Letter sent to President Richard Nixon by Wiley Mayne

12-2. WILEY MAYNE CANNON HOUSE OFFICE BUILDING 6TH DISTRICT, IOWA PHONE: 225-5476 COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE DISTRICT OFFICE: SUBCOMMITTEES: LIVESTOCK AND GRAINS Congress of the United States P.O. Box 566 320 FEDERAL BUILDING CONSERVATION AND CREDIT SIOUX CITY, IOWA 51102 House of Representatives PHONE: 252-4161 COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY Washington, D.C. 20515 December 1, 1971 DEC 2 1971 The Honorable Richard M. Nixon The White House Washington, D. C. 10/20/71 Dear Mr. President: fled Exe. DA6-37 Thank you for instructing the Justice Department to obtain back-to- work court orders under the Taft-Hartley Act on Friday as requested in my letter of October 18 and in my subsequent telephone calls and conferences with the Secretarys of Agriculture and Labor. Your action has already resulted in resumption of grain shipments and some much needed improvement in corn prices which, however, remain lower than the cost of production. Our corn farmers still need and have a right to expect direct action by their government to bolster the present corn market. They expanded production this year in direct response to the government's request for more corn, and are suffering real economic hardship as a direct result. As I have previously written to you in my letter of October 29 and in the letter in which I joined with 21 other corn belt Congressmen on November 1, the government's responsibility to help relieve this situation is very clear. I also wish to reiterate my statements on this subject during the past several weeks to Mr. Clark MacGregor and other members of the White House staff. Mr. President, the quickest and most effective way to raise the price of corn is to have the Commodity Credit Corporation start immediate purchases of 1971 corn as I have been urgently requesting since August 11. However, I am anxious to support you in any reasonable action which will improve this situation. The House Committee on Rules has now delayed further consideration of the strategic reserve bill until next week, and there is no assurance it will be favorably reported for floor action then. Prompt and decisive action to come to the assistance of corn producers is already long overdue. I, therefore, again respectfully urge you to order immediate CCC purchases under existing authority or take such other corrective action as you believe will be most effective to strengthen the price of corn with- out further delay. Sincerely, Niley mayne Member of Congress WM/dd