‘Distressing’ Cutback in Rural Aid I am deeply distressed by the cutbacks that have taken place recently in a number of vital rural programs—includ ing the Farmers Home Ad ministration Disaster Loan Program These cutbacks come at the worst possible time for rural Pennsylvanians Hurricane Agnes devastated much of Pennsylvania Seventy per cent of the damage caused by Money with the BEEF FEEDING PROGRAM Beacon now offers a feeding program for dairy steers that takes the roughage out of feeding, it is a research proven program that has been fed successfully in commercial feedlots in the Midwest for over six years. Get fast, low cost gains without roughage: • Daily gains (birth to butcher] of 2.8 lbs. • Dressing percentage up to 62%. • Feed conversion approximately 5 lbs. of feed per pound of gain, also from birth to butcher, • No hay, no grass, no silage. • Low investment, low labor. • High grade carcasses; young, tender meat. H. Jacob Hoober H. M. Stauffer & Sons, Inc. Washington Report By U.S. Senator Dick Schweiker that storm occurred in Penn sylvania Rural Pennsylvania was extremely hard hit This is the wrong time to cut out federal assistance to these courageous people who have fought so hard to got back on their loot again. One of my recent columns dealt with rural unemploy ment, America’s "invisible problem ” In it 1 discussed several now laws, including For Doir Birth to market in less than a year. For full details call your nearest Beacon dealer or Beacon Advisor Intercourse, Pa Leola, Pa TENDR-LEEN® Available Only From The Above Dealers Grows on Holsteins Beacon TEND-R-LEEN the Rural Development Act, the Farm Credit Act and the Disaster Relief Act, and the positive effect they would have on rural Pennsylvania Now I am concerned about the negative effect those re cent cutbacks will have. Along with the disaster loan program, a rural electric and telephone loan program, and the rural environmental as sistance program were termi nated. In addition, significant cutbacks were made in the rural housing program I strongly support the President’s efforts to achieve a $250 billion coiling on fed eral spending during this fis cal year. But I seriously ques tion cutbacks in these rural programs at this time. I am particularly distressed over elimination ot the FHA Disaster Loan Program In many cases, the Farmers Home Administration encour aged farmers to delay submis- Steers Tend-R-Leen is a registered trade mark of Doughboy Industries, Inc., New Richmond, Wisconsin. A < *»* BEACON FEEDS ■>< s s The Beacon Milling Company, Inc. Headquarters: Cayuga, N. Y. 0. Kenneth McCracken & Son Earl Sauder, Inc. sion of applications until spring when they would be better able to judge the ex tent of their losses and their needs for the up-coming growing season. Many rural residents did exactly what the FHA suggested and only filed applications for the minimum amount of funds they needed last fall. They intended to wait several months to see what their needs were, rather than rushing in and taking advantage of the progiam by filing applications for more than they might actually need I have written Secre tary of Agriculture Earl Butz urging that the program be extended I particularly asked for sufficient funds to meet the needs of all eligible appli cants, so that those who have followed the advice and sug gestions of the Faimers Home Administration would not be penalized for their good laith Manheim, Pa New Holland, Pa Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 10,1973 In addition, the loan guar antees and insurance provided to rural electric and tele phone cooperatives by the Rural Electric Administration loan piogram should be con tinued. Unfortunately, the re cently-enacted Rural Devel opment Act, which I strongly supported, has been used to replace the existing REA loan program That was never the intent of Congress The rural development bill is designed to supplement the REA pro gram by making insured loans for commercial, industnal and community development, not to replace REA loans entuely I testified recently on be half of the disaster and REA loan programs before the Sen ate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry Meet Planned For Vacation Farm Owners Operators of farms which offer vacations to paying guests have been invited to attend an organizational meeting at 1 p m , February 28 in the State Agriculture Building here, it was announced by Agriculture Secretary Jim McHale Henry E Wilcox, director of the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Markets, said the meeting will determine if farmers want to organize an association which would promote farm vacations, inspect facilities and set standards Approximately 100 Penn sylvania farms, most of them in northcentral and northeastern counties, offer vacations which feature actual on-the-farm ex periences “The State Agriculutre Department can’t be responsible for farm vacation ac comodations,” Wilcox said “1 feel that an association which would have the responsibility for setting standards and making inspections would be beneficial to both farmers and vacationers.” DEPENDABLY YOURS 10HBMB GAS We Deliver LP-Gas No matter where you live, you can count on us to service LP-Gas needs fast and efficiently. 17