grows for food, clothing, and industry, our water tables continue to drop. This venture-this venture that we are launching— must be the first of many ventures of this nature throughout the world.

So many people deserve credit for this success this morning that I dare to mention not even one name. But I shall just have to refer to a few who have come in and out of our office in the months that have gone by: -Members of the Senate, like Senator Jackson, Senator Anderson, Senator Kuchel, almost all the Members of that body.

-Congressmen Craig Hosmer, Wayne Aspinall, Harold Johnson, Richard Hanna, Ed Reinecke, my good friend Chet Holifield, my friends from the California delegation, Bernie Sisk, and others.

--Secretary Udall, and all the people in the Interior, Assistant Secretary DiLuzio.

-I don't want to overlook the Mayor of Los Angeles because I made him come in and ante up a little extra when the going was real hard. I guess he appropriated some of it to bring him here today. We are happy that he is at this ceremony to launch this experiment. -The Vice President and all public officials everywhere who have participated in this, and, more than that, are willing to enlist in the war ahead.

We will outline plans as soon as that distinguished Californian, the Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, gets them ready for any other ventures that some of you want to take.

Finally, I want the citizens and public officials of the Federal Government, and the State of California-and particularly southern California-to know that we appreciate this partnership in this very special effort.

And to the Members of the House and Senate, the Governors of the States, we are all deeply in your debt.

This achievement is really a symbol of not only our partnership and our working together, but our power to act together. Often there is too much talk and too little action. What is needed for the future in this whole field of water is the will and the determination to act.

So I am very happy to sign this bill. I am very pleased that you could come here.

I am glad that all of you will witness it. As you witness it, and become a party to the fact, you will enlist with us in the fight that is ahead for all of us.

Thank you very much.

NOTE: The President spoke at 1:20 p.m. in the East Room at the White House. In his opening words he referred to Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey. During his remarks he referred to, among others, Samuel W. Yorty, Mayor of Los Angeles, and Glenn T. Seaborg, Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission.

As enacted, the bill (S. 270) is Public Law 90-18 (81 Stat. 16).

May 19, 1967

Secretary Freeman, my fellow farmers, Ladies and gentlemen:

I am delighted to have this opportunity

to speak to you today here in the East Room of the White House, as I look forward to speaking to you more in the months ahead

in your own home areas.

To America's farmers, I think you, the leaders who have come here today, are really the voice of their government.

Since you are the voice of their government, I want to give you a message to take back to them.

I want you first of all to assure and tell our farmers that they have not been forgotten; that their President and their country know the debt that we owe to every farmer in this land; that we realize his skill and that we understand the contributions he is making to a better life for all the people of this world in which he lives.

Thanks to the efficiency of the American farmer, the average American-who 20 years ago spent 25 percent of his take-home pay for food-now has to spend not 25 percent, but only 18 percent.

Thanks to the abundance of our farms, we help to feed 45 million Americans—nearly a quarter of our total American population-through school lunch, special milk, food stamp and other programs that are sponsored by our Government.

Thanks again to the American farmer, we are helping to feed the hungry people in other lands. Last year our American exports were 23 percent of the total world's agricultural trade.

We were able to ship one-fifth of the wheat that we produced in this country to India, and two-fifths more to other nations.

We fed literally hundreds of millions, and yet we suffered no shortage of bread.

That is what the American farmer is doing for the people of his own country, and that is what the American farmer is doing for the world.

But is he getting his share of our abundance? What is the world doing for him?

He will probably tell you that he isn't getting his share. If he does tell you that, he

is right.

The farmer knows that farm prices are going down-and that the prices he pays are going up. He knows his per capita income has gone up. But after it has gone up, it is still only two-thirds of that of the nonfarmer.

The American farmer knows we have not solved our farm problems, any more than we have solved the problems of peace, or the problems of the cities, or the problems of foreign policy, or the problems of our races.

But the farmer-living with the implacable cycle of nature-has a long memory to reinforce his wisdom. He will recall that we have made progress.

I see a difference of expression today. I see a difference of hair-do. I see a difference of clothes. I see a difference of attitude. I can even suspect a difference of bank accounts from what it was when I came to Washington in 1931, 1932, and 1933.

We have not solved these problems, but we have made progress. We have come a long way. We should always remember some of the things that are good. We know that no compliment gets as much attention as a complaint. But we also know that gross farm income is 18 percent higher than it was in 1963, and 30 percent higher than it was in 1960;

—that net farm income is 30 percent over

1963;

-that net income per farm is up 44 percent over 1963;

-that the Food and Agriculture Act the

Congress passed in 1965 gave us the best farm program that this country has ever had. Congress gave us the 4-year program we requested. Now our job, my job and your job, the farmer's job, is to make that program work.

The figures show that the farmers are trying to make it work, make it work for them

and make it work for our Nation.

The surpluses in most of our commodities are already gone. We don't hear many speeches these days about the storage problem and the high bills we are paying to store our surpluses.

The market is freer than it has been in many long years. The world demand for food

continues to grow.

So I wish you would tell the American farmer that his Government wants his farm program to work. Let him know that this administration is determined that he achieve the parity of income he deserves.

But no President and no administration, working alone, can mash a button and bring it about overnight.

We can move forward, we can progress, we can be determined, we can be dedicated, we can be sincere, and ultimately we can get results.

There are many more things that unite us than divide us. But there are always people who want to provoke a fight. Our problem is to prevent one and to try to unite the constructive thinking people until we achieve the goal that we are determined to achieve. I want you to tell the American farmer, as we will tell him, too, that his help and his understanding are needed because his efficiency and his marketing skill can make a great deal of difference in how quickly we can get his farm income boosted.

I believe in the final analysis, at the end of the day, when all the arguments are over and all the political sounds have died down, you can count on the American farmer to understand.

It was Adam Smith who said two centuries ago, "The man who ploughs the ground... is seldom defective in . . . judgment and discretion."

...

My own experience has led me to put great trust in the farmer's judgment. The

farmer who sits on his tractor all day, or in his saddle all night, or works quietly with his hands, has, during all those times, a lot of time to think.

Generally, if some politician doesn't mislead him, he thinks straight, and he thinks right.

I think the farmer will understand that his Government and his President cannot do this job alone.

And neither can the farmer do it alone. But working together, we can do it-and we will do it.

I cannot pass judgment for all of you or for all the farmers of this land, but I have not the slightest doubt when the history of our time is written, and when a survey is made of our advancements and our adventures, the historian will conclude that there was never a period when the American Congress, when the American President, when the American Vice President, the American Secretary of Agriculture, and the American. farmer himself made a greater advancement for his cause, for his family, for educating his children, for improving their health, and for conserving his assets, than the period that we are now entering.

Your leaders in this Government know

something about the farmer. They are dedicated to his interest. They are going to insist that he get fair and just treatment.

We know that in return he will understand that his progress has been due not just to the Government's efforts, but it can come only if he joins with that Government shoulder to shoulder in meeting the problems they must face together-like increasing their exports, like improving their production, like getting rid of their surpluses, like spending their time on constructive adventures instead of rehashing the misfortunes and the complaints of the past.

So as you leave the White House today, I

think you can leave it with assurance that there never was a time when there was more interest in your problems than there is now, and more determination to do something about them. If we can, we will. And if we can't, it won't be because it is a mistake of the heart. It will be because it is a mistake of the head, and we don't want that to happen.

I remember one time a great friend of the farmer, who served here 50 years, went back to one of his friends of his early career. They talked until after midnight and the old farmer wanted to continue to talk. Mr. Rayburn said to him, "No, I have seven speeches tomorrow. I just have to go to bed.” “Well,” he said, "I am sorry, because I would just like to talk to you all night long." He was hungry to talk to a man who understood his problems.

"I would like to talk to you all night long. Because," he said, "Mr. Sam, if we farmers are not your friends, it is just because we ain't got sense enough.”

Remembering that expression from the soil, I want to say to you leaders of the American farmer: If your President, if your Vice President, and if your Secretary of Agriculture are not the farmers' friends, it is just because we haven't sense enough.

Thank you.

NOTE: The President spoke at 1:45 p.m. in the East Room at the White House. In his opening words he referred to Secretary of Agriculture Orville L. Freeman.

State committees, appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture, are responsible for the administration of Federal agricultural programs in each State and for the general supervision of elected county and local committees. Each State committee, comprising three to five members, designates an Executive Director to supervise the work of State office staffs in carrying out policies established by the committee.

May 22, 1967

By the President of the United States of America a Proclamation

In reverent tribute on this Memorial Day 1967 we salute the gallant men of our country who have served us and still serve us so nobly and selflessly in defense of freedom.

We can never repay their sacrifices. Our honored dead sleep in hallowed ground on five continents. The debt we owe them, and that our children will owe for generations to come, is beyond measure.

Today, our young men are fighting and dying in Vietnam so that other young men may stand as they have stood-proudly independent, free to determine their own destiny. Before their common sacrifice and dedication the barriers of race, color, or creed crumble. The heroism of a just cause makes all men brothers against tyranny.

Every President in time of armed conflict must act in the deep conviction that the cause for which our young men suffer and die transcends their sacrifices.

A century ago President Lincoln expressed his grief over the terrible losses of the war between the States. He pointed out that all deprecated war, all sought to avoid it, but as there were those who would make war, so there must be those who could accept war.

We have had to accept the war in Vietnam to redeem our pledge to those who have accepted in good faith our commitment to protect their right of free choice. Only in this way can we preserve our own right to act in freedom.

So we shall continue to resist the aggressor in Vietnam, as we must.

But we continue to hold open the door to

an honorable peace, as we must. On this hallowed day, on behalf of the American people-indeed, on behalf of all of the people in the world-I repeat to the leaders of those whom we fight: Let us end this tragic waste; let us sit down together to chart the simple course to peace; let us together lead our peoples out of this bloody impasse.

And I ask you, my fellow Americans, to join me in prayer that the voice of reason and humanity will be heeded, that this tragic struggle can soon be brought to an end.

The Congress in a joint resolution approved May 11, 1950 (64 Stat. 158), has requested the President to issue a proclamation calling upon the people of the United States to observe each Memorial Day as a day of prayer for permanent peace and designating a period during such day when the people of the United States might unite in such supplication:

Now, THEREFORE, I, LYNDON B. JOHNSON, President of the United States of America, do hereby designate Memorial Day, Tuesday, May 30, 1967, as a day of prayer for permanent peace and I designate the hour beginning in each locality at eleven o'clock in the

morning of that day as a time to unite in such prayer.

I urge the press, radio, television, and all other information media to cooperate in this observance.

I also urge all of the people of this Nation to join me in prayer to the Almighty for the safety of our Nation's sons and daughters around the world, for His blessing on those who have sacrificed their lives for this Nation in this and all other struggles, and for His aid in building a world where freedom and justice prevail, and where all men live in friendship, understanding, and peace.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States of America to be affixed.

DONE at the City of Washington this

twenty-second day of May in the [SEAL] year of our Lord nineteen hundred and sixty-seven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and ninety-first.

By the President:

LYNDON B. JOHNSON

DEAN RUSK Secretary of State

for Peace. May 23, 1967

Secretary Udall; Secretary Rostow; Members of Congress; Mr. Hagan, Secretary General of the Conference; Mr. de Seynes, the Under Secretary of the United Nations for Economic and Social Affairs; ladies and gentlemen:

This Conference has a vital mandate: The questions that you will consider deal directly

with the future of life on this earth.

No President has ever welcomed a gathering with greater expectations.

I come from land where water is treasure. For a good many years, I have done my share of agitating to increase the water resources of my native State. I have known the frustrations of this task. A member of the

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