TWENTIETH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART V 441 



material improvement of the conditions surrounding the agricultural 

 industry. In the past, he suggested, the chief aim of all farm propa- 

 ganda promoted through the medium of agricultural schools and 

 colleges, farmers' institutes, the short course and similar agencies, 

 had dealt solely with the producing end of farming.- It had been 

 purely educational, dealing with soil conservation, crop production, 

 meat production, etc. Practically no attention had been given to 

 the economic side — transportation, marketing, etc. 



Now, as the secretary intimated, it is one thing to grow a bountiful 

 crop of grain, or to fit a car of hogs or cattle for market, but quite 

 another to be able to sell the output at a figure that insures a reasona- 

 ble profit over and above the cost of production. It is this side of 

 the business the Federation plans to give attention to, the economic 

 phases, rather than matters of production, although the latter will be 

 by no means ignored. 



This being true, the secretary emphasized the importance of formu- 

 lating a constructive program of activities at once. He told of some 

 of the things accomplished in the past year, the first in the history 

 of the State Federation. In addition to encouraging the formation 

 of co-operative enterprises of one kind and another, where the need 

 was apparent, the officials of the organization had co-operated with 

 the Corn Belt Meat Producers' Association and similar bodies in 

 the work of securing more satisfactory transportation facilities ; 

 also with the Iowa College of Agriculture and other educational in- 

 stitutions. He mentioned consultations with committees in the same 

 line of work in other states ; with the packing interests ; with the 

 Federal Trade Commission ; with city commercial organizations, 

 seeking always a basis of mutual operation and co-operation. 



Frequent trips to Washington have been made by the secretary 

 and the president of the Federation at the invitation of the President 

 and certain Federal officials, to present the viewpoint and wishes of 

 the farmers of Iowa concerning pending legislation in Congress. 

 Many visits have likewise been made into other states in response 

 to invitations to help in the organization of federations along the line 

 of the Iowa organization. 



The Iowa Federation is the outgrowth of the county agent work 

 that has been carried on in Iowa since 1912, when the first county 

 farm bureau was organized. It is more than the outgrowth ; it 

 represents the logical development and final full consummation of 

 a wholly practical movement for the improvement of farm life. 



The Federation was organized in December of 1918. Representa- 

 tives from about seventy counties in the state met at Marshalltown 



