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GOP Fund-Raising Dinner, Albuquerque, NM, July 9, 1966
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4525962
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GOP Fund-Raising Dinner, Albuquerque, NM, July 9, 1966
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Gerald R. Ford Congressional Papers
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1966
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The original documents are located in Box D20, folder "GOP Fund-Raising Dinner,
Albuquerque, NM, July 9, 1966" of the Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and
Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
Copyright Notice
The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of
photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. The Council donated to the United
States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.
Works prepared by U.S. Government employees as part of their official duties are in the public
domain. The copyrights to materials written by other individuals or organizations are presumed to
remain with them. If you think any of the information displayed in the PDF is subject to a valid
copyright claim, please contact the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
Digitized from Box D20 of The Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
NEWS
CONGRESSMAN
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR RELEASE AT 7 P.M., JULY 9, 1966
SPEECH EXCERPTS-GOP FUND-RAISING DINNER, ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO.
President Johnson put on his folksiest manners last week and went out to
Nebraska and Iowa to tell the farmers they never had it so good.
He went out to Nebraska and Iowa because he's a great believer in polls, and
the polls tell him the good, sound people in America are returning to the Republican
Party.
He went out there to spread some of his Big Daddyism around to see if he
couldn't win them back.
But farmers are shrewd people. They're smart. They're not going to be deceived
by the kind of crude politics Mr. Johnson plays with their bread and butter.
They're aware that the Johnson-Freeman Administration plays politics with them.
They're aware that the timing of Agriculture Secretary Orville Freeman's press
releases is no accident. They know why Mr. Freeman announced an increase in the
support price of manufacturing milk just before Mr. Johnson left on his fence-mending
trip. And they know why Mr. Freeman that same day announced a slight increase in
farm prices for the month ended June 15. And they know why Mr. Freeman announced on
the very day of Mr. Johnson's speaking tour that government price support and acreage
diversion payments totalling $2.4 billion will be made directly into the rural
economy in the next few weeks.
Mr. Johnson told the farmers they never had it so good. He didn't tell them
that Johnson-Humphrey inflation has so cheapened the American dollar that the
$14 billion in net farm income reported for 1965 will buy only about as much as the
$12.8 billion farmers earned in 1958.
Mr. Johnson told the farmers they never had it so good. He didn't tell them
they are caught in a cost-price squeeze which makes the average parity ratio over the
past five years the lowest it has ever been for any consecutive five-year period
since the depression days of the thirties. He didn't tell them that a comparison of
the prices farmers received with those they paid for the past five years reflects
only an average 78 per cent of parity. He didn't tell them farm production costs
have gone up $4 billion since 1960, or that total farm debt is 60 per cent higher
than five years ago.
(MORE)
-2-
And here's a truly strange development. One day before the presidential
invasion of Nebraska and Iowa, Mr. Freeman said that farmers still are earning only
about 65 per cent as much as non-farmers. Mr. Freeman warned that if farmers cannot
earn a "decent living" they will desert the farm in large numbers for better paying
jobs.
Now isn't that odd? On the one hand we have the President of the United States
telling the farmers (on June 30) they're getting along just great, and on the other
we have his Secretary of Agriculture warning (on June 29) that the farmer is being
left out in the economic cold. What are we to believe? Small wonder there's a
crisis of confidence in Washington.
Naturally the President said nothing in Nebraska or Iowa about the rough time
he and Mr. Freeman gave the farmer earlier this year when they deliberately drove
down prices received by the farmer in an attempt to placate housewives angered by
rising prices at the supermarket.
Let farmers remember that when the Johnson-Freeman Administration turned on
them and made them the whipping boys of inflation, farm prices were 6 per cent lower
than in the Korean War year of 1951 and retail food prices were 16 per cent higher.
Let farmers remember that more than three-fifths of the price of foodstuffs is
added after the food leaves the farm-but it was the farmer who was made the
scapegoat of inflation by an administration which apparently figured he was an easy
target.
Mr. Johnson forgot to mention in Nebraska and Iowa that his administration
earlier this year forced down farm prices by increasing dairy imports, dumping
government-owned grain on the market, increasing sugar imports, cutting back Defense
Department purchases of pork, and substituting margarine for butter in Air Force,
Army and Marine Corps menus.
Mr. Johnson would like to pretend he never ordered Mr. Freeman to take actions
aimed at depressing prices received by the farmer. The farmer should never let him
forget it.
Mr. Freeman would like to pretend he never told newsmen (on March 31) he was
"pleased to report" that farm prices had dropped. The farmer should never let him
forget it.
Mr. Johnson would like to forget he ever urged Congress to cut back the school
milk program by more than $80 million, virtually gutting it, and to reduce the
school lunch program. Farmers and parents should never let him forget it.
There are many Johnson-Humphrey-Freeman Administration mistakes the voters will
not forget on November 8. That is why this will be the year of the elephant.
# # #