On the recordJune 22, 1998
in the late 1990's we are facing a crisis in agriculture that is reminiscent of what we faced in the mid-1980's. It is also reminiscent of what we faced a century ago when William Jennings Bryan talked about crucifying American farmers on a cross of gold, when he talked about how our cities could be burned or factories could be destroyed and they would rise again, but if you destroy American agriculture, you can destroy our civilization. We have a unique responsibility, I submit, at the Federal level to show a continuing concern about the state of the agricultural economy. It is unique in our country in the sense that we have a virtually pure form of competition for many of the crops and products that we produce among the producers. It is a true law of supply and demand that governs the market and governs the price.
Source
govinfo.gov
