|
<br />~.- ,)
<br />02.j~'o
<br />
<br />10610
<br />
<br />CO:-iGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE
<br />
<br />1\OVEl\JBER 7
<br />
<br />had a CTOP failure and they took it aU.
<br />and four, flve Of six milUon people
<br />starved to death in their own homes In
<br />that area.
<br />Do l'Ot! want that in Kansas, in Iowa,
<br />Mi<;sisslppi or Pennsylvania? It so, then
<br />join the Communist Party, and throw
<br />up your hat \\ihen Professor Adler of the
<br />University of Chicago gets up and saY!;
<br />that "We must do everything we can to
<br />abolish the Untted States:' as he did In
<br />hls speech In Cleveland. Ohio the other
<br />night.
<br />On the other side of that line what
<br />do we have? We have free government,
<br />constitutional government; not dictator-
<br />ship. We have also the right of free
<br />enterprise and the right to own your
<br />home. your land, your factory. your prop-
<br />erty. human liberty Bnd the right of free
<br />spt'cch. That Is what those boys up
<br />there in uniform In the gallery thought
<br />they were fighting for in this war, and
<br />so far as I am concerned tl;l.at 15 what
<br />the}' were flghting for, and I am going to
<br />do my best to see that they Ret it, as
<br />long as I am a Member of thls HoUse,
<br />On the communistic side you have
<br />strife, dcgl'nt'rac}" and decay. On the
<br />other side you hal'c progreSll, peace and
<br />prO.5perity.
<br />Let me show }'OU the vast difference
<br />between those ideologies. The Ideology
<br />of communism. based on the doctrine of
<br />Karl Man:. harll.s back, j( you ple.ase, to
<br />more than 1.900 years and cartles w bacll:
<br />into the dark ll.J!:es of the pre-Christian
<br />Cf3. Do you want that sub6t1tuted tor
<br />the Constitution of the United States?
<br />If so. then contlnUe to vote for these to-
<br />talitarian mca:iUres that would under-
<br />mine and destroy everything that we
<br />have fought for, and that our forefathers
<br />fought for. and everything that we told
<br />these bo.}'s they were fighting for in tbis
<br />war. .
<br />Mr. RICH. Mr. Speaker, will the gen-
<br />tlemanyleld?
<br />Mr. RANKIN, I }'ieid to the gentle-
<br />man trom Pennsylvania.
<br />MI'. RICH. I have heard radio com_
<br />rTllcntators berate the gentleman from
<br />Mississippi because he was not for the
<br />t hit'gs that were for the best Interests
<br />of the GI Joe and the serviceman. I
<br />want to sa.}' here and now right bt'fore
<br />the gentleman that I do not believe any
<br />such thing. I would like to make my
<br />remarks roncerning those men stronger,
<br />but I dare not. I would like to say that
<br />the radio commentators who say any-
<br />thing about the I!:entleman trom MIssis-
<br />sippi, and his desire to do all that the
<br />OI's want for their own best interest and
<br />the best interest of this country, ought
<br />to be prohibitl'd from gOing on thl" air
<br />and the people of this country ought to
<br />stop them,
<br />Mr. RANKIN. I thank the gentleman
<br />from Pennsylunia,
<br />I do not ha\'e to apologize to an}'body
<br />tor my attitude on veterans' legislation.
<br />I ha\'e been a membl"r of the Veterans'
<br />Committee ev('r since It was created. I
<br />hal'e been Its chairman for 14 years. I
<br />have been th(' author of more legislation
<br />for the bent'fit of the ex-ser.lcemen and
<br />their dCJ)cnd1'llts than any Member or
<br />either House. ] took all the criticism and
<br />the punishment for opposing the Baruch
<br />Ilro\'!slon or the economy bill that
<br />
<br />strlpPl'd a lot of disabled ex-servicemen
<br />of their incomes and drol'e them to their
<br />gravE'S with broken hearts. because they
<br />knew It took away from t.heir widows and
<br />orphans el'ery single dollar on ~'hlch to
<br />liVe.
<br />When the soldiers' pay blll was up. It
<br />was my amendment and m)' fight that
<br />raised the ba.,e pay of those men in thls
<br />war to $50 a month for the first time In
<br />histon'.
<br />Today we are working on aml'ndments
<br />to the present law for lncrealit'd aid to
<br />these ('x-servicemen. I leave my case
<br />not with these script writers who Rre
<br />cornplalnlnR that the Committee on Un-
<br />American ActiVities, of which I am a
<br />member, is calling tor their scripts, not
<br />In &dyanee, but after they have ~uted
<br />It o\'('r the radio. I leal'e my case with
<br />those thousands and mUllons of St"rvlce-
<br />men who have been taken r.are of as a
<br />result of my efforts_in th15 House.
<br />Mr. RICH. Does the gentleman not
<br />belle\'e thBt the fellows who are critlciz.
<br />Jng the Committee on Un.Amerlcan Ac-
<br />Uvlties are the ones that the people of
<br />this country should Investigate and look
<br />alter. because the committee and those
<br />who are Interested In establishing that
<br />rommittE'e want to preserve our Constl.
<br />tution and our democratic principles and
<br />ways of life that make for liberty and
<br />freedom?
<br />Mr. RANKIN. Oh, yes. I read the
<br />other day about thts Professor Adler, of
<br />the University of Chicago-and he is a
<br />fair repres('ntative ot that bunch ot
<br />crackpots-going alound ov('r this coun.
<br />try saylng-and this Is his exact lan-
<br />guage which he u.~ed In a s~ch at CIl'l'e.
<br />land, Ohio, the other night: "We must
<br />do eH'rythlng we can to abolish the
<br />United States."
<br />Mr, HOFFMAN. Mr, Speaker, will the
<br />gentieman yield?
<br />Mr, RANKIN. For a Question.
<br />Mr. HOFFMAN. Is not that the same
<br />thing that was brought forth here in
<br />January of 1942 when they put a peti-
<br />tton on the desk of every Congre$.'lman
<br />asking that we Join up with Union Now to
<br />surrender our .sovereignty?
<br />Mr. RANKIN. No; I do not think that
<br />Union Now proposition was Q:uite that
<br />bad; but it Wa..'l 50 bad vie could not
<br />swallow It. but this speech of Adt.er's Is
<br />the worst I ever saw or heard' It l'l the
<br />worst that hall been preached from a
<br />public platform in this C'Ountr)' since the
<br />days of Benedict Arnold.
<br />Of courSE'. they want to dcstro)" the
<br />Committee on Un-American Activities.
<br />Did you ever know a time when the boot-
<br />leggers, the thieves, and the housebreak.
<br />l'~'and other criminals did not want to
<br />get rid or the grand jur.}'? Of course
<br />thl'Y \\'ant to get rid of US because this
<br />Committee on Un-American Activities
<br />Is try1ng to presen:e American Instltu.
<br />tlons from destruction Ilt their hands.
<br />We are not gOing t<l be Intimated by any-
<br />one. \Ve are going to keep our investiga.
<br />tor,~ on the job so that your children and
<br />.}'our children's children may enjoy the
<br />game benefits we have enjoyed ot liberty
<br />under a fnoe go\'ernment.
<br />Let us get back to this economic situa-
<br />tion, That Is what I rose to speak about,
<br />They talk about this bill which. in my
<br />oplnJon, would put on another WPA in
<br />
<br />a more or less glorified form. Whenever
<br />yoU assure people that you are going to
<br />pay them whether they work or not thl'Y
<br />are not going to work:. Even m}' ener-
<br />getic friend the gentleman from Penn-
<br />sy\'anla IMr. RICHI,If he could ha\'e got
<br />the same amount of money for doing
<br />nothing that he has got for the hard
<br />work he has done, he would be the best
<br />fisherman In PennsylvanIa.
<br />Mr. RICH. I believe in work, I want
<br />to work, and I want evef.}'body else to
<br />work.
<br />Mr. RANKIN. The gentleman has
<br />been trained that way; but suppose they
<br />had caught him }'oung and trained him
<br />the other way? That Is just human
<br />nature.
<br />Let us St~ what this measur~ proposes
<br />to do. I want to get. back to what I said
<br />on }'csterday. I represent cotton farm-
<br />ers, men who contributed more of their
<br />sons to this war than any other class of
<br />people under the American flag; I mt'an.
<br />the white cotton farmers ot the South,
<br />I repeat that, and I wHl tell you why.
<br />We ha\'e down there a divided popula.
<br />lion. Wbere that popUlation was equal_
<br />ly divided, they took about four whites
<br />to one Negro. They did not consider cot-
<br />ton a nec~sJty, so they stripped the
<br />whHe cottun farmers and never left a'
<br />boyan the tarm who could gO to war, as
<br />a rule, Those people are working, toil-
<br />Ing In the hot sun, raising cotton now at
<br />22 %~ ct'nis a pound, They get 1 cent an
<br />hour for their work, on an average, for
<br />el'ery cent a pound they get for their
<br />lint cotton. That means they are get.
<br />ting 22'f.! cenis an hour, whlle these men
<br />who put on the strikes du.rlng the war
<br />Bnd slowed down production and cost
<br />the lives of thousands at American boys
<br />are now demanding' that we raiSe them
<br />to 65 cents an hour. or pra(t1caJly three
<br />times what these men are getting who
<br />are tilling the roll. 1
<br />Cotton farming 15 work, It Is not
<br />standing up and throwing a s.....ltch or
<br />punching a bullon; It Is throwing a hoe
<br />or tollowlng a plow or picking cotton In
<br />the hot sun.
<br />Every farmer In America ls a com-
<br />petitor ot the cotton farmer. I want to
<br />bring. that home to }'ou. That was
<br />brolljlht out In Nebraska the other day
<br />In $ big meeting. A cotton farmer can
<br />grow anything. He Is a competitor or
<br />el'ery com farmer In AmerIca. You fel-
<br />lows In Iowa and Illinois talk about .}'our
<br />corn field~, I have been through both
<br />those States, and I never saw flner corn
<br />than I have seen In my home county
<br />every year since I can remember. My
<br />county produc~ a millIon bushels at
<br />corn a year. We can grow just as good
<br />wheat as }'ou can grow In Kansas, My
<br />dlstrict is now one or the leading dairy
<br />districts of the 'South, We have a gen-
<br />tle climate and a fertile soil that }'lelds
<br />to the husbandman every product of a
<br />temperate zone. We have a 9-month
<br />graZing sea.son. We have a semitropi_
<br />cal climate which does away with the
<br />necessity tor hpavy barns. We bave an
<br />abundant rainfall equally distributed
<br />throughout the year that keeps our pas~
<br />tun's green. We have an abundanee of
<br />dry fel'd--cottonseed, mraJ, and hulls-a
<br />thonsand pounds to E"\'ery bale ot rotton
<br />right on the farm. We can literally take
<br />
|