Gas
WASHINGTON, D.C. - All
18 members of the Senate
Committee on Agriculture,
Nutrition, and Forestry last
week told President Carter
that his proposed standby
gasoline rationing plan is
unfair to farmers and other
rural Americans.
In a joint letter, the
Committee members urged
the President to send
Congress changes in the plan
that they say are needed to
correct features adverse to
agriculture and rural
America. Under the Energy
Policy and Conservation
Act, Congress itself cannot
Let’s talk
double-cropping
today.
J . -' &&&?/**
'■Xr,v.
>
.. v/
Believe it or not, with ORTHO
Paraquat CL you can harvest and
plant a second crop the same day.
Plant right into the stubble without
mechanical tillage. Used with ORTHO
X-77® Spreader and a good residual
herbicide, you get season-long con
trol of weeds and grasses. Come by
and see us today We’ve got all the
information on how to make double
cropping,work.
Chevron
ORGANIC PLANT FOOD COMPANY
V
TM S ORTHO CHEVRON CHEVRON DESIGN - REG U S PAT ATM OFF X 77 - REG TM KALO LABORATORIES INC
rationing plan called unfair
amend the rationing plan but
must vote to approve or,
disapprove the President’s
proposal.
The letter followed
hearings earlier last week by
the Subcommittee on Rural
Development, which were
held at • the request of
Senator Jesse Helms (R
-JNf.C.), ranking minority
member of the full Com
mittee. Senator Patrick J.
Leahy (D-Vt), chairman of
the ' subcommittee, has
announced that he cannot
support the standby
rationing plan in its present
form.
,v>/^
Ortho Paraquat CL
Chevron Chemical Company
FOR CUSTOM NO-TILL PLANTING OF SOYBEANS, CALL:
2313 Norman Rd, Lancaster, PA 17601
Farmers would be losers
Signers of the letter in
cluded Democrats Herman
E. Talmadge (Georgia),
chairman, George
McGovern (South Dakota),
Walter D. Huddleston
(Kentucky), Richard B.
Stone (Florida), Leahy,
Edward Zorinsky
(Nebraska), John Melcher
(Montana), Donald W.
Stewart (Alabama), David
H. Pryor (Arkansas), and
David L. Boren
(Oklahoma); and
Republicans Helms, Milton
R. Young (North Dakota),
Bob Dole (Kansas), S. I.
Hayaka wa (California),
Phone 717-397-5152
9
w. : -:
: ;X
• v\ * \
z v
Richard G. Lugar (.Indiana),
Thad Cochran (Mississippi),
Rudy Boschwitz (Min
nesota), and Roger W.
Jepsen (Iowa).
The letter raised two basic
objections to the rationing
plan as proposed:
(1) Although farmers
would receive supplemental
gasoline allocations for off
highway vehicles such as
tractoi?, they would receive -
no priority allocation for fuel
for on-highway vehicles such
as trucks needed for
marketing food commodities
and other farm operations.
Neither does the plan make
•vv
\ **■
s- <W.
<. .*
• •yy
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, May 12,1979
any special allowance for the
distribution of production
items needed by farmers
such as feed, fertilizer, and
seed.
(2) Persons living m rural
areas and who must drive
greater distances to their
jobs, to buy food, to receive
medical attention, of for
other essential purposes
would receive no special
consideration under the
President’s plan. The plan
proposes to allocate gasoline
rationing coupons on a
registered vehicle basis.
“Rural people would
suffer disproportionately
since there are no alter
natives such as mass transit
for most of them,” the
Agriculture Committee
members wrote. “This
seems most unfair, and it is
a continual reminder to us
that for most government
actions or regulations
proposed in Washington,
rural residents are not given
an adequate voice in such
decisions.”
The letter pointed out that
no hearings on the proposed
rationing plan were held in
rural areas, although
hearings were held in
several major cities in the
Nation.
The Committee members
Cedar Crest FFA
elects officers
LEBANON - On April 26
the Cedar Crest FFA held its
officer" elections for 1979-
1980. The newly elected
officers are:
President Dawn Shirk;
Vice-President Michael
Balsbangh; Secretary Mark
Patches; Treasurer Ronald
Copenhaver; Reporter Gary
Mase; Sentinel John Kline;
Parliamentarian Steve
Wenger; Chaplain Robert
Bomberger.
County Delegates; Dawn
Shirk and Michael
Balsbaugh.
Chapter Sweetheart:
Dawn Shirk.
16 H.P., 3 PT. Hitch Front & Rear,
Hydraulic Lift Front & Rear - Many
Other Features Similar to The Big
Tractors at a Price You Can Afford!
m ALLEN H. MATZ. INC.
assa 505 E. Main St., New Holland
HESBBH Ph: 717-354-2214
I*™**] SERVING THE COMMUNITY
l|f THIRTY YEARS
" LANC. CO’S OLDEST FORD DEALER
33
said that the current gas
rationing proposal is the first
to be made since World War
II that did not assure
agriculture full priority in
receiving gasoline supplies.
‘ “It makes no sense to give
farmers gasoline for their
tractors if they cannot get
the items they need to grow a
crop or the necessary
gasoline is not available to
process and sell agricultural
products to the American
consumer,” the senators
said.
“Both farmers and con
sumers, and thus the Nation,
would be the losers as
shortages would arise and
prices would escalate while
Federal officials tried to
discover what went wrong
with the plan that looked so
good on paper.”
The letter noted that
presidential assistant Stuart
E. Eizenstat bad
acknowledged that the
rationing plan “has a serious
bias against rural America”
and had proposed that ad
ditional gasoline coupons be
made available to rural
States for reserves.
“These assurances,
however, are not officially in
the plan,” the senators told
the President. “We need
more than assurances.”
Before the elections Roy
Shirk, FFA Vice-President,
gave a speech dealing with
election of officers and what
the characteristics of a good
officer are. After the elec
tions, chocolate milk and
donuts were enjoyed by all in
attendance.
Later on in the week, Roy
Shirk finished second in the
FFA Eastern Regional
Extemporaneous Public
Speaking Contest held at
Lehigh County AVTS. Roy
will now represent the
Eastern Region in the state
contest at the Pennsylvania
State University in June.