Edition Bobbett2. Speeches and statements by Elizabeth F. Bobbett
1938 Dunleer, Meeting of the Irish Farmers’ Federation
Source: Dundalk Democrat, 23.07.1938
Miss Elizabeth Bobbett, who has several times addressed meetings of farmers in this county, dealt with the progress of the organisation and its aims. She reviewed the success of the organisation in other counties: in Cork where it fell through owing to politics, they were going to reorganise and keep politics out of it. They wanted their organisation recognised by the Government, as every other organised industry was. The Minister for Industry goes to the dinners and annual meetings of every other organised industry, and Mr. Eamon de Valera had said to the Chambers of Commerce that he welcomed the idea of a Federation of Industries, because it was from such federations that they hoped to get men who would advise the Government, on industry. That was exactly what their Federation was trying to get done for agriculture, and yet the Government doesn’t want to recognise them, because they know that once the farmers are organised, they would get and demand justice. The whole trouble was a question of finance. Why should so many people in that country be hungry and out of work? Why not have enough money in circulation to employ our people and put them in a position to buy more food. There would be half as much food again consumed in the country, if the people were properly fed, and had money to buy it. The farmers are the people who will spend money in the country; they will not invest it abroad. And when the farmers haven’t money, the tradesmen suffer. A shopkeeper in Wicklow told her that the week the Flying Squad landed in the district his takings dropped from £28 to £10. The Government’s slogans should be of the type “Drink More Milk”, instead of “Grow More Wheat.” Medical officers of health were advising the people to eat more fruit, and eat more of this and that. If the farmers got a decent price for their produce and could afford to pay their labourers more, they would all eat these things. They could not expect anything, unless they organised; she urged County Louth to persist and hoped if the farmers were driven to have a demonstration in Dublin, that County Louth would send a powerful contingent.