NFO-239 (AV10742): US Farm Report: The Independent Farmer and Businessman

this is the result of exodus exodus from the family farms of America and when the independent farmer leaves the land and makes his way to the urban areas the independent rural businessman loses a customer and soon the businesses of rural America are deserted - what's really tragic about this loss of 2500 farms a week is that it doesn't have to happen but it will unless farmers themselves prevent it by doing something about declining farm prices a decline that's driving families off farms at the highest rate in history a four-year-old who wants to be a family farmer like his dad is going to be fighting terrible odds because if things keep going as they are by the time a four-year-old is 18 there will be over 1,800,000 fewer farms to farm on mr. Wilson Johnson president of the National Federation of Independent Business is our guest on us farm report and we'll discuss the problems we have just posed so stay tuned [music] hi everybody and welcome to us farm report it is my pleasure today to welcome as a special guest to our show a visitor from San Mateo California I'm speaking of mr. Wilson S. Johnson who is president of the National Federation of Independent Business Wilson it's a pleasure indeed to welcome you thanks Bill it's a real pleasure to be here with you what brings you back to the Midwest on this trip Wilson actually bill we've been counseling with Ed Wimmer vice president in charge of public relations and we've been planning overall public relations activities for NFIB you know we had the pleasure we meaning our US farm report crew in covering the recent national NFO convention in Louisville Kentucky oh yeah ah the filming ed and hearing him and he's a most inspiring speaker and we love to to hear him express himself on the problems of the independent businessman he's your director of public relations is that correct bill that is correct and that has done a tremendous job for the Federation Ed's philosophy as I believe you know is that if we're going to have a strong rural America that you've got to have the former the independent businessman and the independent bankers working together as an effective team yes indeed what exactly is the Federation Wilson and would you explain it to our viewers they'll all be delighted to do that the Federation is a nationwide nonprofit organization we have over two hundred and seventy-six thousand members basically we alert independent businessmen we have many thousands of farmers who are very active in participating as members of the Federation we alert them on key pertinent business legislation that's coming up for congressional study we provide a very simple device whereby the businessmen can indicate if they're either for or against these these pieces of business legislation we provide a very simple ballot so that these businessmen express their opinions and that's funneled in to members of Congress this way these men on the hill have the pulse of business thinking in their congressional district before they or compelled to make a decision it's about as democratic as apple pie is American Wilson as I have told you I belong to this organization I'm proud to belong and I have found it very enlightening and most interesting I find through the mandate that I get a feeling of indeed some influence in the matter of that kind of legislation that is being considered in Washington affecting pro or con the independent businessman and I get a voice listen I wonder if you would be so good as to explain in great detail for our viewers what the mandate is all about well I'll be delighted to do it we maintain a very competent legislative staff in Washington the members of our legislative staff review carefully the various pieces of legislation and they select each month those that are more pertinent to business on our mandate we serve up five proposed bills that are coming up for a congressional study congressional consideration we list in careful detail the pros and cons and then we provide a very simple ballot so that a businessman can indicate if he's either for or against or in some instances no opinion also on this ballot if he wishes to give additional detail he can also comment there's a space where he can comment to both his congressman in his governor where does the ballot go we have across the country about 2,300 district chairman these are businessmen who serve on a voluntary basis and these ballots are mailed in to a local chairman who in turn tabulates them on forms that we provide he sends a copy of that tabulation directly to the congressman with one copy the ballot he sends another copy of the tabulation with the other ballot governor and then he sends us a carbon copy so we in turn can put together a nationwide summary and our testimony our follow through in Congress with the congressional committees and government agencies is based entirely on the results of that nationwide survey well now the congressman the governor whomever receives these tabulated figures must necessarily pay some attention to those figures because these figures do not represent one two or a half-a-dozen businessmen they represent in fact in the case of the Federation 276,000 businessmen bill that is exactly true and for the last several years we have been by far and away the most frequently quoted in the congressional record of any business organization in America and I'm sure the fact that it is a democratic process members of Congress know that these ballots represent the pulse of thinking the convictions of their own business constituents accounts primarily for that fact Wilson can you mention some of the Federation's legislative accomplishments yes we were given a great deal of credit for getting SBA the Small Business Administration set up on a permanent basis to assist the former and independent business as a matter of fact President Eisenhower gave our vice president mr. Berger the fountain pen that he used in signing that bill also the 7% investment credit we have been quite active in that over the years again bill as you know this has been tremendously advantageous to both the independent businessman and the farmer back in 1965 President Johnson asked that that be deleted because of the cost of the Vietnam War we asked that it should be retained as an incentive for the former and the independent businessman both of whom have been caught in a squeeze insofar as a reasonable margin of profit at that time it was cut back to 20,000 and we do feel that it was extremely advantageous to the independent businessman and the farmer recently as you know that has been deleted and frankly our own candid opinion based on the thinking of independent businessmen across the country is that that was a mistake in view of the squeeze with a high cost of money taxes labor and overhead that they're being plagued with at the present time yes I'm sure that you know about the exodus of the independent farmer I think figures indicate that some 2,500 independent family-type farms are going by the wayside every week in this country of course those independent farmers support the rural businessman and so he is going to and I'm just wondering if in the Federation you are seeing this kind of exodus in small business yes bill we are and it isn't healthy for the overall nationwide economy actually the situation that is plaguing the farmer is also plaguing the average independent businessman I think both of these groups are paying a pretty high price for the privilege of trying to be independent and to realize a fair and equitable margin of profit the cost of money today the cost of labor the cost of taxes is plaguing both of these groups to a point where they feel that they are not realizing a reasonable margin of profit for the time the effort the headache and the capital investment you mentioned something a little while ago that I found most interesting Wilson and that was an overlapping support you mentioned that there were a number of farmers who belong to the National Federation of Independent Business and by the same token numbers of independent businessmen who are supporting farmers through membership for example in NFOyes bill this is very very true we have many thousands of farmers by the same token we know that many thousands of independent businessmen do support NFO and I think this is exactly as it should be the independent business man in rural America is very much aware that he is not going to continue in a healthy state unless the farmer is also getting a fair price for his farm products which he has not been getting in recent years I have two brothers who are farmers and I know that they have been paying more and more and more for farm equipment and yet the cost of farm produce has not escalated proportionately and this is also the problem with the average businessman he is being plagued with the high cost of money taxes labor and the overall and overhead cost and he is simply not realizing a fair margin of profit even as the farmer is not getting a proportionate share for what he produces now with NFO representing the farmer and successfully particularly this last year bringing about a rise and prices paid for farm commodities does the independent businessman through your organization get this kind of help yes bill actually we cover virtually all of the key pieces of business legislation that's coming up for a congressional study a congressional consideration once we get the thinking [unclear] the convictions of the businessmen and as I said earlier many farmers who participate as members of the Federation then we follow through to make sure that congressional committees and key men in government understand the problems of our members and in many instances I'm glad to report that they are giving more and more consideration to those problems I overheard my colleague and good friend Phil Allen mentioning that in a recent article in The Wall Street Journal the subject of small business or independent business failures and new business starts was covered would you comment on that yes actually the last year especially bill we have been more and more concerned for example with the high cost of money most independent businessmen used borrowed capital even as the average farmer uses it and these businessmen who are already working on a very low margin of profit feel that this is just another squeeze also we find with the cost of labour as again I think the farmer is feeling that same problem with with the escalating cost of labour it again adds an increasing burden to the independent businessmen and I think also the farmer throughout the country Wilson on your current trip you and your colleagues have visited national headquarters of NFO at Corning Iowa what impression did you come away with Bill frankly I had very good reports prior to coming to the headquarters of NFO as a matter of fact I'm here because of those reports I'm delighted to say that I have been extremely pleased the efficiency of the organization I think is just tremendous one thing that I'm especially impressed with is the fact that NFO does not have any business nor do they sponsor any business other than the welfare of a farmer and I sincerely believe that this accounts for the tremendous progress and the growth that NFO has made I believe that this is the single most outstanding impression that I've gotten you know I suppose that your organization suffers as NFO and many other organizations suffer who are trying to do a big job with a certain amount of complacency among your members do you have this sort of problem in the Federation but let George do it attitude yes bill we do I think the two biggest problems that confront us as an organization perhaps would apply also to NFO in my candid opinion I would say they are ignorant and complacency a lot of people are afraid things they don't know too much about that's why some individuals are afraid of the dark they're not sure what's there I am sure that if more farmers understood the thorough operation of NFO that they'd be vitally more interested Wilson I presume the very same thing can be said of the National Federation of Independent Business yes bill it surely can we have identically the same problem we alert independent businessmen with all of the key pertinent business legislation that's coming up for a congressional study much of this legislation not only affects the overall business economy but it affects the cash register the net profit of every independent businessman in America so for his own protection the independent businessman should be vitally concerned and he should be taking the time in the interest to express his convictions and to use his sphere of influence you heard us referring earlier in our discussion to mr. Ed Wimmer who is vice president of the National Federation of Independent Business in charge of public relations a very vital energetic outstanding man and an excellent speaker who was featured at the recent National Convention of NFO and Louisville Kentucky and Wimmer addressed a special meeting on public information without doing any of those things and you're doing some job of selling and you know you've got to have communications sometimes it backfires a young couple had a boy parrot a girl parrot and all this parent would say with let's neck as soon as they'd come home took from work the pair to say let's neck well the creature came over and all during the day dinner why the parrot kept saying let's neck let's neck so I said you know can't that pair say anything else that should know we have been able to trade it anything else well he said that's funny I've got a boy parrot and all he can say is let's pray I think you ought to bring her over to my house and see if we can't get her to say something besides let's neck so they took the cover off of the cage and the little girl parrot looked up at the boy parrot and she says let's neck and the boy parent says at last my prayers are answered [laughter and applause] I'd like to read you something here that I think is a prayer rural America begins here and rolls on from open fields where children plate the thriving villages new towns small cities where children go to school and grow up rural America's vigorous new community stretching across county lines breaking old boundaries and forming new social and economic patterns adapted to technological change but rural America today is also abandoned farms disappearing small towns where there are no jobs for nearly half the youngsters reaching working age where nearly half the nation's poor struggle for existence rural America's changing and changes bringing new problems problems of inadequate schools outmoded community and health facilities insufficient means of transportation and fragmented planning now who said this and who put it in the paper well if I had a couple of my private utility friends down here they would want me to forgiveness but it's America's rural electric systems ran that in a full-page ad while US farm report cameras were documenting the 1969 convention I talked with another man who is vitally concerned with the problems of rural America NFO legislative representative Harry Graham well as you can tell ladies and gentlemen it's business as usual on the convention floor here in Louisville Mr Graham you were scheduled to speak to the convention yesterday afternoon but as is often the case with conventions the the agenda got a little behind so you spoke this morning that's right and what was your subject this morning well mine was generally a report on the legislative work that we've done in Washington brief report on what we do and in the feel of the administration all farm policies to see that they work the way they're designed to do for the benefit of Agriculture what about the Farm Bureau program would you a comment on that for our US farm report audience well I think the Farm Bureau program is dead to all intents and purposes it's been abandoned by the administration at about five or six particularly important points the massive land requirement which of the center of it has been abandoned the commodity program that they want to do away with has been retained they want to reduce the expenditure for commodity report programs this has not been done they have wanted to they wanted to substitute a ruling base as a basis for the support programs and the secretary told us yesterday that this has been abandoned so the basic part of their bill has been lost just by a lack of support yes what about the coalition program Mr. Graham well just by process of elimination then the coalition bill becomes stronger as it goes along because it has stood exactly opposite to what the Farm Bureau wanted and won if they don't have administration support of the Farm Bureau bill that's for sure they can't pass it which means that in the process of elimination the the administration has to come pretty close to the coalition bill and I think they will on most of the issues the set-aside called them still up for grabs cotton is is not quite as certain as we wish it was because cotton boys can't agree on what they want and I think there will be something done on the administration's desire to have a some kind of a rural relief or rehabilitation or development program and the collation bill doesn't have it in their program but we've always supported this anyway so the administration is going to come out with some of the things they wanted originally they're not going to insist on all that they wanted originally they haven't planted their feet in concrete for one thing the administration's been mean of all to some compromises as we've gone along and and they're willing to learn and we're willing to learn too but we think we've had more experience with these programs and some of the people who just came out the administration because they don't have background on them and we've been willing these things around now for about seven or eight years and and we know where the bugs are we know there's weak spots in it but I think we're going to come off basically the program which we had which is the coalition bill well at least mr. Graham the administration indicates that's willing to listen well yes and and this has been pretty obvious most time the secretary at the beginning of this administration indicated that he did not intend to send up a farm bill as such they would send up certain broad allies as it went along and they have done that now they've asked the people who are interested to help them as they say put the meat on the bones and we've been changing some of the bone structure yes and putting some meat on the bones and the rest of it the administration has a pretty well committed itself to as far as possible the maintaining of farm programs another farm program at a farm prices and farm income and they've had to take a close look at some of these these programs to see what they would have done the farm income and when they didn't do that they've abandoned it so I think they've been objective and flexible and thoughtful on this a little slow perhaps but we still got some time left before a deadline and it's been a really democratic operation the way this thing has developed all over the country mr. Graham we of us farm report get the impression that support of NFO in terms of membership is growing we get the impression that opposition is diminishing we get the impression that NFO's prestige is on the rise now you're on the firing line in Washington legislatively so what is your feeling about the General Washington attitude toward the National I think it's the same thing the first law of politics is that a politician learns how to count they're aware of what's happening out in their districts and what they think that we represent a majority of they're the people in our district or even a substantial minority they're willing to listen to us not just because we're right but because we're so many and this is the way democracy works fortunately and there's nothing wrong with that at all it would be wonderful if they had always think we're right as well as numerous but this is expecting too much and never cutting process and they and we disagree about some things obviously this is a part of democracy but nevertheless I don't think that question what they know that we're in the business we had the interesting example a couple of weeks ago one congressman in the district where we got into a wrangle over the grain sorghum recall sitting in the television audience answering questions for a cup of our television studio answering questions for a couple hour and advising the people just join the NFO and hold the grain sorghum and this was a man who wasn't particular favorable to what the NFO was trying to do about four years ago have you enjoyed the convention so far I always do these are live ones they really are this is something different convention there's nothing like it in the farm scene anywhere I just wonder if there's anything like it on any scene I think the older labor conventions used to be this way but these are these these are a bunch of swingers they're really live as maximum interest I don't know any other convention where 10,000 people will come and sit as long as they sit here and be alive on every issue comes out this is almost a resurrection of the old town meeting as yes it is it has it's only counterpart in farm history in the original Granger movement there was the same protest same dedication same intense feeling and same sense of injustice and that's here I'd say we were all history back about a hundred years to repeat it right down on that floor is democracy at work oh it sure is we heard some applause just a minute ago where one fella had taken the democratic processes here as far as he could and finally recognized he was beaten and got up on with Dewey's motion and got a big hand for it now we're off on another and but it is a very much a democracy and open democracy to as you know in most most farm organizations in a situation like they've had here today on constitutional pylons and in the open question period last night they would excluded the press yes but they did no no no listen this is done out in front of God in country watch our dirty linen but people can see what goes on and and and they ought to have confidence an organization like this that's open and aboveboard you know what somebody told me about you Mr Graham I wouldn't have any idea I've heard a number of opinions they said I want to tell you something about mr. Graham you go to Washington to see him and start talking about the farm legislative situation and he will walk your legs off well there's a lot of miles on that Capital specially if you're trying to cover both houses at the same time when I'm up there I wear my rubber soled crepe sole shoes your legs can get so tired and walking on that slick marble the end of the day you wonder if somebody been beating on the cat here like this has been most enjoyable I want to thank you for your appearance on our show I've enjoyed being with you thank you very much Wilson may I thank you very much for taking time to be a guest on us farm report we always been a genuine pleasure I've enjoyed the opportunity thank you very much thank you very much my special guests on this week's us farm report has been mister Wilson S Johnson Wilson is president of the National Federation of Independent Business he comes from San Mateo California us farm report is seen on this station each week until we meet again so long everybody [music]