Speech #700118148

And it is with profound regret that I have come to this conclusion. for I realize only too well the class and sectional bitterness which will inevitably follow In the wake of the above alignment. But what else is there left for our farmers to do? At this hour our manufacturers are enjoying the highest protective duties ever enacted by Congress. our bankers are massed behind the great Federal reserve act. our railroads behind the EschCummins Act. while organized labor enjoys the protection of the Adamson law and a rigid Immigration actand thus with all these mighty forces which fix the farmers costs of production enjoying these special privileges at the hands of the Government. the position of our farmers has become Intolerableand if specific evidence on this score Is needed It can be found in the fact that since the close of the World War our farm debt has risen from four and a half billion dollars to more than $12.000.000.000. while the shrinkage in all farm values amounts to the almost Inconceivable sum of more than $20.000.000.000. Therefore. If In the face of these tragic conditions the industrial East continues to refuse to equalize the farmers burdens.