PROCEEDINGS CORN BELT MEAT PRODUCERS' ASSN. 585 



period of summer and early fall, with this rapid deflation going on, and 

 much unrest arose because farmers were being asked to liquidate their 

 indebtedness on a declining market, which was at that time one-half what 

 it had been in May and April, and so there was a great deal of uneasiness 

 and much unrest, and it seemed in the early part of November to put on 

 a series of banker-farmer conferences to see what was ailing everybody 

 and see what both sides would say about it — the first was at Waterloo, the 

 second at Fort Dodge, the third at Red Oak and the fourth at Ottumwa. 

 They were a wonderful success. The agricultural papers east and west 

 said they were the most successful meetings held in this country, because 

 they gave each side the view of the other, and much good resulted. I want 

 to say in interlude here that the only trouble we had we started out with 

 the idea that we might have a little argument between the bankers and 

 the farmers, and we took all precautions necessary to settle any argument 

 that might arise between farmers and bankers, but the only real argu- 

 ment we had in all the meetings was one between a grain farmer and a 

 stock man down at Red Oak. One of them got up and said there's no use 

 talking about it, that the meat producers, the corn feeders, were respon- 

 sible for the good price of corn, anyway, and that the fellows that just 

 produced the corn depended on them entirely, and then the other fellow 

 came back and said you fellows couldn't furnish the live stock if we didn't 

 furnish the grain, and that started it off, and that was the only real argu- 

 ment we had at any of those meetings. After those meetings were held 

 the officers of the Farm Bureau Federation came to the Iowa Bankers' 

 Association and said that farm finance plans had been presented to the 

 farmers of this state and they felt that something should be done to put 

 forward a plan of farm finance that could be recommended and would be 

 of help, and asked our co-operation in formulating such an institution. We 

 received that in the spirit that it was given. We felt that it was a real 

 need, and so a. committee was appointed and we visited New York, Chi- 

 cago, Washington, Boston, and all of the places where rediscount agencies 

 for industries had made a success and we studied their plans. We found in 

 other cities than those mentioned rediscount corporations which had 

 made a great success of handling credits of various lines of industry. At 

 Washington we found several men whcj had made a lifetime study of farm 

 credits, and we got many valuable pointers from him. At Chicago the 

 presidents of the five leading banks gave us considerable time in talking 

 it over. At Ames we found two or three men who had good ideas to help. 

 We put all of these 'ideas together and out of it came the Iowa Farm 

 Credit Corporation. We gave this plan to the Farm Bureau Federation 

 and it was accepted. They called in their legislative committee and their 

 attorney to prepare the bills necessary to go through the legislature, which 

 they found were necessary. These bills were prepared and our legislative 

 committee was brought in, and they adopted these plans as theirs, and so 

 through the legislature these two big organizations worked side by side 

 helping to put into law the best piece of legislation that any state has had 

 on its statute books in the line of sound farming legislation. These bills 

 were four in number. First was the bill to create a state licensing of ele- 

 vators; second, a bill permitting the formulation of co-operative farmers' 



