<--PREV Doc #107  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #109 Document #108; March 27, 1953 To Ezra Taft Benson Series: EM, AWF, Administration Series The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XIV - The Presidency: The Middle Way Part I: Charting a New Course; January 1953 to April 1953 Chapter 2: "A number of misunderstandings": Party and International Struggles   Memorandum to the Secretary of Agriculture: Mr. William Thatcher, President of the Farmers' Grain Terminal Cooperatives, was brought in to see me by Senator Carlson this afternoon. He has some very earnest arguments to present for continued rigid price supports. He argues that he is emphatically in favor of expanded foreign trade, and agrees that rigid price supports might bring about soon the necessity for acreage control. This, he says, will be accepted by the farmers much quicker than will a system of flexible price supports.1 In the latter case he says "What would the farmers plant in the excess ground?" He does not ask that question when he applies his scheme to acreage control. From this you can see that I thought there were some flaws in his arguments; but he is not only very positive, he seems to be informed in the agricultural field. For this reason I advise you to invite him to come to see you and listen patiently to what he has to say.2 (He has promised to send me a memorandum on the subject, which I shall send along when received.)3 I was particularly amazed to have him assert so emphatically that the farmer would not object to acreage controls. 1 Thatcher apparently was in Washington for a meeting of the International Wheat Council. On March 25 Agriculture Secretary Benson had testified before the Senate Agriculture and Forestry Committee that acreage allotments for wheat in 1954 were a "strong possibility." The Agriculture Act of 1949 required the Administration to declare such allotments if forecasts of crop yields in the coming year seemed likely to exceed consumption by certain established margins. Farmers then held a referendum on the acreage allotments, losing federal price supports if two-thirds disapproved of the limits. Benson in his testimony had failed to take a strong position on rigid versus flexible price supports. This same day the Administration announced that during the twelve months ending January 31, 1953, federal purchases of commodities stored under farm price support programs had climbed to 50 percent over the previous year (New York Times, Mar. 26, 28, 1953). Benson described his department's solution of obtaining more storage facilities in his Cross Fire, pp. 92-93. 2 Replying on April 9 (AWF/A), Benson described Thatcher as "quite well known to me and to other members of my immediate staff," some of whom recently had shared a luncheon speaking engagement with him. Benson said he would be glad to have Thatcher's views but believed he and his staff were familiar with them. He welcomed the opportunity to discuss Thatcher's ideas and those of the Farmers Union with the President. 3 We could not find this document in EM. Bibliographic reference to this document: Eisenhower, Dwight D. To Ezra Taft Benson, 27 March 1953. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 108. World Wide Web facsimile by The Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission of the print edition; Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, http://www.eisenhowermemorial.org/presidential-papers/first-term/documents/108.cfm <--PREV Doc #107  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #109

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