88 TWENTY-SECOND ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART II 



Mr, Hunt emphasized the fact that the biggest danger of the Farm 

 Bureau at the present time is not outside opposition, but the danger 

 from inside of the organization. He named four principal accomplish- 

 ments of the Farm Bureau: First, the securing of figures and statistics on 

 the cost of production; second, the saving of the state from bankruptcy 

 by showing to the financial authorities that it was impossible and Im- 

 practical to force liquidation during the past year; third, the legislative 

 work in which the Farm Bureau secured the passage of eighteen bills 

 out of a total of twenty-three which they prepared; fourth, the recent 

 work on the equalization of taxes. The tax hearing was the first time 

 that the farmers have been represented in any organized way, and the 

 result was an increase in the taxes of public utilities, while farm values 

 were left at the 1919 figure. 



Farm Bureau songs, a large number of which were the result of 

 the recent Wallaces' Farmer contest, helped to keep the crowd in an 

 enthusiastic mood. Professor Tolbert MacRae, of Ames, who was one 

 of the judges in the song contest, led in the community singing. The 

 song called "The Optimist," which is sung to the tune of "Turkey in 

 the Straw," was undoubtedly the favorite with the audience. 



There are now 1,122,000 families in the American Farm Bureau Fed- 

 eration, representing forty-seven out of the forty-eight states, according 

 to the figures that were presented by J. W. Coverdale, secretary, in his 

 brief talk before the meeting. He emphasized four points as the prin- 

 cipal work of the American Farm Bureau Federation. Marketing was 

 the point most emphasized, in which the American Federation has been 

 responsible for the appointment of special committees along grain, live 

 stock, dairy, fruit and cotton lines, for the working out of commodity 

 marketing organizations. Along finance lines, the Federation has also 

 been doing considerable study. Through their research bureau, they 

 have been endeavoring to furnish intelligent information, and, lastly, 

 their legislative work at Washington has been responsible for the 

 representation of farmers' interests. 



"The thing that has been hurting all of us is that we did not have a 

 world peace one and one-half years ago," is the remark of J. R. Howard, 

 president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, at the close of his 

 talk. He further stated that he feels that President Harding has the 

 biggest opportunity in the coming peace conference of any president 

 since Abraham Lincoln. 



In speaking of legislation, Mr. Howard gave special credit to the 

 agricultural bloc in both the senate and the house of representatives. 

 The recent legislation which the Farm Bureau has been especially be- 

 hind, has been the packer bill, the grain exchange bill, and the farm 

 finance bill. 



The transportation question was also discussed by Mr. Howard. He 

 answered the criticisms that have been made relative to railroad legis- 

 lation by stating that his instructions at the time the Cummins-Esch 

 bill was passed were to work for the best bill that was possible, that 

 would do away with government ownership. He stated that he op- 

 posed at that time a guaranteed return, and that at the present, in addi- 

 tion to opposing that feature of the bill, he also opposes the compul- 



