Delaware General Assembly


CHAPTER 477

HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION

RELATING TO SUPPORT OF THE AGRICULTURAL CONSERVATION PROGRAM AND THE SOIL CONSERVATION SERVICE.

WHEREAS, the preservation of the soils, water, forests and wildlife of this Nation, and in particular the topsoil, is necessary; and

WHEREAS, we believe the preservation of these resources is a responsibility of all people; and

WHEREAS, farmers and landowners through conservation practices have made Delaware a far more beautiful State for both rural and urban people to enjoy; and

WHEREAS, the agricultural conservation program and the technical assistance provided the landowners of Delaware by the Soil Conservation Service are a vital link in the overall natural resource conservation movement through the State; and

WHEREAS, for the past thirty years the U. S. Department of Agriculture, through the agricultural conservation program and the Soil Conservation Service, has done much to maintain and improve these resources, and make landowners and society in general more conscious of the need for such preservation; and

WHEREAS, during this period Delaware farmers and landowners have put to good use the many conservation practices of the agricultural conservation program; and

WHEREAS, through the medium of agricultural conservation program farmer-elected committeemen and soil conservation district supervisors throughout the State, farm leadership has been developed to a most helpful degree; and

WHEREAS, we believe that farmers, particularly through this defense period, should not be forced to exploit their soils in the production of the additional food and fiber needed; and

WHEREAS, we firmly believe that such would become a necessity should funds to operate the agricultural conservation program and the Soil Conservation Service be curtailed;

NOW, THEREFORE,

BE IT RESOLVED by the 123rd General Assembly of the State of Delaware that the Congress of the United States be respectfully urged to give the necessary and adequate support to the continuance of the agricultural conservation program and the Soil Conservation Service; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that Delaware Senators John J. Williams and J. Caleb Boggs, and the State Representative in Congress Harris B. McDowell, be asked to give their wholehearted support to the agricultural conservation program, and to vote to continue the annual national appropriation of $250,000,000.00 for the agricultural conservation program, and to restore the recommended cut of $20,000,000.00 in Soil Conservation Service funds; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that an adequate amount be set aside from such appropriation to make it possible to administer the program through the present system of farmer-elected committeemen; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State be directed to transmit duly attested copies of this Resolution to the President of the United States, to the Vice President of the United States, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to the chairman of the Senate and House Committees on Agriculture, to the chairmen of the Senate and House Committees on Appropriations, to the Secretary of Agriculture, and to the Delaware congressional delegation.