Reed Benson Blasts Democrats' Farm Policies as Irresponsible

The Democrats have made the American farmer's mind a dumping ground for other people's garbage, Reed Benson, charged last night. They have appealed to his selfish interests to the detriment of economically sound policy, the son of the present Secretary of Agriculture said.

Speaking to the Young Republican Club in Emerson Hall, Benson declared that "Politics reached a new low this Spring when the Democrats held up and revised the Eisenhower farm plan in order to make political capital out of the unhappy plight of the farmer."

By putting a soil bank proposal on the same bill with countless unsound economic policies, Benson charged that the Democrats "laid a trap for Eisenhower." A veto meant he was voting against his own plan, but, on the other hand, he could not support the bill without repudiating all his previous policies. "This type of political dealing has been typicial of the Democrats attitude toward the farm problem," he said.

When the Republican team entered office four years ago, they found the whole farm policy still oriented on a wartime basis, he said. The government was still offerring 90 percent party price supports as an incentive to grow crops, although the need for these crops had completely disappeared. Benson pointed out that no legislation was on the books which could have gotten rid of the surpluses which were piling up.

"The Republicans were handed a time bomb when they entered office and had to spend the first two years simply putting out the brush fires of their predecessors," Benson added.