ry 21, 1924 



stock to mar- 

 iations must 

 1 before Pro- 

 :ss they must 

 rs. 



3ers Commis- 

 n business of 

 in hogs and 

 ix months in 

 •iod in 1922. 

 5 carloads of 



: commiasion 



e size of the 



does denote 



t. Louis an- 



CUT 



■eau selected 

 •om 17 town- 

 the county 

 !0.46, and in 

 the 34 farms, 

 It concludes 

 ,000 acres of 

 I total saving 



irms in 1923 

 , $107,120, a 

 ;res in these 

 reduction in 

 of the coun- 

 ation of $8,- 

 I rate of 50 

 s a saving of 



lu concludes 

 ual to 2,000 

 ach, and the 

 farm bureau 



rois 



llinois farm- 

 poultry and 



investigate 

 the west and 



larketing or- 

 questions of 

 omes to the 

 ig to quality 

 thing which 

 producers. >. 



1 ones, often 

 vn ones, the 

 mes and the 

 groceries at 

 5 they reach 



of the eggs 

 igg shippers 

 nal markets 

 rs were paid 



slipped any- 

 As well as 

 mission man 

 de and they 

 he producer 

 the country 

 liare of their 



e, high qnal- 

 ir them, but 

 nor does he 

 jld by grade 

 10 has good 

 »lling to his 

 cares little 

 to the pro- 

 A. is work- 



jMioary 21, 1924 



The Dlinob Agricultural AssodationRecord 



P«g«S 



I. A. A. NET WORTH 

 TOTALS $214,293 



(Continued from page 1) 

 holdings In United States liberty 

 bonds and treasury notes from 

 180,000 to $120,000, par value. 

 The item is shown on the balance 

 sheet as $119,202.82 which repre- 

 sents the 'book value' or cost to 

 the association. 



"The U. S. government bonds 

 and treasury notes are 'bearer' 

 securities, coupon form. They are 

 held as the property of the associ 

 ation, in safe-keeping in the vaults 

 of one of the large Chicago banks, 

 so appearing on their books. The 

 bank has issued to the association 

 safe-keeping receipts for the se- 

 curities as purchased by the asso- 

 ciation. The safe-keeping receipts 

 are in turn deposited in a safe 

 deposit box by the treasurer of 

 the association. Access to the 

 safe deposit box referred to is had 

 only by your treasurer and in the 

 presence of one of the several des- 

 ignated representatives of the fi- 

 delity and surety company who 

 have bonded the treasurer of your 

 association. 

 , Securities Safeguarded 



'The fidelity and surety com- 

 pany keep an accurate list of the 

 contents of the box, noting all ad- 

 ditions and withdrawals. This 

 protective feature, properly re- 

 stricting access to the box, is en- 

 tirely self-imposed by the present 

 incumbent. It has been accepted 

 by your Executive Committee as a 

 permanent policy of the associa- 

 tion by resolution addressed to 

 the Safe Deposit Vaults Company. 

 No deviation in any particular 

 from this policy in the future 

 should ever be made except to fur- 

 ther strengthen its protective fea- 

 tures, if possible. It Is fully as im- 

 portant to the membership of this 

 association, or any organization, 

 to know that its securities are 

 properly safeguarded, as it is to 

 know of what they consist and the 

 amount thereof. The interest cou- 

 pons are clipped by the bank as 

 they mature and its cashier's draft 

 remitted to the association to 

 cover. 



Ijong Term Loans 



"Under 'long term loans,' are 

 listed advances to affiliated organ- 

 izations. These advances are evi- 

 denced by six and twelve month 

 notes, but in practice must be paid 

 out of Income or through possible 

 refinancing. Liberal reserves have 

 been set up for possible losses in 

 these items. 



"The 'liauid' assets of the asso 

 elation are represented in 'Cash 

 on Hand and in Bank' and 'U. S 

 Government Liberty Bonds and 

 Treasury Notes' — a substantial 

 sum, immediately available, and 

 in very favorable ratio to current 

 liabillUes.'* 



Malone Appointed 

 Head of Illinois 

 Tax Commission 



Wm. H. Malone, Cook county, 

 has been appointed as head of 

 the State Tax Commission by the 

 Oovemor. Mr. Malone has been 

 friendly to the I. A. A. and 

 county farm bureaus in their 

 flgbt for equalized tax valua- 

 tions. It will be remembered 

 that he severely flayed the Chair- 

 man of the commission in Oc- 

 tober when the latter failed to 

 order reassessments in the seven 

 counties where the local boards 

 failed to equalize, after the tax 

 body had promised the I. A, A. 

 that reassessments would be or- 

 dered. 



E.. St. Louis Co-op 

 Plans To Refund 

 $80,000 Earnings 



The Producers Live Stock Com- 

 mission Association of E. St. Louis 

 will refund more than $80,000 

 saved this year in commissions on 

 livestock sales made for its mem- 

 bers, according to H. D. Wright, 

 manager, who made his report at 

 the annual meeting of the associa- 

 tion, January 15. 



This saving is made in spite of 

 the fact that the agency reduced 

 its rates during the year 20 per 

 cent from those generally saved, 

 thus effecting additional saving. 

 Approximately 450 shipping as 

 sociations are members of the 

 agency. 



THOMPSON SPEAKS 

 ON ORGANIZATION 



Metzger and Cowles 

 To Represent I.A.A. 

 At Regional Meeting 



G. E. Metzger, Director of Or- 

 ganization, and R. A. Cowles, Di- 

 rector of Finance, will represent 

 the I. A. A. at a regional confer- 

 ence of organization workers at 

 Lansing, Mich., February 21 and 

 22. The A. F. B. F. has called 

 the conference and organization 

 and collection programs will be 

 considered. 



Representatives from the Ohio, 

 Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and 

 Wisconsin state farm bureaus have 

 been invited to the conference. 



(Continued from page 1) 

 his neighbor in the marketing of 

 farm products. 



"Up to the present time, farm- 

 ers could never conscientiously 

 say that they have really had any 

 influence to make a higher or a 

 lower market for any farm prod- 

 ucts. The only influence that has 

 really created higher or lower 

 markets has been droughts, freeze- 

 outs, war, failures in other coun- 

 tries or something over which 

 they have never had any control 

 themselves. 



All Join Together. 



"There is no business that could 

 successfully thrive if it could not 

 have anything to say as to what 

 the price of the commodity or pro- 

 duction of the factory was to 

 bring. The time has come when 

 farmers of this country, if they 

 are going to put their business on 

 a substantial basis, must join 

 themselves together in a strong 

 organization, thus affording an op- 

 portunity to study the markets as 

 to scope and supply and demand, 

 and to use the same business in- 

 telligence to the distribution of 

 the products of the farm<as every 

 other line of business is doing tS 

 day. 



"The future of our brganization 

 depends on the hearty and loyal 

 support of the members back on 

 the farms." 



Start Co-op Accounting Or 

 State Must Step In--Frazer 



George wicker 



Illinois now has over 1,000 co- 

 operatives in active, business and 

 the time is now at hand for these 

 cooperatives to organize a central 

 auditing service 

 of their own, 

 said G^o. A. 

 Frazer, Consult- 

 ing Accountant 

 of the I. A. A., 

 at the annual 

 meeting where 

 he talked on 

 the subject, 

 "Financial Re- 

 sponsibii i t i e s 

 for Farmers' 

 Cooperatives." 

 "These cooperatives should 

 have established standards of busi- 

 ness practice set forth in the form 

 of a uniform bookkeeping system," 

 declared Mr. Frazer. "Thet 

 should also have authoritative 

 auditing conducted by the leaders 

 among the cooperatives and not 

 merely casual and private auditing 

 under the control of those audited. 



. A Business Corporation. 



"A farmers' cooperative is first, 

 last, and all of the time a business 

 corporation. The fact that it is 

 cooperative does not change any 

 of the fundamental laws of econ- 

 omics and trusteeship that apply 

 to all business corporations. Farm- 



I , EJLINOIS AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIATION 



! ; BALANCE SHEET— AT DECEMBER 31, 1923 



' ■'' ASSETS 



Current Assets: 



Cash on Hand and in Bank „ . : H 83,704.78 



Accounts Receivable: ! ' 



j County Farm Bureaus for Memberships $18,409.93 

 County Farm Bureaus for Miscellaneous 



j, Items 2,067.47 



Phosphate Accounts 852.70 



\ Others „ 6.802.69 



• \ Total .i 



■ Less: Provision for Bad. Debts 



Inventories: 



Blankets at Warehouse...__ 



I Blankets on Consignment 



Signs 



Accrued Interest Receivable 



Illinois-Missouri Cooperative Milk Produc- 

 ers association 



U. S. Government Treasury Notes and Lib- 

 erty Bonds _ 



Total Current Assets 



Long Term Loans: 



Due from Agricultural Organizations for 



Advances „ 



Provision for Probable Loss " 



$28,132.79 

 4,625.83 



4,964.00 



1,502.14 



320.40 



23,506.96 



6,786i54 

 1,514.58 



^31,368.00 



lii9.2'02.82 



—I 



Fixed Assets: 



Office Furniture and- Equipment.. 

 Less: Reserve for Depreciation 



$25,076.99 

 11,421.20 



Automobiles ....„...„..._„„ . 



Less: Reserve for Depreciation... 



Deferred Charges: 



Prepaid Rent 



Inventory of Supplies.. 

 Prepaid Insurance 



1.875.97 

 1.425.97 



42.826.47 

 34.126.47 



$ 13,655.79 



450.00 



8.428.00 



1.427.27 



300.70 



TOTAL ASSETS 



$206,083.68 



'j r-.i 



8.700.00 



14.106.79 



5rl56.97 

 $234,045.44 



_ LIABILITIES 



Current Liabilities: 



Accounts Payable | 10.430.49 



American Farm Bureau Federation 1.840.99 



Accounts Receivable — Credit Balance '. 5,581.63 



Accounts Payable — Farm Bureaus , 1,343.69 



Total Current Liabilities 



RTneamed Membership Income „_ 



General Fund Reserve: 



Balance at January 1, 1923 



Add: Excess of Income over Expenses for the Year 

 Ended December 31, 1923 



$172,621.43 

 41,672.22 



19,196.80 

 S5S.00 



214.293.64 



'I $234,045.44 



We have examined the books of account of the above association for the year 

 ended December 31, 1923, and hereby certify that, in our opinion, subject to the 

 comments included in our report submitted herewith, the above Balance Sheet and 

 accompanying Statement of Income and Expenses prepared from the books of ac- 

 count and records truthfully show the financial position of the association at Decem- 

 ber 31, 1923. 



John R. Bartlzal . SWANSON OGILVIB OOMPANT 



Certified Public Accountant. By A. W. T. OgiMe. 



ers' cooperatives simply must have 

 correct accounting and authorita- 

 tive auditing or else their direc- 

 tors and officers are blindly exer- 

 cising their trusteeskipe. 



"The cooperative i( a public in- 

 stitution in the same category as 

 the bank or the insurance com- 

 pany. Banks and insurance com- 

 panies are under thd strict regu- 

 lations of state laws. They must 

 make detailed financial statements 

 under oath to state officers and 

 must submit to inquilsitorial state 

 audits. It is to the credit of banks 

 and insurance companies {general- 

 ly that in addition to ttate examin- 

 ations, they insist upon outside 

 auditors employed by themselves. 



State May Stop In. 



"Farmers' cooperttives must 

 get sood accounting and good au- 

 diting for the protection of their 

 members or else. like other public 

 institutions, the statp must step 

 In and regulate them. There is 

 no more reason, for a farmer los- 

 ing money in a cooperative t>e- 

 cause of the lack of proper ac- 

 counts and proper audits, than 

 there would be for a farmer to 

 lose money in a savings bank be- 

 cause of the lack of proper ac- 

 counts and proper audit." 



Mr. FAzer suggested that the 

 directors and officer* of Illinois 

 farmers' cooperatives would do 

 better to organize an authoritative 

 accounting and auditing service of 

 their own rather than to depend 

 upon casual private auditors on 

 the one band or upon Inquisitorial 

 state auditors acting under laws 

 as the other altemattre. 



Could Exchange Hxporlenc^ 

 "With an authoritative central 

 auditing service establisbed by the 

 cooperatives themselves, the lead- 

 ers of the cooperative movement 

 can^exchange comparative statis- 

 tics as to costs and margins of 

 savings," declared Mr. Frazer. 

 "Such informtaion wbuld be im- 

 mensely valuable to tihe new and 

 unsuccessful cooperatives and 

 would be a fair contribution to 

 the cause from the successful co- 

 operatives." 



Mr. Frazer closed by declarins 

 that a man has as mnch right to 

 protection when he invests his 

 crops in a cooperative elevator or 

 creamery as if be invested his 

 money in a savings bank or in buy- 

 ing securities approved under the 

 Blue Sky Laws of Illinois. This 

 can only be assured when direc- 

 tors and officers of cooperatives 

 actually put into pmctice good 

 bookkeeping and accounting meth- 

 ods, he said. 



Wicker Speaks 

 "In cooperative companies not 

 large enough to employ a compe- 

 tent bookkeeper, the manager is 

 generally required to perform all 

 the duties." said George Wicker, 

 who is in charge of cooperative 

 accounting for the Minnesou De- ' 

 partment of Agriculture. "Often 

 the manager has no knowledge of 

 bookkeeping and the records will 

 be inadequate. 



Btate Control In Mlaneaota 

 "It was the recognition of this 

 condition that brought about the 

 legislation under wMch an ae- 

 eounting division for cooperative 

 associations was esUbUshed in the 

 Minnesota Department of Agricul- 

 ture. The development of coop- 

 erative business will require man- 

 agers specially trained in bnslneas 

 practice, accounting, and a koowl- 

 •dxe of the essentials of eoopei*- 

 tloa." 



