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industrial plants have operated at a full production pace. The millions of fully employed workers, in large business and small, have accounted for more than 75% of the purchases of farm products.
"These, briefly, are the benefits accruing to agriculture during this four year period of rising industrial employment :
"First, the cash farm income has risen 119% to more than $20,000,000,000; second, farmer-operator reserves have mcreased to $12,000,000,000 in cash; third, equities of owners in agriculture have increased about $30,000,000,000; fourth, farm real estate values have advanced 36%.
"Industry rejoices at this improvement in agriculture's balance sheet. It congratulates our farmers upon the wise use they have made of this increased income, as further revealed by statistics. Farm mortgage debt has been reduced $1,000,000,000, a reversal of the trend in World War I. Farmers have purchased $2,400,000,000 of War Bonds."
"There is, I believe, a practical lesson in economics in these figures. The farmer is a business man — and a good one — when he has the opportunity.
"Provide high-level industrial employment and the farmer will have a profitable market. Neither he nor his industry will need a wheelchair fabricated of Government benefits.
"The economic philosophy of the farmer and the businessman is rooted in common soil. Both believe in the traditional American system of free competitive enterprise. Under this
January, 1945
system, agriculture and industry were able to develop their productive facilities to such capacity that they could feed and arm most of the civilized world in its war for freedom.
"This system must be the base of our future national economy, if industry's great war-demonstrated possibilities are to be effective in the nation's postwar re-building. In the continuance of this system lies agriculture's strongest assurance of continued economic independence, through expanding industrial employment developed under the impetus of competition with a profit incentive."
It was rather gratifying to me later on in that day to have Mr. Chester C. Davis, whom I think you all know as President of the Federal Reserve Bank at St. Louis, in his very able presentation of his conception of the farmer's problem, make the following statement which I should also like to quote because, to me, it is definitely a challenge to business people:
"In the long run there are two ways to stability in farm prices. Either we must vary the supply so as to maintain stable prices, or we must maintain a high level of demand. The latter way appeals to me for two reasons. First, maintenance of a high level of demand means high consumption as well as stable prices and promotes a more prosperous agriculture. Second, it is difficult to control the short-run supply of agricultural goods to the extent necessary to maintain stable prices. It is a tough enough job to make the long run adjustment to demand changes.
"It is vital to maintain industrial