10 FREE SEED DISTRIBUTION S 21 19U STATEMENT Copy 1 OF HON. ROBERT N. PAGE A KKl'RKSENTATIVK FROM NORTH CAROLINA BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE HOUSE^OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 3. 1913 WASIIIXOTON (ioVJ-.KNMKNT PRINTING OFFICE 1913 a OF D. APR 2 il9U f FREE SEED DISTRIBUTION. Committee ox Agriculture, House of Representatives, January 3, 1913. STATEMENT OF HON. ROBERT N. PAGE, A REPRESENTATIVE FROM NORTH CAROLINA, ON FREE SEED DISTRIBUTION. Mr. Page. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, the chairman said that this was a matter of importance to me. It abso- lutely is of no im})ortance to me personally, but I think is important to the country as a whole; and I broach the subject here through the courtesy of this committee. Many of you know as indivicUnils that for several years, as a Mem- ber of the House of Re])resentatives, I opposed on the floor of the House the a])])ro])riatioii made for the free distribution of ordinary seeds; but I wanted to make an appeal to the committee in the first instance to discontinue this appropriation. Last year, after the effort that I made on the floor of the House to eliminate this appTo- priation, I had resolutions forwarded to me as an incHvidual, which I could ])roduce — if I had had time, after receiving the notice of the chairman, I would have produced them and brought them here — from every farmers' organization in the United States commending the amendment that I oflered, and the position that I had taken, and saying in efl'cct tliat this was a waste of the ])ublic money; that the agriculturists of this country cared nothing for thes(> seeds; they did not use them. I had half a hundred from local organizations not in my own district, but hi districts of various gentlemen, some of them them serving on this committee; from local farmers' organizations indorsing the position I had taken for the elimination of this appro- priation. I have for 10 years, since I have been in Congress, voted against this pro])Osition uniformly; and in my own district I do not think there is a single man but commends the j)osition I have taken, and is against this a|)i)n)|)riati()n. I have been chargecl at tunes, by Members of the House and others, witii advocating tlie discontinuance of this appr()))riation in the inter- est of the se(Hl people of this country. I (lo not know, and I have never had a communication from any man who sold .<~oi^i\ in the Unit(^d States of America; and the oidy })eo])lo to whom any motive personjU to tiiemselves might be imj)uted are tlie (Mlilors of agricultural papers. I can see very cleai'ly that they might have a ])ersonal interest in the opposition because of the fact that they hav.> a certain iiicom.ebly made to discontinue this appropriation. 7.3120-13 3 4 FREE SEED DISTRIBUTION. Aiid personal observation — one of the reasons for my opposition is the wortlik^ssness, practically, of these seed, wiiich I think can be demonstrat(Hl to any (gentleman who will take the trouble to make a little incjuiry. Personal observation, or, rather, concurrence, was brou*j;ht to my attention within the last few months by a gentleman who hap])ens'to live in my own district. A very large industry is carried on in certain sections of this country in the cultivation and sale of tlie Rocky Ford cantaloupe. It is a native of the high alti- tudes of Colorado and grows to greater perfection there tlian elsewliere. I hapi)cnod to have an enter])rising constituent who owns a farm in Colorado, on which he raises the Kocky Ford seed, lie is an au- thority in this country on the cultivation and the raising of this par- ticular fruit. I have his word that the Government contract let for the Rocky P^ord seed which the Department of Agricnltnre was going to distribute was given to a firm of J(^ws in the State of Colorado, whose name I do not recall at the present time, on a competitive-bid price. That he himself saw the employees of these people, who had been the successful bidders to the Government, going into the canta- Toupe fields of Colorado from which the saleable perfect fruit had been gathered and sold, taking the refuse tlnit the farmer had left, to secure the seed that they sold the Government under the contract that they took; and this happened last year. He says they are absolutely worthless, and I believe he knows what he is talking about; and I think, gentlemen, that while I am in thorcnigh sympathy with all the work that has been done through the Dej^artment of Agricul- ture antl, by the activities and help of this committee, in anything that extends to the agricultural classes of this country real helj) — I am in sympathy with all that. But, on the other hand, personally and in the interest of the people of the country, I do not thmk we are warranted, that this committee is warranted, or that Congress is warranted, in appropriating a dollar of money for a useless purpose; and my thorough conviction is that this sum, amounting practically to 1.300,000, that is expended for the purchase and distribution of ordinary garden seeds, is a waste of that much of the tax money of the people; and I do not tkink this committee or the House of Repi-esentatives is war- ranted in spending that money; and I wanted merely to make my protest here and say to the gentlemen that I felt that the people that are to be consulted — the people who are supposed to use these seeds — do not want them. And I felt assured that if I could by any means convince you of that fact this appropriation would bt eliminated. I have no hope of convincing my good friend fron Mississij)pi. I know his views on this matter; he has as strong, views on one side as I have on the other, and possibly stronger; but I think he is mistaken about the service that he is rendering his pet)ple by the distribution of these ordinary seeds. I am much obliged to you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Candler. Just a moment, Mr. Page. Mr. Page. Oh, I would be glad to submit, if the committee will allow me, at some time in the future some of the testimonials and editorials and resolutions that have been passed by various farmers organizations, etc., and placed in my hands in opposition to this appropriation. f FREE SEED DISTRIBUTION. 5 Mr. C.\XDi.ER. Mr. Page, does not the record in Congress show that you not only have not been able to convince the gentleman from Mis- sissi])]M. but that you have failed absolutely to convince a very large majority of the membership of the House? Mr. Page. Xo: I think not. If my friend will allow me, I .should say, not that T have failed to convince other Meml)ers of Congress, but that the natural eloquence of the gentleman from Mississippi has overcome any argument that I have been able to place before other Members of Congress — if he will allow me to put it that way; and the general sup])osition on the part of a great many of us that this ])ar- ticular distribution is a ])ersonal asset for votes in our districts. And do not ]>eople see it that way, and do they not say it ( I am very much obliged to you, gentlemen. \ \ LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 002 889 623 2