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Text of Remarks by the President to Be Delivered at the Texas Grain and Feed Association Convention, the Civic Center, El Paso, Texas [Ford Speech or Statement]
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7343440
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Text of Remarks by the President to Be Delivered at the Texas Grain and Feed Association Convention, the Civic Center, El Paso, Texas [Ford Speech or Statement]
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White House Press Releases (Ford Administration)
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1976-04-09
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1976
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Digitized from Box 24 of the White House Press Releases at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL
APRIL 9, 1976
6:00 a.m. (EST) April 10, 1976
4:00 a. m. (MST) April 1976
Office of the White House Press Secretary
(Dallas, Texas)
THE WHITE HOUSE
TEXT OF REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
TO BE DELIVERED AT THE
TEXAS GRAIN AND FEED ASSOCIATION CONVENTION
THE CIVIC CENTER
EL PASO, TEXAS
APRIL 10, 1976
It is an honor for me to address this great convention of the Texas Grain and
Feed Association. Coming to Texas is always a special treat for me, and
it's especially satisfying in the springtime.
Your countryside is alive and humming with farm machinery of every
description. Spring is a time of new birth, a time of optimism, and this
year there's a lot to be optimistic about.
As the state which produces more cattle and grain sorghum than any other,
Texas has played a major part in one of the most successful farming years
in America's history.
In fact, the last three years have been the highest net farm income years in
history, and that's not a bad record. I don't think it is mere coincidence
that these three very successful years have been years when the government
left you alone and let your produce without a lot of bureaucratic interference.
I can promise you that is the kind of successful farm policy I intend to
pursue in the next four years.
Today we no longer have heavy farm surpluses hanging over the market,
costing the government a million dollars a day just for storage. Instead of
piling it up, we're selling grain in record volume, The Nation's grain
reserves are now in the hands of farmers and the private trade. This
system is working very well, and I commend you for it.
During the past year, your very fine industry has been affected because a
few grain inspection agencies have not properly carried out their responsibilities
It is absolutely essential that we maintain the confidence of our export grain
customers, who buy such a large percentage of America's farm production.
But we must not we cannot do it by turning over more of your business to
a government bureaucracy in Washington. I strongly oppose the so-called
"Humphrey-Clark" Bill which would federalize the U.S. grain inspection system
I favor instead an approach which provides for more careful federal supervision
of grading and weighing our grain for export. However, I do not believe that it
is appropriate or necessary to extend this limited federal participation to
interior points.
Private concerns have for years operated country elevators and weighing and
inspection services all across our great nation. The abuses which have been
exposed do not implicate these internal operations at all, and I see no reason
to replace private interests with government controls.
(MORE)
-2-
Furthermore, the Department of Agriculture has recently proposed broad
sweeping regulations aimed at eliminating conflicts of interest and insuring a
more efficient portside grain inspection system.
I have urged Secretary Butz to devote the best and most comprehensive efforts
of his department to insure that the grain of American farmers sold abroad is
properly certificated and that the integrity of our export efforts is restored to.
its proper position.
Abuses of the past have impaired our trade credibility and short-changed the
American farmer. We are working hard and fast to correct these deficiencies,
and I hope that the Congress does not overreact by federalizing the entire system.
In any event, I propose to put an end to corruption in the grain inspection business,
and the sooner the better. Furthermore, I am and will continue to be -- firmly
opposed to putting your grain in the control of some government board or inter-
national reserve.
I am firmly opposed to subsidized imports. I don't want American farmers having
to compete with the national treasuries of foreign governments.
I am just as firmly in favor of the farm policies which yielded a $21. 6 billion
Agricultural export market last year -- and will be more than $22 billion this
year.
I am in favor of policies which will enable you to export an estimated 48 million
metric tons of feed grain -- an all-time record -- in the current marketing year.
That's 12 million more than we exported last year, and about 7 million more
than we exported in the previous record year of 1973-74.
I am in favor of policies which will enable you to export between 1.5 and 1. 6 billior
bushels of corn during this marketing year. I am in favor of policies which will
enable you to export between 250 and 300 million bushels of grain sorghum this
year a record amount.
These policies are the ones this Administration has followed for the past twenty
months. And they are the policies we will continue to follow for the next four
years, to keep Agriculture strong and keep it growing in America.
As you know, our domestic feed grain usage has not been expanding as rapidly
as our export demands in recent years. But even domestically, where a short
corn crop during the 1974-1975 season resulted in a very substantial decline in
feed grain use, we are steadily recovering.
The number of cattle on feed is sharply higher than a year ago, although it will
be later this year before we can expect feeding rates to approach those of the
early 1970s.
I suspect we will get into these particular matters in a little more detail
during the question-and-answer session, but let me make one or two brief general
observations first.
With respect to our overall Agriculture policies, as you know, I have appointed
the Secretary of Agriculture, Earl Butz, as Chairman of my new Cabinet-level
Agricultural Policy Committee.
This Committee will have the central role in developing and directing our nation's
food policies, and with Earl Butz as Chairman, you can be sure that his strong,
plain-spoken voice of common sense and his advocacy of your interests will be
heard in the highest councils of government.
(MORE)
-3-
You will also be interested to know that Secretary Butz leaves tomorrow on
a ten-nation mission to promote the further development of our agricultural
export markets. Or as Earl says, he's going overseas to drum up some
business for the most prolific producers of food and fiber in the history of
mankind.
All of you know that, to a large degree, your success depends on your
country's success. When your country has economic problems, so do you.
When your country has good relations with foreign nations, so do you.
The real decision that you and your fellow Americans will be making this
year is whether or not America is on the right course for the future.
The evidence strongly suggests that we are on the right course. After
suffering the worst economic problems this nation has faced in forty years,
America is on the road to a new prosperity.
Employment is going up, and unemployment is going down. Sales and
investments and industrial production are going up, while inflation and the
rate of growth in federal spending are going down. In fact, they have been
cut in half in the past year. In addition, our balance of trade is the best
on record. Every single leading economic indicator today is a sign of progress
and a sign of hope for America. We have pursued some common-sense
pòlicies in the past twenty months that stressed the revitalization of the
private sector, rather than relying on big government to cure our economic
ills and increase its control over our lives.
We must never forget that a government big enough to giveus everything we
want is a government big enough to take from us everything we have. My
policies have reflected that basic truth, and they have worked. They're still
working, and we have a lot more progress in store in the months and years ahea
That is a promise I can make with confidence, and the watchword of this
Administration has always been to promise no more than we can deliver, and
deliver everything we promise.
Finally, we are pursuing the same kind of common sense policies nternationally
as we are domestically. America is at peace. We are pursuing a policy
of peace through strength. Cur strength is unsurpassed by any other nation
on earth, and let me assure you that I intend to keep it that way in the future.
Cur military capability is fully sufficient to deter aggression, to keep the
peace, and to protect our national security. But strength involves more than
military might. A nation's real power is measured more completely by
considering a combination of its military, agricultural, industrial,
technological, and moral strength. In every one of these areas, the number
one nation in the world is the United States of America.
We have every right and every reason to be confident and optimistic about our
future. Even as we enter our third century of independence, I believe America
is still in the springtime of its life.
I am ready to meet the great challenge of the future with you, to fill that
future with new achievement and a new life for the nation we love so much.
That is my goal, and that is why I am asking for your support on May 1,
November 2, and in the years to come.
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