Past 2 



CULTURAL, ASSO Cl/qBN 



"RECORir^V" 



Published twice a month by the Illinois Agricultural 

 Association, 608 South Dearborn Street, Chicago, lUlnola. 

 Edited by Department of Information, C. L, Bilt. Director. 



Entry as second class matter Oct. 10. 1921. at the post 

 ofBce at Chicago, Illinois, under the act ot March 3, 1879. 

 Acceptance for mailing at special rates of postage 'pro* 

 vided for In Section 1103, Act of October 3, 1917, author- 

 lied Oct. 31. 1931. 



The Individual membership fee of th* Illinois Agricul- 

 tural Association Is five dollars a year. This fee InplndM 

 payment o( fifty centst for subscription to the IlllnoM Ag- 

 ricultural Association Re cord. ^^^^^^^ 



OFFICERS 

 ' President, S. H. Thompson, Qnlncy. 



Vice-President. C, B. Watson, DeKalb. I 

 Treasurer, R. A. Cowles, Bloomington. ' 

 Secretar}-, Geo. A. Fov, Sycamore. 



EXECCnVE COMMl'ri'KE 



Br Congressional Districts 



11th Jacob Olbrlch, Harvard 



12th G. F. Tullock, Rockford 



13lh J C, E. Bamborough, Polo 



14th J W. H. Moody, Port Byron 



ISth I H. E. Goembel, Hoopole 



16th A, R. Wright, Varna 



17th F. D. Barton, Cornell 



18th .! ;R- F. Karr, Iroquola 



igth J. L. Whisnand, Charleston 



tOth k Earl C. Smith, Detroit 



2l8t Samuel Sorrelis, Raymond 



82nd J Stanley Castle, Alton 



23rd j.J. *. Llngentelter, Lawreneevlll* 



24th Curt Anderson, Xenia 



2Bth........ Vernon Letsley, Sparta 



Directors ot Departments 

 I. A. A, Office 



General Office and Assistant to Secretary, J. H, Kelker; 

 Organization, G, E. Metzger; Information, E. L. Bill; 

 Transportation, L. J. Quasey; Statistics, J. C. Watson; 

 Finance, R, A. Cowles; Fruit and Vegetable Marketing, 

 A, B. Leeper; Live Stock Marketing, C. A. Stewart; 

 Dairy Marketing, A, D, Lynch; Phosphate-Limestone, 

 J. R. Bent; In charge Poultry and Egg Marketing, J. D. 

 Harper; special representative on Tuberculosis Eradi- 

 cation, M, H. Petersen. 



The 1924 Program 



The 1924 budget recommended by the outgoing 

 executive committee was one of the chief subjects 

 of discussion at the first meeting of the new com- 

 mittee, January 31. It was decided to defer action 

 on the new budget until the next meeting, at which 

 time a two-day session will be held and all depart- 

 ment directors will present their program of work 

 for the year. The next meeting of the executive 

 committee will be held March 5 and 6. 



In the meantime the departments are planning 

 their program of work for the year. On February 

 18 the departments will present their programs 

 to the policy committee, and the policy committee 

 will make definite recommendation to the executive 

 committee. The policy committee consists of ex- 

 presidents of the association. Dean Mumford of 

 the Agricultural College and the President and 

 Secretarj'. 



The President and Secretary were empowered to 

 employ a man to head the grain marketing work 

 of the association by the executive committee. The 

 association has not had an employee to head this 

 work for two years. 



The question of employing a man to head all 

 marketing work in the association was discussed 

 but no definite action or conclusion was reached. 



ti-'i ''' No Room For Personalities 



The I. A. A. has not hitched its wagon tb any 

 one of the cooperative marketing factions or faction 

 leaders. It believes that cooperative marketing is 

 greater than all faction leaders. It believes in 

 taking the worth-while suggestions and ideas of 

 all factions and applying them to the extent that 

 is possible under existing conditions in Illinois. 



This statement is made because leaders have 

 failed to eliminate personal antipathies in the 

 struggle to put over their ideas. 



Only a few days ago Theodore Macklin of the 

 University of Wisconsin in a series of lectures be- 

 fore Illinois tgrm advisers, dealt in personalities 

 in differing with some parts oiE the Sapiro program 

 of cooperative marketing. Other leaders and men 

 of influence are guilty of the same thing. The in- 

 cident has caused a stir in the state. There has 

 been mnch talk about it. That part of Mr. Mack- 



The Mmoh Agricnltursl A«»ociatioB Record 



Feb. ao, 1924 



lin's teaching has disturbed the confidence of farm- 

 ers in leaders and in the whole movement. 



The farm bureau wants and needs all of the 

 constructive arguments, fundamental differences 

 and suggestions that all leaders have to make. In 

 that way there is hope of finding the right way of 

 carrying out the big program of cooperative mar- 

 keting. There is no room for personal scraps be- 

 tween leaders. 



To Help Poor Farmer 



A new organization called the Association to 

 Restore Free and Unrestricted Grain Markets was 

 recently organized in Chicago. It is composed of 

 grain men, manufacturers and others and its pur- 

 pose is to "secure such changes in existing statutes 

 as will permit of normal operation with assurance 

 that the necessary speculative and investment 

 trade for carrying the farmer's surplus of grain 

 will not be driven from the market by restrictive 

 laws." 



It doesn't say to fight the Capper-Tincher act, 

 but that is what it means. 



We're For Emergency Help 



The executive committee endorsed the intent and 

 purpose of the McNary-Haugen bill, now before 

 Congress, because it believes it provides a way to 

 overcome the emergency facing agriculture, the 

 low buying power of the farm dollar. 



The general belief and policy of the association 

 is that final solution of the economic problems of 

 agriculture will come through self-help. It has 

 said that cooperative marketing holds forth more 

 hope than any other remedy. In general the asso- 

 ciation has shied at political remedies. 



At this particular time the I. A. A. believes that 

 an emergency exists. Hard working, clear think- 

 ing, worthy farmers are going broke. After long 

 waiting and hoping a new year is here with little 

 relief in sight. That an emergency exists is not 

 disputed. The President of the United States and 

 banking and business interests admit it in their 

 eagerness to loan farmers more money. 



It is pretty generally conceded that cooperative 

 marketing can not at once meet and cope with this 

 emergency. That does not mean that the market- 

 ing program should not go on. The loan of more 

 money to diversify production without better prices 

 in sight is not a solution for the emergency. The 

 McNary-Haugen bill deals directly with the prob- 

 lem. It designs to restore pre-war buying power 

 of the farm dollar. True, it will increase the price 

 to the consumer just as protective tariffs increase 

 the price of many things we purchase, but the con- 

 sumer will not be paying a greater portion of his 

 dollar for farm products than he paid before the 



Fttture Taxation Program 



A saving of $2,000,000 in 1923 taxes sounds big, 

 but, after all, organized agriculture has not much 

 more than scratched the surface of the taxation; 

 problem. One of the big opportunities ahead is to ' 

 secure changes in the constitution and in the rev- 

 enue laws so that all classes of property will pay 

 their just share of taxes. Another opportunity is 

 to see to it that economy and honesty are used in 

 spending tax moneys. 



The resolution passed by the annual meeting ex- 

 presses the stand of the Association on this ques- 

 tion. The resolution follows : 



"We recommend such changes in the Constitu- 

 tion and revenue laws of Illinois and in their ad- 

 ministration as will equitably distribute the burden 

 of taxation upon the net income of tangible prop- 

 erty, intangible property, and personal service in 

 proportion to the ability of such property and such 

 persons to bear the burden. 



"We deplore the issue of tax exempt securities, 

 as leading to extravagance in public improvements, 

 diverting vast sums of wealth fromiproductive in- 



dustry, and by affording easy means of escape from 

 taxation, discourages the ownership of real estate. 

 We recommend, therefore, the adoption of an 

 amendment to the Federal Constitution at the earli- 

 est possible moment forbidding the further issue 

 of tax-free securities. 



"We demand the strictest economy and honesty, 

 with all necessary safeguards therefor, in the ex- 

 penditure of public money, national, state and 

 knaL" 



A Market All The Year Around 



The milk condensary closed at Freeport the other 

 day and almost immediately the milk received by 

 the Vita Gold Dairy Products Company doubled 

 in volume. Quite a bit of this increased volume 

 came from former members of the farmers' mar- 

 keting company who went to the condensary last 

 Bummer because it was overbidding the market on 

 milk — to get business away from the marketing 

 company, it is said. Such things are common in 

 the lives of most co-ops. 



During the last three or four months the con- 

 densary 's price on milk dropped below that of the 

 farmers' company. It is reported that the con- 

 densary had large stocks of condensed milk on 

 hand, the market was low, and that the conden- 

 sary 's headquarters in another city ordered the 

 Freeport plant to close. And then a large number 

 of the producers turned to their own company for 

 a market for their milk. 



The condensary at Freeport provided a market 

 for milk just as long as there was profit in con- 

 densed milk for the manufacturer. Then it closed 

 down. The same thing happened before the mar- 

 keting company was started, but at that time the 

 producers could not turn to their own company 

 for a market. The lesson is that the cooperative 

 milk marketing company at Freeport provides milk 

 producers a market all the year around. It pays 

 what the market justifies. It manufactures and 

 markets dairy products in the most profitable form 

 that it can, depending upon seasonable conditions, 

 and other factors. It does not close down and 

 leave the farmer without a market when the 

 profit in manufactured milk products is not great. 



V Progress of Prodadn 



Cooperative commission companies operating 

 under the National Producers plan handled 271 

 per cent more cars of livestock in 1923 ihan they 

 did in 1922. Gross value of livestock handled in- 

 creased from $26,688,363.17 to $90,073,623.25. 

 The first selling agency opened early in January, 

 1922, five more opened during that year, and 

 eight in 1923. There are now a total of four- 

 teen Producers agencies in operation. 



All Producers companies increased the volume 

 they handled On the markets where they were in 

 operation from 6.6 per cent in 1922 to 8.4 per 

 cent in 1923. This also shows growth. Then 

 there is also the fact that approximately $130,000 

 in commissions was put aside as savings for 

 Illinois patrons alone during the calendar year, 

 1923. 



These facts are all encouraging. 



An annual meeting speaker said that at Indi- 

 anapolis where the Producers Jiandled an aver- 

 age of 24 per cent of the total volume on the 

 market in 1923, the records of the market show 

 that violent price fluctuations from day to day 

 have been largely eliminated. At Peoria, where 

 the co-op took care of 23 per cent of the 1923 

 volume, the prices have more nearly approached 

 the Chicago level than ever before. 



These are facts from markets where the farm- 

 ers' commission companies exert a controlling 

 influence. They illustrate what must be done 

 elsewhere. They show that the refund is not the 

 big thing but that increased volume of business is 

 absolutely necessary if the Producers selling 

 agencies are to wield greater influence va live- 

 stock markets. 



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