DIRT FARMERS' CONGRESS. As a result of an invitation by the Texas legislature, Texas agricultural and livestock producers met in Austin in February 1939 to counsel the Forty-sixth Legislature on proposed legislation. This meeting, known as the "Dirt Farmers' Congress," was made up of representatives of more than 100 counties. A closer relationship between the producers and industries was stressed. The congress, under the guidance of its committee of resolutions, composed of C. H. Day and others, requested the legislature to consider such problems as insect and rodent control, conservation of forests and wildlife, soil erosion, and compulsory dog vaccination to prevent rabies. The Dirt Farmers' Congress met again with the House of Representatives on February 18, 1949. After that time no more references to it appeared in House journals.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ralph W. Steen, Twentieth Century Texas: An Economic and Social History (Austin: Steck, 1942).

J. C. Conradt