State of the Union | Page 7

the power that they can generate. Likewise, such a partnership can
be effective in the expansion throughout the Nation of upstream storage;
the sound use of public lands; the wise conservation of minerals; and

the sustained yield of our forests.
There has been much criticism, some of it apparently justified, of the
confusion resulting from overlapping Federal activities in the entire
field of resource-conservation. This matter is being exhaustively
studied and appropriate reorganization plans will be developed.
Most of these particular resource problems pertain to the Department of
the Interior. Another of its major concerns is our country's island
possessions. Here, one matter deserves attention. The platforms of both
political parties promised immediate statehood to Hawaii. The people
of that Territory have earned that status. Statehood should be granted
promptly with the first election scheduled for 1954. VIII.
One of the difficult problems which face the new administration is that
of the slow, irregular decline of farm prices. This decline, which has
been going on for almost 2 years, has occurred at a time when most
nonfarm prices and farm costs of production are extraordinarily high.
Present agricultural legislation provides for the mandatory support of
the prices of basic farm commodities at 90 percent of parity. The
Secretary of Agriculture and his associates will, of course, execute the
present act faithfully and thereby seek to mitigate the consequences of
the downturn in farm income.
This price-support legislation will expire at the end of 1954.
So we should begin now to consider what farm legislation we should
develop for 1955 and beyond. Our aim should be economic stability
and full parity of income for American farmers. But we must seek this
goal in ways that minimize governmental interference in the farmers'
affairs, that permit desirable shifts in production, and that encourage
farmers themselves to use initiative in meeting changing economic
conditions.
A continuing study reveals nothing more emphatically than the
complicated nature of this subject. Among other things, it shows that
the prosperity of our agriculture depends directly upon the prosperity of
the whole country--upon the purchasing power of American consumers.
It depends also upon the opportunity to ship abroad large surpluses of
particular commodities, and therefore upon sound economic
relationships between the United States and many foreign countries. It
involves research and scientific investigation, conducted on an
extensive scale. It involves special credit mechanisms and marketing,

rural electrification, soil conservation, and other programs.
The whole complex of agricultural programs and policies will be
studied by a Special Agricultural Advisory Commission, as I know it
will by appropriate committees of the Congress. A nonpartisan group
of respected authorities in the field of agriculture has already been
appointed as an interim advisory group.
The immediate changes needed in agricultural programs are largely
budgetary and administrative in nature. New policies and new
programs must await the completion of the far-reaching studies which
have already been launched. IX.
The determination of labor policy must be governed not by the vagaries
of political expediency but by the firmest principles and convictions.
Slanted partisan appeals to American workers, spoken as if they were a
group apart, necessitating a special language and treatment, are an
affront to the fullness of their dignity as American citizens.
The truth in matters of labor policy has become obscured in
controversy. The very meaning of economic freedom as it affects labor
has become confused. This misunderstanding has provided a climate of
opinion favoring the growth of governmental paternalism in labor
relations. This tendency, if left uncorrected, could end only by
producing a bureaucratic despotism. Economic freedom is, in fact, the
requisite of greater prosperity for every American who earns his own
living.
In the field of labor legislation, only a law that merits the respect and
support of both labor and management can help reduce the loss of
wages and of production through strikes and stoppages, and thus add to
the total economic strength of our Nation.
We have now had 5 years' experience with the Labor Management Act
of 1947, commonly known as the Taft-Hartley Act. That experience
has shown the need for some corrective action, and we should promptly
proceed to amend that act.
I know that the Congress is already proceeding with renewed studies of
this subject. Meanwhile, the Department of Labor is at once beginning
work to devise further specific recommendations for your
consideration.
In the careful working out of legislation, I know you will give
thoughtful consideration--as will we in the executive branch--to the

views of labor, and of management, and of the general public. In this
process, it is only human that each of us should bring forward the
arguments of self-interest. But if all conduct their arguments in the
overpowering light of national interest--which is enlightened
self-interest--we shall get the right answers. I profoundly hope that
every