Frustrations of a Rural Republican

Few politicians are in a better position to reflect the intensity of anger and restiveness among the nation's farmers than Iowa Republican Congressman William J. Scherle, 48. A husky (6 ft. 3 in., 249 lbs.) feed-grain and livestock farmer from a diversified agricultural area near the Missouri River, the three-term Congressman has vainly tried to warn the Nixon Administration about its political vulnerability in the Midwest. He expressed his frustration last week to TIME Correspondent Jess Cook:

FARMERS are going to be very vindictive in 1972, but we can't seem to reach these Administration people about the seriousness of the situation. I would think the '70 election would have been a lesson. Nixon can make all the trips to China and Moscow he wants to, but the greatest impact on the voter is mood. If a farmer goes to the polls with a jingle in his pocket and the weather is right and he can pay for his new equipment, he'll vote for the incumbent. If not, he'll go to vote with vengeance in his heart, and the people in power will be out by 8 o'clock that night.

There isn't one single guy today at the White House who has an agriculture background. Take the presidential aide handling agriculture and the environment, John Whitaker. You know what he is? A geologist! What the hell does a geologist know about agriculture? Secretary Hardin is an economist. You can take all the economists in the world and lay them end to end, and they'll never come to a conclusion. My initial reaction to Dr. Butz? Oh hell, another professor! I was hoping for someone from the soil. But I'm reserving judgment until I find out what his policies and programs are going to be.

One of the White House aides came up to me a couple days ago and said he had helped us out on corn prices. I thought maybe he had set aside another million acres. Then he told me he had eaten a couple of ears for dinner the night before. He didn't even realize that's a different kind of corn. -

It's difficult for me to comprehend the lack of astuteness on the part of our party. This is one issue the Democrats have completely captured. You've got guys like Humphrey and McGovern who are making inroads, who know the farm problem. The White House talks about rural development. But who's running with it? Hubert Humphrey. He recognizes the fact that there are no job opportunities for our young people in rural America today. I sent telegrams to the White House urging that agrobusiness be represented on either the wage or price council. I didn't even get the consideration of a reply. And there isn't one farm figure on those boards.*

We are now piling corn on the streets in Iowa for the first time. The dock strike is partly the reason, but the fantastic surplus is another. Back in February any ordinary working farmer could see what was going to happen. There was no excuse for the Agriculture Department to encourage more planting. Farmers are still harvesting now, but in a couple months they're going to start settling up--paying for their gas and fertilizer and taxes. Then they're going to find out that the crop the Agriculture Department caused and the farmers produced isn't going to have any value to it.

All those hogs are going to go to market next October, a month before the election. Small calves will go late next summer and in early fall. Everything points right now to low prices again for livestock around election time. No matter what is done from now on, this 1971 experience is what's going to carry through next fall. Many of my people will have no place to go except further into debt. When that farmer settles up, he's going to be damn mad. Unfortunately, there's only one person on the ballot to be mad at: the President.

* Scherle is correct, although it should be noted that raw agricultural products are exempt from the controls and the Secretary of Agriculture is a member of the parent Cost of Living Council.

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