LONG RANGE FARM PROGRAM THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1953 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Be it remembered that on the 17th day of September 1953, there was held in the Odeon Theater in the city of Tucumcari, Quay County, N. Mex., a hearing before the House Agriculture Subcommittee, Hon. William S. Hill, chairman of the subcommitee, presiding, Hon. Page Belcher, and Hon. Carl Albert, members of the subcommittee also present. The record was made as follows: STATEMENT OF HON. MANFORD W. RAINWATER Mr. RAINWATER. Ladies and gentlemen, we are very happy to have you here today, and I know that some of you are wondering how we were fortunate enough to make arrangements for a subcommittee hearing here in Tucumcari. You know, we have a wonderful form of government. It is very democratic in its nature, and we have some farmers and ranchers in our community who were a little worried about their situation, and just what the future held for them, and they began talking among themselves. And then some of their leaders began talking, and it was fortunate enough that they came in contact with our Representative, Jack Dempsey. And he said, "Well, let's do something about it." And through the good offices of Representative Jack Dempsey, the wheels began to turn, and he was able to arrange and make provisions for this subcommittee hearing here today. Then through the efforts of your Tucumcari Chamber of Commerce and the San Jon Chamber of Commerce, and the Quay County Farm Bureau, and other interested citizens, we began to get together a little committee, and this committee has worked very diligently to make arrangements for this subcommittee hearing here today. When Representative Tom Morris called the chairman of the subcommittee to see what their wishes were, the only thing that he wanted of us was to make provisions for the hearing, and to give the local people an opportunity to discuss their farm and livestock problems. They come a long way to hear us discuss our own problems, and for that reason we are glad to see so many of you here. Now, this hearing will be of an informal nature. However, a record will be kept of the proceedings, and this committee will, no doubt, make a report to the full committee, House Agriculture Committee, and we trust that they will then know the proper solutions for our problems. This morning we have Congressman William S. Hill, of Fort Collins, Colo., who is chairman of the subcommitee. We have Congressman Page Belcher from Enid, Okla., and Congressman Carl Albert will be here sometime this morning. In a short time the meeting will be turned over to Congressman Hill, who will preside during the progress of the hearing. However, there are a few announcements that I should make. I understand that the witnesses appearing before the committee will be requested to take this seat here, and will testify from that position. Congressman Hill has suggested that we hear any spokesman for any organization, that wishes to appear before the committee. And after the spokesmen for the various organizations have appeared, the committee will then hear individuals discuss problems that they wish to bring before the committee. A few organizations have registered as desiring to have representatives appear. If there are any other organizations having representatives here, we wish that you would register them at the registration desk at the front of the building in order that we may know that you wish to appear. Any individual who plans to appear, may also register, and in that way help us to conduct the hearing. However, registration at the registration booth is not necessary, or a prerequisite to appearing before this committee. Now, since the witnesses are going to be seated, and at all times our public address system is not probably the best, it might be well if you folks would like to move in closer, and I wish that you would do that, especially those of you who are at the back. The entertainment committee of local citizens have arranged for a banquet tonight at the country club. Those wishing to attend the banquet should register at the registration desk and buy your ticket, and you should do that as soon as you possibly can. We are happy that our Representative Antonio M. Fernandez and our Senator Clinton P. Anderson have arrived. I might state that we are also expecting the arrival of Representative Walter Rogers, of Texas. I understand that he will fly in sometime this morning. At this time I want to call upon the mayor of our city to greet our honored guest. STATEMENT OF HON. JACK ELLISON, MAYOR Mayor ELLISON. Thank you, Manford. It is indeed a pleasure to welcome this fine Agriculture Subcommittee to our fair city, and we sincerely hope and trust that a great deal will be accomplished, by getting together and discussing the many problems that we have, and doing it on a democratic, businesslike basis. I understand that Congressman Hill is quite a mountain man and a forester; I understand that he has a son that is a forest ranger. Now this is just a story that I heard, I am not sure about all of the details, but I would like to pass it on, because I know that he would like for us to know how cool, calm, and collected he is at all times. As the situation seems, this son was up in the very high mountain ranges of Colorado, and the daughter wanted to call him to see how he was feeling, because the last time that they had seen him, why, he was feeling kind of bad. So she called up to the last ranger station, and he wasn't in. They said that he was out about 30 miles. So finally the word got around to Congressman Hill's son that his sister was calling, and so he hiked back the 30 miles to the ranger station and he couldn't get anyone over the telephone there, the line was down, and he got a leave of absence for 2 days and went all the way down the mountain, and finally he got to a telephone that he could get home. And so he called in home all excited, and nervous and upset, and Congressman Hill answers the phone. He said, "Dad, dad, is anything wrong," he said, "how is everything down there?" So Congressman Hill said, "Well, pretty good," he said, "we could take a little bit of rain." So, on this, we know that he will be calm, cool, and collected, and we ean all take a little bit of rain. It is a pleasure to have such a dignified and distinguished guest in our city, and we truly trust and hope that each one of you will receive a great deal of satisfaction by these distinguished gentlemen giving of their time and effort, and we can see that productivity of our lawmaking and legislative body is always in good production. Congressman Hill, as chairman of this committee, I would like to extend my hand greeting you and welcoming you and your entire group to our city, and I would like to give you the key to the city, Congressman Hill. Mr. HILL. Thank you. Do you think that it will get me out of the hoosegow? Mr. ELLISON. I think it will get you out of the hoosegow. [Applause.] Mr. HILL. Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor, and I will use that key; you will never get it back. So you will have to buy another one for someone else. I am glad to be here this morning, and, of course, more than happy to see so many of you present. That shows your interest in what we are going to talk about. But, before we begin, and that is going to be very shortly, I want to introduce the members of the subcommittee, who are going to listen very closely to all you have to say, and further, do something about your troubles. First, I would like to introduce our subcommittee members, and as I introduce them, I want them to say just a word. And if anyone talks too long, I am going to use the old House of Representatives rule against those folks, which is a 5-minute or a 1-minute rule that we go under. We don't have any plan like the Senators use, where they can filibuster and the longer you talk without saying anything, the more they raise your wages and give you more help. That is not true in the House. The more you talk, the more trouble you get into. So I am going to introduce first of all, and I want him to say a word, Page Belcher, member of our committee from the great State of Oklahoma, your neighbor. [Applause.] Mr. BELCHER. Thank you very much, Bill. It is indeed a pleasure for me to be here with you, this morning. I came out here to listen to these fellows tell us how to solve these problems. I didn't come out here to tell them, and I think it would be much more profitable if we would operate under the 1-minute rule and get on with the hearing. Nevertheless, I do want to say that I am happy to be with you. Your hospitality so far has been very fine, and we hope to have a very profitable meeting. Mr. HILL. Thank you, Page, and now to the right of Mr. Belcher is another Congressman with whom I have worked on agricultural committees for the last 6 or 8 years, and he is also from the State of Oklahoma, and he knows something about this whole area, as well as you folks who live here regularly, shall I say. All right, Carl Albert, will you say a word, from Oklahoma? [Applause.] |