AGRICULTURAL RELIEF

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(10) The chief inducement for the individual membership is that the Federal
Government would furnish the organizing machinery and supervision which
farmers will not furnish themselves, and the governmental character would be
assured that the organization would not ultimately fall into the hands of selfish
or incompetent persons, which so far has been the fate of all voluntary farmer
organizations. It would be permanent.

(11) Give the board powers to sue and be sued, to contract, to hold hearings
and compel attendance, to make and enforce regulations, to create and abolish
subordinate or coordinate bodies, to accept and expel associations and individual
members, to penalize for infractions or refusals; in short, give the board broad
enough powers to organize and keep organized the agricultural United States.

(12) Provide quick access to the intermediate credit banks to enable carrv-over
and facilitate orderly marketing.

(13) Provide for membership and benefit fees to ultimately pay expenses of
operation and repay the organization appropriation to be made by Congress.

14) Appropriate about $10.000.000 to organize the country.
Mr. Manger. This plan contemplates Government assistance to
the extent only of organizing the farmers to cooperate with the
governmental activities now existing in the production and market-
ing of their crops. This plan embraces all agriculture. Without
governmental assistance the farmers can only organize sectional
groups to deal with one crop or commodity. Practically all of these
organizations fail for one reason or another.

This plan does not contemplate limiting production or price fixing
except through orderly planting and marketing.

It proposes a quasi-governmental organization which should
guard the farmers from continuing their uniformly unsuccessful,
unfortunate and disastrous failures of one-crop sectional organi-
zations.

It contemplates that an organization to embrace all agriculture
must be sponsored by the Government.

The only such agricultural organization functioning successfully
is the Federal land bank system.

Understand me, I do not mean there are not some successful
organizations functioning, and successfully. I think great numbers
of them have been successfully functioning for a long time, but they
finally go to pieces, and I say that the Federal Land Bank System
is the only organization that covers the entire field. The others
are sectional or local organizations that are functioning successfully.
Whether they will last or not is another question.

For many years the mortgage bankers of the country attempted
to organize the farmers under banker leadership with some very
disastrous results. And, we can recall the opposition in Congress
by farm leaders during the years that the Federal farm loan legisla-
tion was under consideration, and, outside of Concress by bankers
for years after the law was enacted.

The Federal land bank is successful because the ostensible man-
agement of the system is in the hands of officials of the Government
who can not profit personally or perpetuate themselves in office.
They are responsible to the people—to the entire electorate.

If the President and his Cabinet would initiate some such plan,
‘he farmers of the United States would rally to its support.

The agricultural industry is too large and complicated and too
‘ar-flung to be organized and held together in any other way.

The farmer believes that his President should attempt to relieve
the agricultural situation—that it is part of his job.