In the process of transmuting our possibilities into assets—what is the dominant factor? The American farmer. I challenge any of my distinguished audience to mention a single phase of commerce, one feature of trade, the smallest detail of actual subsistence that does not eventually trace back to the man plodding out there on the acres.
Napoleon said an army traveled on its belly. He could have said, with equal truth, that civilization travels on its belly. And the farmer is the factor that fills the Great American Stomach, and that keeps full every dinner pail, regarding which we have heard so much during political campaigns. More than that, he also clothes the armies of development. Nor must we forget that with the South’s cotton as the lever, he keeps the international trade balance on the American side of the ledger. You tell me the manufacturer plays a large part in our current and our probable development. This is true. You tell me also, that what might be called trade-strategy, pure and simple—the proverbial “Yankee shrewdness”—is going to win for America the bulk of the world’s business.
I do not dispute these assertions. But I answer: That back of trade-strategy and of dollar-diplomacy is—the American farmer. Without him, all would be in vain; without him, all of those resources we agree ought to be conserved would melt into impalpable air.
Let us admit, then, that the farmer is the keystone in the arch not only of national advance, but of sheer national existence. His problems, then, are the Nation’s problems and his welfare, the Nation’s welfare. No nation is stronger than its farmers. If the farmer is poorly nourished, if the Government is negligent of his rights, indifferent to his mental development and moral soundness, the way will be surely blocked to our national march forward.
It is to the vital interest of America to cultivate intensively not only the farm, but—what is more important—to cultivate intensively the farmer. What use to conserve our resources, unless we conserve the man behind the resources? The stability of national progress and of government itself is dependent upon conserving the farmer.
All of you within hearing of my voice may say: “We concede these facts. Are we not, right now, trying to aid the farmer, to conserve him, to intensively cultivate his possibilities and safeguard his rights?” And I answer: “Probably you are. But you can not help—you can not conserve—you can not cultivate the farmer unless you mix and mingle with him in the first person—not for twenty-four hours, but more likely for twenty-four months or twenty-four years.” I give full credit to the splendid intentions of the men who have tried and who now are trying to aid the farmer. But you can not adequately grasp his problem by using field-glasses from the convention hall or interviewing him over a long distance telephone, so to speak.
The scientists who are searching for secrets, the missionaries who are looking for converts, use neither of these methods. They go straight to the scene of battle. And so must all persons do, my friends, if they expect intelligently to conserve, to cultivate the American element which is the pivot of all other elements in this country. Study him at first hand, then your sympathies will be practical, not theoretic; your suggestions based on conditions, not on conjecture. Fight with him, side by side, in the ranks, day by day. That is the only way you can learn of the foes—not the least of which is his own weakness—which he has to combat, and what his victory means to the weal or woe of this common country of ours.
At this point President White reassumed the Chair.
President White—The ex-President of this Congress, familiarly called “Uncle Henry,” and, in dignified circles, Dr. Henry Wallace, but who doesn’t like the name and prefers “Uncle Henry,” will speak tonight, as will Judge Ben B. Lindsey, of Denver, Colo., the children’s friend.
The morning session is now at an end. We hope you will get back here at 2 o’clock, because we have a very full program.