American Poultry and Hatchery Federation, St. Louis, MO, July 20, 1967

REMARKS FOR POULTRY ASS'N Ma July 20, before amenican Poulty tratchery Federation. --Hold up Sunday edition of Washington Post with page one stories on the Rail Strike, an air battle between Egypt and Israel, the race riot in Newark, and the a rocket attack on the Danang Air Base which was "the worst yet." (Labor disputes, Mideast Crisis, Riots, ietnam.). The last few days, taxes in the headline 1. On Rail Strike Make the point that the strike never should have occurred, and probably would not have happened, if President Johnson had made good on his promise in his January 1966 State of the Union me ssage to send up legislation to deal with national emergency strike situations. improve the prêment labor laws in that regard. Make the point that there now should ber followup action to set the wheels in motion to get such legislation passed. This can only be done if the majority leadership acts. Republicans can urge repeatedly that action be taken--creation of a joint select committee to S tudy the probilom, or the establishment of a system of labor courts--but nothing will transpire if the majority party refuses to act. Make the point that Congress acted presponsibly in approving the President's "mediation to finality" bill but should not be expected to deal with national emergency strikes on a case-by-case basis. Republicans are not "just criticizing" in urging follown action. They are urging a course that is in the best interests of the Nation->à course they are unable to carry out on their own initiative, however, since they do not have control of the congre ssional machinery. 2/ POULTRY ASSN --You might point out that 1967 is a year of serious labor trouble--that roughly 90 per cont of the nation S copper production and a substantial part of its lead and zinc output thas b een halted by strikes, that the auto industry negotiations now undei way could break down and lead to a strike that would seriously damage the economy. Call for statemmansh ip on the part of labor leaders and industrialists alike; pray that the public doesn't get caught in the middle. 2. On the Mideast Crisis Eggppt is continuing--With Soviet backing--to maintain a war crisis atmosphere in the Mideast. The Soviet Union has replaced a third or more of the billions of dollars worth of Arab arms destroyed by Israal in the 5-day Arab-Israeli War and has sent more than a dozen warships to Egypt in a show of Deston force. Maantime the Eggpt continues to provoke incidents with Israol at Suez in a deliberate campaign to boxing build up pre ssure for a UN KIX resolution says ordering Israel to give up its military gains. Make the point that peade with any promise of permanence can come to the Mideast only if the Arab states negotiate directly with Israel. Chances for such direct negotiations are poor because the Soviet Union, which encounaged the Arab states to threaten annihilition of Israel in the first place, is rearming the Arab nations and giving thanx support to their threats of a resumption of the war. Yet the President sleaks of the Spirit of Hollybush, the Spirit of Glassboro. That spirit exists only in Glassboro unfortunately. Digitized from Box D22 of The Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library