452 TWENTY-THIRD ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VII 



belt, the cotton belt, the wheat belt, etc., to present to the conference 

 conditions prevailing in his section of the country. It fell to the lot of 

 your president to try to place before the conference the financial condi- 

 tion of the farmers in the corn belt, a synopsis of this address having 

 been printed in the 1921 annual report of your organization. Each of 

 your representatives was also placed on important committees and as- 

 sisted in working out the general report of the conference. 



It is difficult to estimate the value and importance of this conference 

 to the cause of agriculture; but we are firmly convinced that through it 

 the attention of the great financial interests of the country was called 

 to our distressed condition in such an unmistakable way that they couid 

 not longer refuse to give aid and assistance for relief. It is noteworthy 

 that improvement in agricultural conditions dates from about the time 

 of the holding of this conference. 



The week of February 12, in conjunction with representatives of the 

 Military Tract Live Stock Shippers' Association, of Illinois, I attended a 

 conference with officers of the Chicago Live Stock Exchange, in an effort 

 to secure a reduction in commission charges; after laying the whole mat- 

 ter from the standpoint of the live stock producers before the commission 

 men for their consideration, they decided not to make any reductions 

 ill their charges at that time, and up to the present, I am sorry to say, 

 they have not changed their minds. 



The week of March 10, I met in Chicago with the men selected by 

 the various organizations for the National Live Stock and Meat Board, 

 and assisted in setting up that organization. That, as you doubtless 

 know, is an organization formed for the purpose of making meat more 

 popular in the human dietary by properly placing its food value before 

 the consuming public, and in this way increase its consumption and assist 

 the live stock producer. Mr. R. M. Gunn, who represents your organiza- 

 tion on this board, will speak to you later on the work of the board, so 

 I will not encroach further upon his subject 



The week of March 16, I attended a hearing in Chicago before an 

 examiner for the Interstate Commerce Commission, in which we were 

 asking for a lower minimum weight on carloads of hogs shipped during 

 the summer months. The American Farm Bureau Federation filed the 

 original petition in this case, and your organization appeared as inter- 

 veners and furnished most of the witnesses. The case was tried out at 

 some length, and the fact was fully established that lighter loading in hot 

 weather is very necessary. Later on, the arguments were made by the 

 different attorneys before the commission, but up to the present no deci- 

 sion has been rendered in the case. 



Neither has the commission handed down as yet a decision in our 

 Iowa case, which was tried out during the fall of 1921. In this case, you 

 will recall that your association was asking that the 16,000-pound mini- 

 mum be restored on hogs shipped to points within the state, the same as 

 we enjoyed prior to the war. It is probable that these two cases may be 

 merged by the commission and the decisions rendered at the same time. 



The latter part of March, your president was chosen as a member of 

 the board of directors of the Chicago Producers' Commission Associa- 

 tion, and at the first meeting of the board, he was elected president and 



