National Governors Association

Meeting Summary

1920 NGA Annual Meeting

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (December 1-3)

Governors Attending:

Gov. Thomas E. Campbell, AZ
Gov. Oliver H. Shoup, CO
Gov. Marcus H. Holcomb, CT
Gov. John G. Townsend, Jr., DE
Gov. James P. Goodrich, IN
Gov. W. L. Harding, IA
Gov. Henry J. Allen, KS
Gov. John M. Parker, LA
Gov. C. E. Milliken, ME
Gov. Albert C. Ritchie, MD
Gov. Calvin Coolidge, MA
Gov. Frederick D. Gardner, MO
Gov. S. V. Stewart, MT
Gov. Samuel R. McKelvie, NE
Gov. J. H. Bartlett, NH
Gov. Edward I. Edwards, NJ
Gov. Thomas W. Bickett, NC

Gov. Ben W. Olcott, OR
Gov. J. B. A. Robertson, OK
Gov. William C. Sproul, PA
Gov. R. A. Cooper, SC
Gov. Peter Norbeck, SD
Gov. Simon Bamberger, UT
Gov. Percival W. Clement, VT
Gov. Robert D. Carey, WY
Gov. Everett Lake, CT
Gov. William Denney, DE
Gov. Warren McCray, IN
Gov. Jacob Preus, MN
Gov. William McMaster, SD
Gov. Charles Mabey, UT
Gov. James Hartness, VT
Gov. Ephraim F. Morgan, WV

Guests:

Lt. Gov. Edward E. Beidleman Pennsylvania
Judge William M. Hargest
County Judge in Harrisburg, PA (uniform laws)

Hon. Abraham Kaplan
New York State Senator
Stephen T. Mather
National Park Bureau

Discussion Subjects:

Agricultural problems; home ownership and housing problems; industrial relations; state income versus spending; decentralization of government functions; and uniformity of state legislation

Points of Interest:

Governors discussed transportation and conservation of food produced. Specifically, concern was expressed about the extent to which the shift of population to urban areas left the vast majority of Americans dependent on often perishable food that was difficult to transport quickly to cities and towns. And they adopted a motion to appoint a committee to research and report to the full Conference on the distressing financial situation facing farmers. The committee reported back (a report that was adopted by the full Conference) on several possible solutions: (1) self help; (2) creation of a finance corporation by the federal government to provide for lending to foreign countries so as to enable them to buy American raw materials and food products; and (3) bank adoption--at the advice of the Federal Reserve Board--of liberal credit renewal policies.

Governors also discussed the shortage of affordable housing resulting from a lack of building during WWI, and how construction could be induced.

Memorable Quotes:

Governor W. L. Harding of Iowa said: "...about one-fourth of the people of the United States are actually engaged in producing foodstuffs for consumption...I am concerned because the man on the farm is going to eat longer...if the supply should happen to run short...most of our large cities are all the time within forty-eight hours of starvation."