Record copy, Speech by Senator Johnson at Farmers Home Administration Meeting in Dallas, Texas

LBJA RECORD COPY SPEECH BY SENATOR LYNDON B. JOHNSON OF TEXAS PREPARED FOR DELIVERY AT FARME'S HOME ADMINISTRATION MEETING DALLAS, TEXAS FOR AUTOMATIC RELEASE AT 2:00 PM CST, OCTOBER 9, 1952 My Friends and Fellow Texans: It has been said that the strength of a nation can be no greater than the self-reliance of its individual citizens. By that standard, we are truly a country that need not fear the future. This is a land built upon the sturdy bedrock of human initiative and human independence. Our ancestors dared the barren wilderness and the uncharted plain. They braved the forests and the prairies. They conquered a continent -- in search of freedom and independence. Their way of life was simple. They worked hard; feared God; and paid their debts. Upon that simple creed, they founded a nation that is the hope of the world. That nation is our heritage. In recent years, it has become popular in some quarters to say that we are not worthy of that heritage. There are those who -- for reasons of their own -- are trying to tell our people that they are soft - that they have become dependent upon charity from above. Our meeting today is one that gives the lie to these peddlers of de- feat. Our meeting today is the symbol of American independence, sturdy and flourishing despite its detractors. We are here to mark an outstanding achievement of more than 300 Texas farm families. We are here to record tfor the nation the fact that those fam- ilies have paid their farm tenant loans under the Bankhead-Jones act at least 30 years before they were due. I have been looking forward eagerly to this event. I have been antic- ipating it with pleasure because it represents vindication - vindication of the faith of the American people in themselves. The Bankhead-Jones act is one of the great pieces of legislation of the past 20 years. This law -- sponsored by my good friend and distinguished fellow Texan, Judge Marvin Jones, of Amarillo - ranks with the bills that created REA and the Production and Marketing Administration. These are the measures which did so much to reestablish agriculture after the depression of the late twenties and early thirties. These are the measures which once again have made farming a way of life attractive to Americans, But the essential wisdom of these acts can be measured only in part by the economic benefits they have brought to our people. It is of far greater importance to our future that they represent help without charity; assistance that does not compel dependence. The Bankhead-Jones act helps Americans to help themselves. They have proven themselves worthy of that help. I can well recall the days in Congress when those of us who had faith in the American people were fighting for this legislation. We met the scoffers and the doubters and those who were faint of heart. They said the American farmer would not repay his loans. They said the American farmer would not buy electricity. They said the American farmer would not practice soil conservation - even though it was for his own good. The passing of the years have given the answer in full. The American farmer is repaying his loans; he is buying and using electricity; he is prac- ticing the soil conservation that pays such rich dividends in present and future productivity.