the nation as a whole that the farm crises was their concern that the economy of this country and the prosperity of this country could not survive without the prosperity of the firm and secondly our objective was to present recommendations which would bring about an immediate solution of the problem and ultimately a permanent solution with reference to the immediate solution the governor's who represented eight Midwestern states advocated that the US Department of Agriculture go into the markets and purchase pork products we ask that they purchased them immediately in order that the price a part could be bolstered of course we were very happy to learn that this past week the US Department of Agriculture is now going into the market and since that statement was made the price of hogs have picked up 50 to 75 cents per hundred which of course is not sufficient but is at least one step forward in addition to recommending an immediate purchasing program we also recommended that we should do more ourselves in order to bring about the increase in consumption of farm products we do not recognize that this problem is as much that of production but more that it's a problem of increase consumption and for that reason in the state of Iowa we will form what is known as an Iowa farm products committee and we've urged that the other states in the Midwest formed similar committees in order that we can increase the consumption out particularly our meats pork beef and mutton we know that in Iowa a few years ago that the number one item on the breakfast table was ham and eggs and or bacon and AIDS and throughout the nation that was the case and then we found that the people of the south west and the south started selling and merchandising citrus fruits and now I'm very unhappy to report but it is the case that citrus fruits it happens to be the number one item on our breakfast table certainly we should not permit that situation to remain in the future and for that reason this Iowa from products committee can do something to meet that challenge we can sell Iowa farm products and put back on the breakfast table as the number-one item bacon and eggs or Hammond aids and of course as governor of the state of Iowa like to urge that you start the campaign by doing it at your own breakfast tables it helps not only the farm economy but it also will help the economy throughout the state of Iowa every merchant every professional man every businessman is dependent upon the prosperity of the firmer and if we can increase the consumption of his products certainly we can increase his income this afternoon I had the pleasure of listening to mr. Pendleton who is one of the staff members of secretary Benson he spoke down at winterset that their harvest festival this afternoon there he pointed out that the US Department of Agriculture was increasing the export of farm products and I was particularly pleased to learn that twenty percent of the large that we reduce in this country is exported to other countries and that three billion 143 million dollars worth of farm products in 1955 the fiscal year ending July 1955 were exported to foreign countries that would account for the production of all of the acres in Iowa three billion 143 million dollars of farm products exported of course we hope that that will be increased I would like to see that increased at least twenty percent but we at home can do something ourselves about it and that of course is as I said increase the consumption this coming week I hope to have at the governor's office farmers and people who are interested in farm related industries bankers and other citizens of Iowa join me and form this Iowa farm products committee we will do our best to increase the selling improve the selling and the merchandising of our farm products and in addition to that we should also work on the improvement of distribution marketing of farm products can be and must be improved this past week I had the privilege of being at Sioux City up there the Chamber of Commerce and the farmers and the Sioux City Stock Yards had a wonderful day which they called siouxland port day there they stressed of course the need for development of quality port the kind of part that the house wife wants to buy lean bacon and of course in addition to that they encouraged the consumption of part throughout that general area more type of promotion work as done by Sioux City should be done in other communities of our state we and Iowa recognize that when you buy a loaf of bread for twenty cents there's only two cents worth of weed in it and for that reason of course the distribution of farm products can be and must be improved in order to reduce that particular overhead in order to give the farmer more of the nation's share of economy they're entitled to it and I feel by this type of program we can bring it to them and then in addition to that the governor's at their conference recommended to the US Department of Agriculture and to Congress that we should prepare ourselves for future needs in other words today our populations 165 million in America yet in 50 years it will be in excess of 300 million the population of South American today is about 300 million people in 50 years that population will be 600 million people we in 1900 and or 20 hundred and five will be more concerned with production of food than we are in restriction of production and for that reason today we should help solve that particular problem and I think that this reserve acre plan which we represented and did recommend is worthwhile because there we will be storing the fertility of our soil and preserve that fertility for future generations you and I are interested in seeing that our children and the third children will have sufficient food for world peace you also need food and this of course is the vital advantage of having the soil fertility bank program we of course since the Governor's Conference have had two other conferences in Iowa on October 21 the Democrats came to iowa and i'm happy they did because they made similar recommendations and then of course this past week the US Senate committee had some sub hearing subcommittee hearings there the farmers of aya were given a chance again to speak their minds and their voice and again they reiterated the necessity of the increase of the farm income I'm quite certain that with increased consumption with increase export and by having some of our soil placed in a bank a fertility buying that eventually we can and will solve the farm price tweets we in Iowa this past week had a very important conference I think probably one of the most important conferences because it was the Governor's Conference on children and youth we recognize that Iowa will be a great state in the future only if we have our children well informed and well educated this conference showed that we were interested in the boys and the girls and we were very happy that all of the organizations in Iowa's such as church groups educational groups PTA Boy Scouts Girl Scouts and many other organizations participated in this worthwhile program the conference brought forth this very important fact that by having our citizens well informed and well prepared to assume the role of citizenship at the future of Iowa and of of America would be secured this past week guy appointed as the director of selective service a very fine young Iowan is Colonel Glenn balls 37 years of age and he's a native Iowan having attended school at agency and at indianola iowa he's a graduate of Simpson College he served four and a half years during World War Two and he left the army after being an enlisted man initially as a lieutenant colonel he was decorated three times while overseas and he is in my opinion an outstanding soldier and will serve the people of Iowa well as their director of selective service on November 11 which is just a few days hence we will celebrate in not only Iowa but in the nation veterans day I believe it would be wise on that occasion to close down our businesses to the maximum in order that we can pay tribute to those who served us in time of war and in time of need certainly are paying tribute to them is a charitable act but more than that a very patriotic guy and I know that many of us fail that American freedom is the most precious thing but it's one thing that we least discuss and that we give too little attention to therefore urge that all of our citizens do pay tribute to our veteran on Veterans Day on November 11th in Iowa we're very much interested in the improvement of our safety program since I last reported to you many people have met their death on our highways as a Friday October the 28th we had killed an Iowa 496 of our good citizens and when you multiply that by 100 thousand dollars each you can recognize that Iowa has lost approximately 50 million dollars but more than that we've lost 496 good fathers or good mothers sisters or brothers and I urge you as a citizen of Iowa to participate in our safety program be alert be cautious be just a little more careful slow down you live and your neighbor will live while we have killed 496 so far this year it is for less than we had killed a year ago but even then I think we have much more to do you have been very kind and cooperated with us in the past won't you just be a little more careful in the future so that we can end the year of 1955 with a net say king of lives it means much to you but above all it means much to our boys and girls of this great state it's been nice to visit with you again and let me assure you of this Iowa it's great state in Iowa has a great future if we keep working for our boys and our girls this has been another in a series of it of reports to the people of Iowa by Governor Leo honk you're invited to be with us again two weeks from tonight at nine fifteen for the next of these public service programs the governor speaks