Benjamin, William H.
William H. Benjamin is best known for his publication, National Farm News. In a letter to U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau, Virginia E. Jenckes, a congresswoman from Indiana writes ( 20 Jan 1936 ): The National Farm News published at Wisconsin Avenue and M. Street, N. E., Washington, D.C., by Mr. William H. Benjamin, has been rendering a real and genuine service to farmers throughout America for the past ten years. About a year ago Mr. Benjamin acquired the ownership of this publication, and since then it has made great progress in the connection of service rendered to farmers, and in its influence as a national farm publication.
At the height of the era of New Deal legislation, when the nation's farmers were beginning to recognize the need for political organization in an effort to ensure receiving their fair share in an economy already stretched to the breaking point, the National Farm News led a vigorous campaign for the improvement of rural roads which would enable farmers to more easily transport their goods to markets. In a nod of recognition of the animosity between his urban and rural constituents, Governor Wilbur L. Cross of Connecticut quotes from his 1931 inaugural address ( 23 Jan 1936 ): The time has come to lift the farmer out of the mud! During the winter months many of the rural roads are impassable by automobile and very few of them are ordinarily in good condition. The ideal towards which we should strive is a complete network of good roads from all villages and outlying districts, tied in with the state roads and trunk [sic] lines, so that all parts of the State may be readily accessible to farmers and city dwellers alike.
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