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Virginia Cooperative Holstein Breeding Association, July 20, 1966
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4525964
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Virginia Cooperative Holstein Breeding Association, July 20, 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 "Virginia Cooperative Holstein
Breeding Association, July 20, 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States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.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
SPEECH BEFORE THE VIRGINIA COOPERATIVE HOLSTEIN BREEDING ASSN
JULY 20, 1966
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN:
IT IS A DISTINCT PLEASURE FOR ME TO BE HERE WITH YOU
TODAY. AND IT IS HIGHLY APPROPRIATE THAT I SHOULD BE
TALKING TO YOU HERE IN LOUDOUN COUNTY BECAUSE--AND SOME
OF YOU MAY NOT KNOW THIS--THE AMERICAN DAIRY INDUSTRY HAD
ITS BEGINNING IN THE STATE OF VIRGINIA.
BACK IN 1957, VISITORS TO THE 350TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE
FOUNDING OF JAMESTOWN SAW A COW GRAZING IN FRONT OF THE
GOVERNOR'S PALACE IN WILLIAMSBURG. THEY NO DOUBT WERE
ASTONISHED, BUT THEY NEED NOT HAVE BEEN.
GERALD FORD VIBRARY
INDEED, THEY WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN SURPRISED IF THEY HAD
-2-
KNOWN THAT THE FIRST SETTLERS AT JAMESTOWN WERE MISERABLE
WITH HUNGER AND SICKNESS UNTIL NEW LEADERS ARRIVED WITH
COWS AND A DETERMINATION TO DEVELOP ADEQUATE FARM FOOD
SUPPLIES.
TODAY AMERICAN DAIRYMEN ARE PART OF AN INDUSTRY THAT
DOES A BUSINESS IN EXCESS OF $5 BILLION A YEAR. IT'S A
BIG VOLUME BUSINESS. YOU FELLOWS SITTING HERE BEFORE ME
ARE COMING UP WITH THE ONLY REAL ANSWER TO PRESENT-DAY
CONDITIONS--HIGH-PRODUCING REGISTERED
MOLSTEIN
HERDS.
YOU HAVE BROUGHT BIG-COW EFFICIENCY INTO THE DAIRY
INDUSTRY. YOU ARE PEOPLE WITH KNOW-HOW AND HARD-HEADED
BUSINESS JUDGMENT IN THE MANAGEMENT OF YOUR HERDS, YOUR
FARMS AND YOUR WORKING CAPITAL. I SALUTE YOU.
-3-
THERE HAS BEEN A POPULATION EXPLOSION AND IT IS CONTINUING.
THERE WOULD APPEAR TO BE GOOD OPPORTUNITIES IN DAIRYING IN
THE YEARS AHEAD BECAUSE DEMAND FOR MILK IS ACCELERATING.
YET DAIRY HERD LIQUIDATION HAS BEEN OCCURRING IN RECENT
YEARS AND IS CONTINUING.
WHAT'S THE REASON FOR THIS? ORVILLE L. FREEMAN, THAT
FELLOW WHO POSES UNSUCCESSFULLY AS THE FRIEND OF THE FARMER,
RECENTLY UTTERED SOME SAD BUT TRUE WORDS. THE FARMER,
FREEMAN SAID, STILL IS EARNING ONLY ABOUT 65 PER CENT AS
MUCH AS THE NON-FARMER. HE WENT ON TO WARN THAT IF FARMERS
CANNOT EARN A DECENT LIVING THEY WILL DESERT THE FARM IN
LARGE NUMBERS FOR BETTER PAYING JOBS.
FREEMAN ISSUED THAT WARNING ONE DAY BEFORE PRESIDENT
-4-
JOHNSON INVADED NEBRASKA AND IOWA ON JUNE 30 TO TELL FARMERS
THEY NEVER HAD IT SO GOOD.
MR. JOHNSON WENT INTO NEBRASKA AND IOWA AND TOLD THE
FARMERS THERE THEY WERE GETTING ALONG JUST GREAT.
BUT WHAT DOES THE RECORD SHOW? THE RECORD REVEALS THAT
THE JOHNSON-FREEMAN ADMINISTRATION EARLIER THIS YEAR TURNED
ON THE AMERICAN FARMER AND MADE HIM THE WHIPPING BOY OF
INFLATION.
THE ADMINISTRATION LAUNCHED A WAR ON INFLATION, AND THE
AMERICAN FARMER BECAME THE FIRST CASUALTY.
GERALD LIDRARY
THE JOHNSON-HUMPHREY ADMINISTRATION DELIBERATELY WENT
TO WORK TO DRIVE DOWN FARM PRICES IN AN ATTEMPT TO SOOTHE
THE RUFFLED FEELINGS OF HOUSEWIVES DISTURBED BY THE RISING
COST OF LIVING.
-5-
IT DIDN'T MATTER TO ADMINISTRATION OFFICIALS THAT
THREE-FIFTHS OF THE COST OF FOODSTUFFS IS ADDED AFTER THE
PRODUCTS LEAVE THE FARM. THE FARMER WAS AN EASY TARGET.
AND BESIDES THERE ARE A LOT MORE VOTES IN THE CITIES.
I DIDN'T REALIZE JUST HOW FURIOUS THIS MADE THE FARMER
UNTIL OFFICIALS OF THE MICHIGAN MILK PRODUCERS ASSOCIATION
CAME TO WASHINGTON TO MEET WITH THE MICHIGAN CONGRESSIONAL
DELEGATION--REPUBLICANS AND DEMOCRATS.
THEY HAVE NEVER SPOKEN OUT SO BLUNTLY IN THE PAST. THEY
WERE ANGRY ABOUT MARGARINE BEING SUBSTITUTED FOR BUTTER IN
THE GOVERNMENT'S RELIEF FEEDING PROGRAMS AND IN ARMY AND
AIR FORCE RATIONS. THEY WERE ANGRY ABOUT THE REFUSAL OF
THE ADMINISTRATION TO MAKE USE OF OPEN MARKET PURCHASE
AUTHORITY FOR MILK AND DAIRY PRODUCTS. THEY WERE ANGRY
-6-
ABOUT MR. JOHNSON'S ATTEMPTS TO CUT BACK THE SCHOOL MILK
AND SCHOOL LUNCH PROGRAMS. THEY WERE ANGRY ABOUT A SHARP
INCREASE IN CHEDDAR CHEESE IMPORTS. THEY WERE ANGRY ABOUT
THE ADMINISTRATION'S REFUSAL TO RESTRICT IMPORTS OF CREAM,
JUNEX, GRAPEX, COLBY CHEESE AND SWISS CHEESE. THEY WERE
ANGRY ABOUT THE AGRICULTURE DEPARTMENT'S REFUSAL TO HOLD
NATIONWIDE HEARINGS AIMED AT PERMANENTLY INCREASING CLASS I
MILK DIFFERENTIALS IN FEDERAL ORDER MILK MARKETS.
DAIRY FARMERS WEREN'T THE ONLY PEOPLE IN AGRICULTURE WHO
WERE UNHAPPY. THE ADMINISTRATION ALSO TOOK ACTIONS
CALCULATED TO FORCE DOWN PRICES IN OTHER SECTORS OF
AGRICULTURE.
THIS WAR ON AGRICULTURE SUCCEEDED ONLY TOO WELL.
-7-
LET OFFICIAL AGRICULTURE DEPARTMENT FIGURES TELL YOU
THE STORY AS IT APPLIES TO DAIRY FARMING.
DURING THE JANUARY-THROUGH-MAY PERIOD, DAIRY IMPORTS
WERE THE EQUIVALENT OF 929 MILLION POUNDS COMPARED WITH
395 MILLION POUNDS FOR THE SAME PERIOD IN 1965. AT THIS
RATE, IMPORTS FOR THE ENTIRE CALENDAR YEAR WOULD REACH
2 BILLION POUNDS COMPARED WITH 907 MILLION POUNDS LAST YEAR.
JANUARY-THROUGH-MAY IMPORTS OF FROZEN CREAM WERE UP ABOUT
40 PER CENT FROM A YEAR EARLIER, AND THOSE OF COLBY CHEESE
ABOUT 50 PER CENT. JANUARY-THROUGH-MAY IMPORTS OF OTHER
NON-QUOTA CHEESE AS WELL AS THOSE OF QUOTA CHEESES ROSE
ABOUT 30 PER CENT FROM A YEAR EARLIER.
SO HERE YOU HAVE THE JOHNSON-FREEMAN ADMINISTRATION
FORD & LIBRARY GERALD
-8-
GANGING UP ON THE FARMER. YET FARM PRICES TODAY ARE 6 PER
CENT LOWER THAN THEY WERE IN THE KOREAN WAR YEAR OF 1952.
AT THE SAME TIME FOOD PRICES HAVE GONE UP 16 PER CENT AND
FARM COSTS HAVE RISEN 15 PER CENT.
WHAT IT AMOUNTS TO IS THAT THE JOHNSON-FREEMAN ADMINIS-
TRATION HAS UNJUSTIFIABLY BLAMED THE FARMER FOR HIGH FOOD
PRICES AT A TIME WHEN THE FARMER IS NOT GETTING HIS FAIR
SHARE OF THE FOOD DOLLAR.
THE TRUTH IS THAT FARMERS ARE CAUGHT IN A VICIOUS COST-
PRICE SQUEEZE THAT LEAVES THEM ON THE SHORT END WHILE
JOHNSON-FREEMAN ADMINISTRATION POLICIES KEEP PUSHING PRICES
HIGHER AND HIGHER.
THE DAIRY FARMER HAS BEEN GETTING HIS LUMPS FROM THE
FORD is LIBRARY 1839
-9-
ADMINISTRATION ALONG WITH THE REST OF AGRICULTURE. SO IT
WAS NO SURPRISE TO ME THAT THERE WAS A NEGATIVE REACTION
FROM MANY DAIRY FARMERS WHEN THE ADMINISTRATION RAISED THE
SUPPORT PRICE OF MANUFACTURING MILK 14 1/2 PER CENT LAST
JULY 1.
FARMERS ARE IN TROUBLE BECAUSE THE JOHNSON-FREEMAN
ADMINISTRATION IS IN TROUBLE.
THE TROUBLE IS THAT THE ADMINISTRATION HAS NOT BEEN
LOOKING AT THE REAL CAUSES OF INFLATION. INSTEAD THEY
HAVE MADE FARMERS STRUGGLING WITH LESS THAN EQUITABLE
INCOMES THE SCAPEGOATS OF INFLATION.
THE ADMINISTRATION IN EFFECT HAS BEEN PLACING PRICE
GERALD FORD LIBRARY
AND INCOME LIMITS ON AGRICULTURE AND ON AGRICULTURE ALONE.
-10-
THIS IS NOT ONLY UNFAIR TO THE FARMER. IT IS HARMFUL TO
THE ENTIRE ECONOMY.
I AM FIRMLY CONVINCED THAT THE NATION AS A WHOLE WOULD
BENEFIT IF FARM PRICES WERE ALLOWED TO REACH EQUITABLE
LEVELS.
YOU HOLSTEIN BREEDERS CAN TAKE A LOT OF SATISFACTION IN
THE WORK YOU ARE DOING. YOUR EFFORTS ARE EXTREMELY
IMPORTANT IN REVERSING THE FALL IN MILK PRODUCTION--A
DECLINE WHICH THREATENS A TRULY INFLATIONARY SITUATION IN
DAIRY PRODUCTS.
I CONGRATULATE YOU ON YOUR ROLE IN A GROWING AND DYNAMIC
INDUSTRY AND I WISH YOU EVERY SUCCESS FOR THE FUTURE.
THANK YOU.
GERALD FORD LIBRARY
--END--
REP. GERALD R. FORD, R-MICHIGAN
SPEECH BEFORE THE VIRGINIA COOPERATIVE HOLSTEIN BREEDING ASSOCIATION--JULY 20, 1966
Ladies and gentlemen:
It is a distinct pleasure for me to be here with you today. And it is highly
appropriate that I should be talking to you here in Loudoun County because--and some
of you may not know this--the American dairy industry had its beginning in the State
of Virginia.
Back in 1957, visitors to the 350th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown
saw a cow grazing in front of the Governor's Palace in Williamsburg. They no doubt
were astonished, but they need not have been.
Indeed, they would not have been surprised if they had known that the first
settlers at Jamestown were miserable with hunger and sickness until new leaders
arrived with cows and a determination to develop adequate farm food supplies.
Today American dairymen are part of an industry that does a business in excess
of $5 billion a year. It's a big volume business. You fellows sitting here before
me are coming up with the only real answer to present-day conditions--high-producing
registered herds.
You have brought big-cow efficiency into the dairy industry. You are people
with know-how and hard-headed business judgment in the management of your herds,
your farms and your working capital. I salute you.
There has been a population explosion and it is continuing. There would appear
to be good opportunities in dairying in the years ahead because demand for milk is
accelerating.
Yet dairy herd liquidation has been occurring in recent years and is continuing.
What's the reason for this? Orville L. Freeman, that fellow who poses unsuccess-
fully as the friend of the farmer, recently uttered some sad but true words. The
farmer, Freeman said, still is earning only about 65 per cent as much as the non-farmer.
He went on to warn that if farmers cannot earn a decent living they will desert the
farm in large numbers for better paying jobs.
Freeman issued that warning one day before President Johnson invaded Nebraska and
Iowa on June 30 to tell farmers they never had it so good.
Mr. Johnson went into Nebraska and Iowa and told the farmers there they were
getting along just great.
But what does the record show? The record reveals that the Johnson-Freeman
Administration earlier this year turned on the American farmer and made him the
whipping boy of inflation.
(MORE)
GERALD FORD LIBRARY
-2-
The Administration launched a war on inflation, and the American farmer became
the first casualty.
The Johnson-Humphrey Administration deliberately went to work to drive down
farm prices in an attempt to soothe the ruffled feelings of housewives disturbed by
the rising cost of living.
It didn't matter to Administration officials that three-fifths of the cost of
foodstuffs is added after the products leave the farm. The farmer was an easy
target, and besides there are a lot more votes in the cities.
I didn't realize just how furious this made the farmer until officials of the
Michigan Milk Producers Association came to Washington to meet with the Michigan
congressional delegation--Republicans and Democrats.
They have never spoken out 80 bluntly in the past. They were angry about
margarine being substituted for butter in the government's relief feeding programs and
in Army and Air Force rations. They were angry about the refusal of the Administration
to make use of open market purchase authority for milk and dairy products. They were
angry about Mr. Johnson's attempts to cut back the school milk and school lunch
programs. They were angry about a sharp increase in cheddar cheese imports. They
were angry about the Administration's refusal to restrict imports of cream, junex,
grapex, colby cheese and swiss cheese. They were angry about the Agriculture Depart-
ment's refusal to hold nationwide hearings aimed at permanently increasing Class I
milk differentials in federal order milk markets.
Dairy farmers weren't the only people in agriculture who were unhappy. The
Administration also took actions calculated to force down prices in other sectors
of agriculture.
This war on agriculture succeeded only too well.
Let official Agriculture Department figures tell you the story as it applies
to dairy farming.
During the January-through-May period, dairy imports were the equivalent of
929 million pounds compared with 395 million pounds for the same period in 1965.
At this rate, imports for the entire calendar year would reach 2 billion pounds
compared with 907 million pounds last year.
January=through-May imports of frozen cream were up about 40 per cent from a
year earlier, and those of colby cheese about 50 per cent. January-through-May
imports of other non-quota cheese as well as those of quota cheeses rose about
30 per cent from a year earlier.
So here you have the Johnson-Freeman Administration ganging up on the farmer.
Yet farm prices today are 6 per cent lower than they were in the Korean War year of
1952. At the same time food prices have gone up 16 per cent and farm costs have
(MORE)
-3-
risen 15 per cent.
What it amounts to is that the Johnson-Freeman Administration has unjustifiably
blamed the farmer for high food prices at a time when the farmer is not getting his
fair share of the food dollar.
The truth is that farmers are caught in a vicious cost-price squeeze that leaves
them on the short end while Johnson-Freeman Administration policies keep pushing
prices higher and higher.
The dairy farmer has been getting his lumps from the Administration along with
the rest of agriculture. So it was no surprise to me that there was a negative
reaction from many dairy farmers when the Administration raised the support price of
manufacturing milk 14½ per cent last July 1.
Farmers are in trouble because the Johnson-Freeman Administration is in trouble.
The trouble is that the Administration has not been looking at the real causes
of inflation. Instead they have made farmers struggling with less than equitable
incomes the scapegoats of inflation.
The Administration in effect has been placing price and income limits on
agriculture and on agriculture alone. This is not only unfair to the farmer; it is
harmful to the entire economy.
I am firmly convinced that the nation as a whole would benefit if farm prices
were allowed to reach equitable levels.
You Holstein breeders can take a lot of satisfaction in the work you are doing.
Your efforts are extremely important in reversing the fall in milk production--a
decline which threatens a truly inflationary situation in dairy products.
I congratulate you on your role in a growing and dynamic industry, and I wish
you every success for the future. Thank you.
# # #
BERALD FORD LIBRARY