May 15, 1952
Mr. Secretary, Mr. Chairman, distinguished guests, and ladies and gentlemen:
We are gathered here to honor some fine Americans--men and women who are today receiving special recognition for their outstanding work in public service.
These men and women come from all parts of the country. They do many different sorts of jobs. But they all have one thing in common. They are Federal employees-they are civil servants--they are working for the public good. And the extra effort they have put into their jobs is their gift to us, the American people.
They are not finding ways to kill people. They work to make people live longer. They work to make people able to have more to eat, and more to wear.
I am proud of these fine men and women. I am proud of the whole civil service they belong to and represent so well. There's no better group of people in the country. And this is a very good time to remember that.
Any time a Government employee does something wrong, it makes headlines. It makes headlines for the simple reason that the objective of 87 percent of the headline makers is to discredit the administration. But, when Government employees do something right--as they are doing all the time-it's such a commonplace thing the people never hear about it.
I wish all Americans could be here with us to see this evidence of good government. I wish they could all read the little booklet-and there it is, that's the little booklet, I wish you would all read it--Secretary Brannan gave me, the one that tells what each of these awards is being given for. That would make everyone as happy and proud as I am.
All down the line, behind each one of the awards presented here today, is the same story--a story of outstanding work, the finest kind of service to the public.
And right here I want to say that that sort of service is not confined entirely to the Department of Agriculture. You will find it in every department of the Government--as I have said before.
No one can read these stories without coming to understand that there is something very special about public service which has made these men and women put forth their best efforts--made them put everything they have into their jobs. They are thinking about the welfare of the United States of America. They are not thinking about the pay they get, because the pay they get in relationship to what they do is a mere stipend.
The great thing about Government work is that it offers something more than just a way to make a living. It offers the chance to serve the public purpose, instead of a private purpose--the chance to help the country, and to be a part of something bigger than any private undertaking.
It is no wonder to me that here at the Department of Agriculture you have so many honors to give today. For the goals of your work are tremendously exciting. The common purpose of your programs is as inspiring as anything in the whole Government.
For nearly 20 years now, this Government has been working to rebuild American agriculture as a prosperous, productive, efficient part of our economy--and a good and satisfying way of life for the people on the land.
We have made up our minds that this country shall have abundant production of food and fiber to support our growing population and our great responsibilities as leader of the whole free world. We have made up our minds, too, that the farmers of this country-the people who produce these things for us--shall share fully and completely in the benefits of modern living. We don't want a set of peasants in this country. We want landowners and people who can hold their heads up and talk to the bankers and industrialists as equals and not as inferiors.
We have set ourselves a goal of parity between farm living and city living. For we know that there is more to productive agriculture than tools and soil and seed. The most important part of the whole picture is the people on the farm. Everything we do--all the work of this Department--comes right back to helping people, helping the farmers of this country and their families-and their neighbors in the market towns-the backbone of our whole free society.
And I am one of them, I want you to know that. As soon as I quit being President, I am going back to the farm. That's the reason I can talk like this.
There is a real sense of mission behind you in this Department--a real, tangible feeling of working for the common good. In a way--a very commonsense way--you have been engaged in a great crusade all these years. Many of you came here an years ago just to be a part of that crusade and to make a contribution to it. I know you still remember how it was started and why it got started.
You remember that we had a terrible experience on our farms in the years before 1933. Things were bad enough for farmers in the twenties. And then the Great Depression came along and put the finishing touches on the farmers.
The farmers were knocked out economically, all across the country. Market outlets, and prices for their crops collapsed. Farm families almost everywhere were living in real poverty. We had plenty of good land and hard working people. We had the basic resources all right but we couldn't put them to work on a paying basis.
It is pathetic when you think about what happened. In desperation for cash crops, farmers plowed up land that should not have been touched. Dust storms blackened the sky as Nature's answer to this abuse of the soil. All over the country, the story was the same. The Nation's precious topsoil was eroding--blowing away and washing out to sea--ruining agriculture's basic source of strength. Farm incomes were not sufficient to finance badly needed soil conservation.
Economic freedom became a mockery without economic strength. And political freedoms were endangered by rebellions that broke out in defiance of law and order. Desperate farmers turned to force and violence to resist the injustice of mortgage foreclosures which would have wiped away their life savings. And those rebellions were not in the South, they were in Wisconsin and Iowa and Minnesota and north Missouri.
It was a terrible time. But fortunately-very fortunately--most Americans learned something from it. Most of us learned that it takes more than a wealth of resources, and more than an industrious people, to insure progress and prosperity for our country.
We found out that there had to be commonsense management of our national affairs in the interests of all the people. We found out there had to be a cooperative effort and wise legislation to correct the deficiencies of our economic system, to enhance the security of all our people, and to create the conditions necessary for progress and prosperity for the Nation as a whole.
Now right here I want to tell you that that situation has expanded. We have become the most powerful and important free nation in the world, and our interests now are not only nationwide for 48 States, they are worldwide for both hemispheres, from one end of the world to the other, and we have got to assume that responsibility and carry it through. And if we don't, disaster faces us.
We found out these things were needed if we were to have any order in our society and make our freedoms and resources really work for us. That much we had learned by 1933. And after that, we found out another thing. We found out that the job could be done--in agriculture and in every other aspect of our national life.
We have been demonstrating that fact for 20 years. Look what has been accomplished on the farm.
Today, American agriculture is highly productive and highly efficient. It is producing abundantly for the defense effort. It is rebuilding strength in the land for the use of future generations. And it is helping to give our people a higher standard of living than they have ever known before. And that means the whole population, not just one segment of it.
All of you know the policies and programs that have helped to bring this about:
Price support programs have brought stability to farm prices; and at the same time they have brought adequate supplies to consumer markets.
Soil conservation programs have built up the land.
Research projects have helped farmers to boost production and get food to market at lower cost.
Rural electrification has brought great efficiencies in farm operations, and it has turned farmhouses into homes.
Farm credit and housing loans have helped millions of farmers to buy and improve their lands and their homes.
These and other programs--programs your Department has carried out so well-have enabled the farmers of America to build the strong agricultural economy we know today. In this way, we have demonstrated that by positive action we can use the powers of our Government to make our resources and our freedoms work for everybody's benefit.
In these 20 years, we have brought about a real revolution--a peaceful revolution--in American agriculture.
Some people have never approved of what we set out to do--and what we have been doing. They have fought against us every step of the way. They are still at it today. Their favorite cry has been "socialism," "regimentation," Government "control" and "domination" of the farmer.
Actually, what we have been doing is the very opposite of these things. We have been getting the means of production back into the hands of the individual free enterprisers.
Now, listen to this. In 1932, less than 58 percent of the Nation's farms were owned by the people who operated them. Today, after 20 years of what the mossbacks--and I can name them by name, if you want me to--call "socialism," that figure has gone up to 75 percent--75 percent of the farmers in this country own their farms. I read an editorial the other day that said part of Trumanism was socialism in the way they treated farmers. Well, that is Trumanism, just what I am talking to you about today. There are 250,000 more farmers who own their own farms today than there were in 1932. That doesn't sound like regimentation or socialism to me. It sounds like real free enterprise.
You know, I know farmers. There is no segment of the population that is more opposed to being regimented than are the farmers. I am one, and I know exactly what I am talking about. So far as I know, there is nothing in the free enterprise system that requires half the Nation's farms to be owned by absentee landlords.
All this talk about socialism is just plain bunk and hokum. What we have actually been working for is to extend and strengthen private farm ownership. And we have been trying to make it possible for all farm families--whether they own their farms or not-to grow good crops and sell them for decent prices. We have been trying to make sure that we will have a strong agriculture as a part of a strong economy, and a good farm living as a part of a good life for all Americans.
That has been our goal for 20 years. That has been the motive power and the inspiration behind your fine work in the Department of Agriculture.
And you know, in 1948 there was a lot of talk about what we had done to the country and what we proposed to do. And I took a little trip of 31,700 miles, and I made 536 speeches, and I talked to 7 million people, and shook hands with about a million, and talked to 25 million more on the radio. And when the people found out what the facts were, you know what happened in 1948.
The same thing is going to happen in 1952, although I won't be the candidate. But I will get out and do the same thing for whoever is the candidate for President on the platform I am talking about, as I did for myself in 1948.
It is still the goal--still the inspiration-still the reason so many men and women are giving their best efforts to the public service in our agricultural programs.
We must keep it that way. I hope the time will never come when the good fight, the good spirit, the sense of real public purpose and real achievement goes out of this great Department.
For there is still a lot to do. There are plenty of problems to be solved--plenty of improvements still to be made. It's a big job--and a great challenge.
I know that you will meet this challenge in the same spirit and with the same devotion that has marked the work of the men and women we honor here today.
Thank you very much.
NOTE: The President spoke at 10:37 a.m. at the Sylvan Theatre on the Washington Monument grounds. In his opening words he referred to Charles F. Brannan, Secretary of Agriculture, and Knox T. Hutchinson, Assistant Secretary of Agriculture, who was chairman of the occasion.
Mr. Secretary, Mr. Chairman, distinguished guests, and ladies and gentlemen:
We are gathered here to honor some fine Americans--men and women who are today receiving special recognition for their outstanding work in public service.
These men and women come from all parts of the country. They do many different sorts of jobs. But they all have one thing in common. They are Federal employees-they are civil servants--they are working for the public good. And the extra effort they have put into their jobs is their gift to us, the American people.
They are not finding ways to kill people. They work to make people live longer. They work to make people able to have more to eat, and more to wear.
I am proud of these fine men and women. I am proud of the whole civil service they belong to and represent so well. There's no better group of people in the country. And this is a very good time to remember that.
Any time a Government employee does something wrong, it makes headlines. It makes headlines for the simple reason that the objective of 87 percent of the headline makers is to discredit the administration. But, when Government employees do something right--as they are doing all the time-it's such a commonplace thing the people never hear about it.
I wish all Americans could be here with us to see this evidence of good government. I wish they could all read the little booklet-and there it is, that's the little booklet, I wish you would all read it--Secretary Brannan gave me, the one that tells what each of these awards is being given for. That would make everyone as happy and proud as I am.
All down the line, behind each one of the awards presented here today, is the same story--a story of outstanding work, the finest kind of service to the public.
And right here I want to say that that sort of service is not confined entirely to the Department of Agriculture. You will find it in every department of the Government--as I have said before.
No one can read these stories without coming to understand that there is something very special about public service which has made these men and women put forth their best efforts--made them put everything they have into their jobs. They are thinking about the welfare of the United States of America. They are not thinking about the pay they get, because the pay they get in relationship to what they do is a mere stipend.
The great thing about Government work is that it offers something more than just a way to make a living. It offers the chance to serve the public purpose, instead of a private purpose--the chance to help the country, and to be a part of something bigger than any private undertaking.
It is no wonder to me that here at the Department of Agriculture you have so many honors to give today. For the goals of your work are tremendously exciting. The common purpose of your programs is as inspiring as anything in the whole Government.
For nearly 20 years now, this Government has been working to rebuild American agriculture as a prosperous, productive, efficient part of our economy--and a good and satisfying way of life for the people on the land.
We have made up our minds that this country shall have abundant production of food and fiber to support our growing population and our great responsibilities as leader of the whole free world. We have made up our minds, too, that the farmers of this country-the people who produce these things for us--shall share fully and completely in the benefits of modern living. We don't want a set of peasants in this country. We want landowners and people who can hold their heads up and talk to the bankers and industrialists as equals and not as inferiors.
We have set ourselves a goal of parity between farm living and city living. For we know that there is more to productive agriculture than tools and soil and seed. The most important part of the whole picture is the people on the farm. Everything we do--all the work of this Department--comes right back to helping people, helping the farmers of this country and their families-and their neighbors in the market towns-the backbone of our whole free society.
And I am one of them, I want you to know that. As soon as I quit being President, I am going back to the farm. That's the reason I can talk like this.
There is a real sense of mission behind you in this Department--a real, tangible feeling of working for the common good. In a way--a very commonsense way--you have been engaged in a great crusade all these years. Many of you came here an years ago just to be a part of that crusade and to make a contribution to it. I know you still remember how it was started and why it got started.
You remember that we had a terrible experience on our farms in the years before 1933. Things were bad enough for farmers in the twenties. And then the Great Depression came along and put the finishing touches on the farmers.
The farmers were knocked out economically, all across the country. Market outlets, and prices for their crops collapsed. Farm families almost everywhere were living in real poverty. We had plenty of good land and hard working people. We had the basic resources all right but we couldn't put them to work on a paying basis.
It is pathetic when you think about what happened. In desperation for cash crops, farmers plowed up land that should not have been touched. Dust storms blackened the sky as Nature's answer to this abuse of the soil. All over the country, the story was the same. The Nation's precious topsoil was eroding--blowing away and washing out to sea--ruining agriculture's basic source of strength. Farm incomes were not sufficient to finance badly needed soil conservation.
Economic freedom became a mockery without economic strength. And political freedoms were endangered by rebellions that broke out in defiance of law and order. Desperate farmers turned to force and violence to resist the injustice of mortgage foreclosures which would have wiped away their life savings. And those rebellions were not in the South, they were in Wisconsin and Iowa and Minnesota and north Missouri.
It was a terrible time. But fortunately-very fortunately--most Americans learned something from it. Most of us learned that it takes more than a wealth of resources, and more than an industrious people, to insure progress and prosperity for our country.
We found out that there had to be commonsense management of our national affairs in the interests of all the people. We found out there had to be a cooperative effort and wise legislation to correct the deficiencies of our economic system, to enhance the security of all our people, and to create the conditions necessary for progress and prosperity for the Nation as a whole.
Now right here I want to tell you that that situation has expanded. We have become the most powerful and important free nation in the world, and our interests now are not only nationwide for 48 States, they are worldwide for both hemispheres, from one end of the world to the other, and we have got to assume that responsibility and carry it through. And if we don't, disaster faces us.
We found out these things were needed if we were to have any order in our society and make our freedoms and resources really work for us. That much we had learned by 1933. And after that, we found out another thing. We found out that the job could be done--in agriculture and in every other aspect of our national life.
We have been demonstrating that fact for 20 years. Look what has been accomplished on the farm.
Today, American agriculture is highly productive and highly efficient. It is producing abundantly for the defense effort. It is rebuilding strength in the land for the use of future generations. And it is helping to give our people a higher standard of living than they have ever known before. And that means the whole population, not just one segment of it.
All of you know the policies and programs that have helped to bring this about:
Price support programs have brought stability to farm prices; and at the same time they have brought adequate supplies to consumer markets.
Soil conservation programs have built up the land.
Research projects have helped farmers to boost production and get food to market at lower cost.
Rural electrification has brought great efficiencies in farm operations, and it has turned farmhouses into homes.
Farm credit and housing loans have helped millions of farmers to buy and improve their lands and their homes.
These and other programs--programs your Department has carried out so well-have enabled the farmers of America to build the strong agricultural economy we know today. In this way, we have demonstrated that by positive action we can use the powers of our Government to make our resources and our freedoms work for everybody's benefit.
In these 20 years, we have brought about a real revolution--a peaceful revolution--in American agriculture.
Some people have never approved of what we set out to do--and what we have been doing. They have fought against us every step of the way. They are still at it today. Their favorite cry has been "socialism," "regimentation," Government "control" and "domination" of the farmer.
Actually, what we have been doing is the very opposite of these things. We have been getting the means of production back into the hands of the individual free enterprisers.
Now, listen to this. In 1932, less than 58 percent of the Nation's farms were owned by the people who operated them. Today, after 20 years of what the mossbacks--and I can name them by name, if you want me to--call "socialism," that figure has gone up to 75 percent--75 percent of the farmers in this country own their farms. I read an editorial the other day that said part of Trumanism was socialism in the way they treated farmers. Well, that is Trumanism, just what I am talking to you about today. There are 250,000 more farmers who own their own farms today than there were in 1932. That doesn't sound like regimentation or socialism to me. It sounds like real free enterprise.
You know, I know farmers. There is no segment of the population that is more opposed to being regimented than are the farmers. I am one, and I know exactly what I am talking about. So far as I know, there is nothing in the free enterprise system that requires half the Nation's farms to be owned by absentee landlords.
All this talk about socialism is just plain bunk and hokum. What we have actually been working for is to extend and strengthen private farm ownership. And we have been trying to make it possible for all farm families--whether they own their farms or not-to grow good crops and sell them for decent prices. We have been trying to make sure that we will have a strong agriculture as a part of a strong economy, and a good farm living as a part of a good life for all Americans.
That has been our goal for 20 years. That has been the motive power and the inspiration behind your fine work in the Department of Agriculture.
And you know, in 1948 there was a lot of talk about what we had done to the country and what we proposed to do. And I took a little trip of 31,700 miles, and I made 536 speeches, and I talked to 7 million people, and shook hands with about a million, and talked to 25 million more on the radio. And when the people found out what the facts were, you know what happened in 1948.
The same thing is going to happen in 1952, although I won't be the candidate. But I will get out and do the same thing for whoever is the candidate for President on the platform I am talking about, as I did for myself in 1948.
It is still the goal--still the inspiration-still the reason so many men and women are giving their best efforts to the public service in our agricultural programs.
We must keep it that way. I hope the time will never come when the good fight, the good spirit, the sense of real public purpose and real achievement goes out of this great Department.
For there is still a lot to do. There are plenty of problems to be solved--plenty of improvements still to be made. It's a big job--and a great challenge.
I know that you will meet this challenge in the same spirit and with the same devotion that has marked the work of the men and women we honor here today.
Thank you very much.
NOTE: The President spoke at 10:37 a.m. at the Sylvan Theatre on the Washington Monument grounds. In his opening words he referred to Charles F. Brannan, Secretary of Agriculture, and Knox T. Hutchinson, Assistant Secretary of Agriculture, who was chairman of the occasion.