Edition Bobbett2. Speeches and statements by Elizabeth F. Bobbett

1939 Mullagh, Meeting of the Irish Farmers’ Federation

Source: Anglo-Celt, 22.07.1939

Miss Bobbett, who was enthusiastically greeted, said: Farmers of Cavan and Meath, I didn’t come here to make a speech, because I feel the day of speech-making is past for members of the Irish Farmers’ Federation. We must now put our shoulder to the wheel for action. I may tell you that for some time past we have been trying to keep the farmers back from taking action as they might do some act that might be detrimental to their cause. We have tried every means which suggested itself to see how we would get relief for the agricultural community from the intolerable position in which it finds itself. Our last attempt was on the 5th of this month when a deputation went to Dr. Ryan and put up the five points to him for the immediate relief of agriculture, but we got practically a deaf ear. He practically told us that the farmers were as well off as ever they were and that they had as much money if they used it properly, and that, in fact, the deputation did not represent all the farmers of Ireland. He had not time to talk to them.

One of our members from New Ross was so disgusted that he refused to shake hands with Dr. Ryan. When 2 o’clock came Dr. Ryan said it was getting late. The deputation had to leave, and the result was that they went back to the Ormond Hotel and discussed what was best to be done. And I got instructions to call all our delegates for a meeting on the 20th July to decide what action will be taken. I cannot say if they are going to start a strike or when it will be called. But I ask you to be prepared for a strike at any moment.

When you are asked to sit down for a week or two don’t send out your produce. And let the people of the City of Dublin suffer. When you don’t send out your eggs and your butter and the other produce that you dispose of in the markets, the shipping companies will be at a standstill and you will create such a situation that your grievances must be rectified. The one day’s demonstration that we had in Dublin was only to show that we could stop the Dublin market, and the result was that over £1,000 in dues were not paid in the cattle market on that day. The shipping companies were also affected, and this will show what the farmers could do if they were organised, no matter what Dr. Ryan may say.

This is a registered Trade Union and I must have a complete list of all your members for 1939. I cannot enter their names in the register if I do not get them, and it is easier to get the money from the farmers than to get their names. We are, as I have said, a registered Trade Union, and we must send in a form annually with all particulars regarding the Union, the number of members, the monies expended, etc. And all that has to be sent to the Department of Industry and Commerce. We have certain protection by being a registered Trade Union. And it is a good job we were registered, because if we had to wait till this year they probably would not allow us to register.

Our organisation is progressing very well all over the country. I was over in the West recently. I visited Roscommon and they have forty-three branches there. The organisation is going on very well, and I find they are all anxious for strike action to be called. In the West they are particularly anxious, and one man told me that a number of farmers in his district would not pay their subscriptions till the strike was called.

We all know what we have lost. If agriculture was flourishing we would not need to be here, but with the help of the Irish Farmers’ Federation farming will flourish again. (Applause). And when it does don’t let it fade away like other Farmers’ Unions of the past. I don’t want to dwell on why agriculture is in such a position. You all know our prices are only slightly more than in 1914, while for everything we have to buy the price is up to 200 per cent or more, while our rates are increased by at least 300 per cent.

There is no other section of the community which have gone through as hard trials as the farming community. I was sorry to see in the West of Ireland that the women have to go out and do terrible slave work in the fields, yet under the Constitution the woman’s place is in the home. The husband is supposed to have an income that will keep his wife and family. In the other professions, the solicitor, the doctor, all of them have their incomes, and even the man that sweeps the road, he gets an income weekly or fortnightly, and he brings it home to his wife. She has not to go out and work. We must see that agriculture is put in such a position that it will pay for the labour on the farm. If the farmer’s son is working on the farm he is entitled to remuneration. It may not be in the nature of a weekly salary, but he is entitled to be compensated or remunerated for his work and so also is the daughter who works in the home. But with the present state of agriculture the result is that the young people won’t stay at home and they would be fools to stop at home when they can go to the large towns and cities or go to England and get a jolly good wage.

There will soon be nobody left on the land if the present conditions are to remain as regards agriculture. Mr. Eamon de Valera has said that if there were cheaper licenses for wireless sets this would brighten up the country and make the people stop on the land, but what we want is more money in our pockets. And there is nothing a farmer will enjoy better than if he has a nice lot of cattle and a good crop to look at, and go to his neighbour and see how his cattle and crops are doing. We always took a pride in our stock and our crops in the past. We did not go crazy over dances and pictures. And we want to see in their country the position that we can invite our neighbours to our own homes for a little enjoyment – a little social evening. But at the present time the farmer is in such a position that he would rather give a half crown to his son or daughter to go to a dance because he is not able to invite anyone to his own house for a little entertainment – it would cost him too much. We have the position that people who were able to keep a servant in the house in the past are not able to keep a servant to-day or pay them a sufficient wage, and the result is that the unfortunate women have to work and slave in the house from morning till night. All I can say is that I greatly fear the next generation will not be a credit to the Irish nation.

To put agriculture on its feet we must get relief of the overhead charges. We must ask for complete de-rating of agricultural land, because under the new Valuation Bill the people who were compelled to put up new houses will have their valuation increased. It is not a very nice thing to ask a man to spend £40 on improvements and then increase his valuation. Rates, as you know, are an unjust charge. When rates were first assessed on the Poor Law Valuation on the farmers’ holdings the Poor Law Valuation was supposed to represent the farmer’s income. The rates were then only to cover Poor Law charges such as hospitals, doctors, and the like, but now we are paying for public services such as sewers, roads and other amenities which are enjoyed by the rich and the people of the towns. A farmer with a £20 valuation might have to pay £15 in rates, while a Government Minister with a couple of thousands pounds a year, might live in a house with a £35 valuation and only have to pay £25, and that Minister’s wife has another position, as some of them have, and has nothing to pay for the upkeep of the social services.

Those people should be made pay for social services and not the farmer. It has been said that if there were de-rating of agricultural land it is only the big farmer would benefit. That is a peculiar idea, but remember it is the big farmer that gives employment on the land and that pays out large sums in wages. The small farmers have not to put their hands in their pockets every Saturday night. And if the big farmer is so penalised that he cannot pay wages to his men those men will have to be put on the dole or on relief works at the public expense. You all know that the Economic War was fought by the farmers. The present Government was elected in 1932 by the State, but when the Economic War was started, instead of the cost being spread over the State as a whole, it was put on one section of the community – the farmers. We claim that the farmers of Ireland have lost over one hundred million pounds in their export trade during the course of the Economic War. A fortnight ago in An Dail Mr. Erskine Childers stated that Mr. de Valera had saved £88,000,000 in the Financial Agreement with England. That £88,000,000 belongs to the farmers of Ireland. And we want to get that money as compensation for the losses we have suffered. (Applause).

Call it by any name you like – we must get compensation. And if we are determined we will get it, but we will have to fight for it. We hold that the people who did not pay their share of the Economic War should pay it now. When the farmer gets on his feet again there will be increased employment and increased production and the money will find its way back to the people of the towns and they will have nothing to worry about. Many of you, farmers, have read in the Press of July 5th, 1939, the statement made by Mr. Walter Nash, New Zealand Minister for Finance, at a meeting of the Irish Branch of the Parliamentary Association in Leinster House on the 4th instant. Mr. Nash stated that half the farmers in New Zealand were bankrupt from 1931 to 1935 and their lands were mortgaged far in excess of their value, so the Government came to their aid and agreed to buy their butter and cheese at a price based on the average received in the previous ten years, and that during the past three years the Government of New Zealand had concentrated on raising the standard of living of the poor, which had resulted in an increase in production from ninety-eight million pounds to one hundred and sixty million pounds. He stated that the creation of new credit stimulated production and that the Government of New Zealand got control of both credit and currency so that nobody outside the Government could destroy the economic and political objective of the Government.

Turning to Denmark, for examples of good farming, we find that during the same period the Government came to the rescue of the Danish farmers, and laws providing for moratoriums, the reduction of interest rates on mortgages were brought in. The tendency we find in Denmark has been to relieve the countryman of some of the expenses borne by him and to transfer them to the townsman. The cost of the latter may be high, but it may be a wholly desirable consummation, for the farmers can thereby attain stability and a standing power which cannot fail to confer benefits on all classes of the community.

As I have already stated, the eighty-eight million pounds stated to be saved in the financial agreement with England, belongs to the farmers of Ireland, and we are asking for a share of this money to be immediately given to the farmers as partial compensation for their losses during the economic war, so that the farmers may be put in a position to get into production immediately. As partial compensation, we are demanding immediately £1 per £1 of our Poor Law Valuation, with a minimum of £25 to any farmer. I would like to have something like what was done in New Zealand done here. Farmers who have been sitting on the fence are now coming along with suggestions and schemes that we have been debating for the past five years. It was stated in the Dail a couple of weeks ago that there were 125,000 farmers in debt to the banks to the tune of £12,000,000, and if there is to be any solution to this problem of frozen bank debts that solution must be based on the fundamental historical facts that the banks, the Government and the farmers are jointly responsible for the present position and, therefore, each must contribute to any satisfactory solution of the problem. As we all know, at one period the banks shovelled out money to farmers who used it unwisely. The Government fought, and claimed that they won an economic war, but they clearly admitted that the farmers were in the front line of trenches of that war. But they are still left in the trenches, and the Government must come to their assistance.

I hold that a plan could be devised to meet the views of the three vital parties, the banks, the Government and the farmers. The Government should say to the banks that an independent arbitration board will be set up in each county, with equal representation from the banks and the Farmers’ Federation to arbitrate on each case individually, and revise the bank debt on an equitable basis. This, I may tell you, has been done in numerous individual cases, so it must be accepted that the principle is already admitted by the banks. The Government should then say to the banks that such revised debts must be honoured in full by the farmers, but that as the agricultural industry is the mainstay of the country, and must, as a matter of national concern, be placed on a firm basis, we must thaw these frozen debts, and the only way to do that is for the banks to agree to take the payment of all such sums by fixed annual payments over a long period of years. If the Government can trust the farmers for a 68½-year period with repayment of the land purchase annuities, the banks should do likewise in the case of those frozen debts, and extend, as I have said, the period for repayment over a long period of years. In theory, the banks do not recognise long terms credit, but in practice they have to, in numerous instances. All uncertainty in the minds of the banks about eventual recovery of the frozen bank debts would be removed by this proposal, and at the same time it would enable the farmer to honour his legitimate obligations to the bank – a fact which should be borne strongly in mind from the banks point of view.

The second part of the plan would be to provide adequate long-term credit facilities for the farmers who need the money to re-stock their lands, buy seeds and manures, and be in a position generally to put their lands into full production again. This could be done by amending considerably Senator John Joseph Counihan’s plan, and issuing the land stock in bulk to a statutory body, such as the Agricultural Credit Corporation, to be re-issued to all farmers by way of long-term loan at a low rate of interest. The Corporation would have power to loan the said stock to any farmer for all agricultural purposes. As the stock would not be redeemable by the government for the long period of 68½ years, the Corporation could grant loans to the farmers for the same period, and that is what the farmers need – long-term credit on specially reduced rates, so that the next generation can bear some of the cost of the economic war. The third part of the plan is to face the fact that in theory the farmers’ security of tenure is gone. Restore that by legislation, giving the Land Commission, say, three years to acquire all the land they need, and then repeal for ever the wide powers of acquiring land except by consent at full market price. Meantime, legislate that in all cases of land acquired by the Land Commission, the purchase price shall not in any case be less than the amount of a revised bank debt on the lands. Let the banks meet the farmers by long-term credit facilities, but restore the theory of fixity of tenure to make land a realisable asset once more in this country. (Applause).

When I joined first, we were the Farmers’ Protection Association. I was very inexperienced. I did not know the meaning of the word politics. Padraig O’Malley was then Chairman. There were several Government TD’s on the Executive, and they were all out to finance the farmer and settle their frozen debts. The present Government got into power, and Padraig O’Malley was given a job. We had Tom O’Donnell, a beautiful speaker, whom it was lovely to listen to, and he was all out to settle the farmers’ grievances, but the Government made him a judge. Bit by bit the politicians drew away from the organisation. Some of them became TD’s and more of them Senators, and they left the poor, hard-working farmer sitting down. A few of us stuck on together, and we decided to give all the publicity we could to the way the banks were treating the farmers, and we agitated so much that we got the Banking Commission set up. I, with seventeen others, gave evidence before the Banking Commission, and it took two days. And there is not one bit of that evidence in the Banking Commission report. A Mr. Ernest Browne, a well-known Clare farmer, said to me: “I will never come to Dublin to a meeting again unless you farmers get organised.” His idea was to have a Council of Agriculture, representative of the farmers, and that they would be the boss of our agricultural policy. I went home and started a branch, and, no matter what the politicians say, we are still here. Mr. John F. Conaty, of Cavan, and Mr. John Boohan of Limerick, were two of the first to attend our Council meetings in Dublin. We have kept the movement going; we have been tried, and we have not been found wanting. We want your help, for it is our membership that is going to win this battle. And once you pay your subscription and obtain your membership card, we know we have you solidly behind us. And when we produce our register of the number of members we have, no Government can refuse our claims. (Applause).

The Agricultural Commission is sitting – it may be for years, and it may be for ever, and it may be they would never get up. (Laughter). We hold there should be a complete abolition of annuities. (Applause). A Voice: How can they find out the number of animals on each farm? Miss Bobbett: Don’t you tell the number to the Guards every year? The Voice: They don’t. Miss Bobbett: They do in our part of the country. Chairman: Yes, and here, too.

Miss Bobbett, having referred to the proposed expenditure of six million pounds upon armaments, said that when the farmers asked for anything they were told it would increase the cost of living and put up the price of tea and sugar on the poor. They would have a big demonstration in Enniscorthy the following Sunday, and we will get the farmers thoroughly organised everywhere, but the daily papers were not favourably disposed towards the farmers. They said they were lazy people, and all the rest of it. But the farmers’ fixity of tenure and free sales were gone, and there was nothing left but the Federation to fight their battle. If they did not bring the people together and encourage them, many a man would go out of his mind. The Federation had succeeded in bringing together people who had been bitterly opposed to each other over politics. They have come together to work for their common good, they had forgotten the memory of past dissensions, and the Federation had thus done some real good for the social life of the country. That showed there was no bitterness amongst them. Their ranks were open to farmers of every religion and political affiliation. It was open to all who worked on the land, and it was the biggest effort that was made yet on behalf of the farmers of this country. “I hope,” (concluded Miss Bobbett) “it will be my lot to see their work brought to a successful conclusion, and it won’t be my fault if it isn’t.” (Loud applause).

Miss Bobbett said she would like to support what Mr. McTiernan had said about farmers looking after their own interests and looking after their own bacon factory. They should pay up the balance of their shares. It was a strange thing that a farmer could deny himself and his wife and pay rates and rent and everything else before he would pay for doing something that was absolutely essential for himself. A farmer would pay a licence for a dog, but he would not pay a premium on insurance for his wife.

A Voice: A lot of them will have to get the wife first. (Laughter.)

Another Voice: There are a lot of bachelors around here.

Miss Bobbett: We will have to get Mr. de Valera after them. (Renewed laughter.)

Proceeding, she said she had listened to people in Waterford and one man told her he sent eleven pigs one day to a factory and when he got his letter back by post he saw that he got Grades A, B, C and D and almost down to the end of the alphabet. He was so annoyed that he went to the factory and asked for twenty-two sides of bacon and said he would take them graded in the same way as his pigs were graded and that he would pay for them in the same way. But they would not agree to that. This showed the necessity of having a factory of their own. She believed that the admixture scheme would be finished next month. That brought them back to the necessity for a Council of Agriculture again.

Their original aim and their ultimate aim was to have a Council of Agriculture representing every branch of the agricultural industry so that if they wanted they could have a conference of representatives of any branch of the industry that they desired: They held that the County Committees of Agriculture did not represent the farmers – they were selected on the political ticket. We are not, said the speaker, out against the present Government or any future Government. If they had a Council of Agriculture they would see that the Government did their duty. She heard it said to keep them there and make them do their duty.

The immediate aim of the Farmers’ Organisation was relief for the people and their ultimate aim was the Council of Agriculture. And until they got that they would not get fair play.

Referring to the conditions of the farming community, she said that in Wicklow farmers were terrified when they saw a motor-car coming – they thought it was “the flying squad” coming to seize their last cow. If people only realised the hardships that farmers were going through they would not delay in joining their organisation.

On the motion of the Chairman, seconded by Mr. Brogan (Glen View), a vote of thanks to Miss Bobbett was carried with acclamation. Miss Bobbett, in acknowledging the vote, said that when they succeeded in what they were agitating for they could turn their attention to the social side of life. They could have Farmers’ Clubs and dances and social evenings, etc. Referring to the matter of pig-feeding she said that a man told her that when he fed his pigs in a haphazard way he was only getting four per cent Grade A pigs. He turned to feed them on the balanced ration – the prepared pig meal – and was getting 12 per cent Grade A pigs.