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The niinou Agricultural Anociation Record 



March S. 1324 



HiLiLn r^ons 



#(CILTILT1U1MIL ASSCDCIIA^ 



mscoR 



3^ ji 



Published twice a month by the Illinois Agricultural 

 Association, 608 South Dearborn Street. Chicasro, Illinois. 

 Edited by Department of Information. E. 1* Bill, Director. 



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

 office at Chicago, Illinois, under the act of 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. 1921. 



The individual membership fee of the Illinois Agrlcul- 

 itural Association is five dollars a year. This fee Includes 

 \ l>ayment of fifty cents for subscription to the Illinois Ag- 

 jricultural Association Record. 



~ OFFICERS 



President, S. H. Thompson, Qaincy. 

 Vice-President, C. B. Wat.son, DeKalb. , 

 Treasurer, R. .4. Cowles, liloominKton. ', |. 

 - Secretju-)', Geo. .A. Fo.v, Sycamore. ■ 



12th. 



13th. 



14th. 



15th. 



'iMh. 



17th. 



18th. 



f9Mi. 



20th.. 



21st. . 



22nd. 



23rd. 



24th. 



ZSth. . 



EXECUTIVE COIMITTEE 

 Of Congressional Districts 



Jacob Olbrieh, Harvard 



G. F, Tulloek, Rockford 



C. E. Bamborough, Polo 



W. H. (Moody, Port Byron 



H. E. Goembel, Hoopole 



A. R. Wright, Varna 



F. D. Barton, Cornell 



R. F. Karr, Iroquois 



J. L. Whisnand, Charleston 



Earl C. Smith, Detroit 



Samuel Sorrells, Raymond 



Stanley Castle, AKon 



J, E. LIngenfelter, Lawrenceville 



Curt Anderson, Xenia 



, Vernon Lessley, Sparta 



Directors of Departments 

 I. .A. A. Offlee 



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; 

 F'msvice, 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. 



Co-op Marketing Reaultt 



We have started out to find what cooperative 

 marketing is doing for us in Illinois, to find out 

 if it has increased the price to the producer and 

 if so, to find just how a better price is secured. 



Xccording-to our information the Illinois Fruit 

 Exchange has increased the price to the producer. 

 The two chief things which have made i(| possible 

 for this cooperative to secure higher prices are 

 standardizing and improving the quality of the 

 jproducts and securing wider distribution of sales. 

 •Both of these things are impossible under the 

 old marketing system, and neither of them have 

 been attained to the highest degree that is poss- 

 ible by the exchange. 



The greatest obstacle of this particular organi- 

 zation, is the lack of a large volume of business. 

 Other obstacles are the lack of interest and loy- 

 alty of the membership and the failure of the or- 

 ganization to ke^ its members well informed. 

 •Rather astonishing, isn't it, to find that the 

 greatest factor v^ getting a better price and the 

 answer to the olBtacles of the exchange are to be 

 found in the growers' own orchard? The grower 

 himself is the only man who can improve the 

 qnality and standardize his product, and be is 

 tiie only man who can overcome the obstacle of 

 volume of business and interest in the association. 



If these things are true, if the answer is up to 

 4he grower himself, certainly we have no license 

 to be grumbling about the progress that is being 

 made. , What do you think about it f 



We are going to get* the answers to these same 

 questions for the other cooperative marketing pro- 

 jects of Illinois, as near as it is possible, and tell 

 bbout them one by one in the. Record. - • . 



^ '. . 



' A Hopeful Sign \. 



Carrying out the spirit of a resolution passed 

 at the annual meeting, the twenty-first district 

 lield its first meeting with its member of the I. 

 A. A. executive committee on February 15. It 

 'was the first time farm bureau officials of the dis- 

 trict had met with .their committeeman. 



From a list of farm bureau problems the meet- 

 ing took up one question at a time, faced the issue 

 squarely, talked it out and in some cases made 



recommendation to their committeeman or to the 

 I. A. A. executive committee. There were about 

 fifty present and before the day was over most 

 every person was acquainted with almost every- 

 one present. 



The whole group took the attitude that the I. 

 A. A. is their I. A. A., that they carry the re- 

 sponsibility for the success or failure of the I. A. 

 A. as far as that group of four counties is con- 

 cerned. 



If it is true that the future of the farm bureau 

 depends on what the membership chooses to make 

 it, the meeting of the twenty-first district is a 

 most hopeful sign. This district has planned 

 three other meetings during the year. Coopera- 

 tive marketing will be the subject of discussion 

 at the next meeting. 



We Champion Co-op Marketing 



Ijast issue we announced the new association 

 of grain men organized to kill the Gapper-Tincher 

 act. Now we discover a new bill in congress, in- 

 troduced by an Illinois man, carrying a number 

 of vicious amendments to the Packers and Stock- 

 yards act. The amendments would practically 

 put the cooperative commission companies out of 

 business. 



The farm bureau worked hard for these two 

 laws. After a year of operation the farm bureau 

 believes that both laws are a forward step in our 

 big task of marketing. The' I. A. A. is a champion 

 of cooperative marketing. It is one of the out- 

 standing points of our program and we believe in 

 it. An I. A. A. representative is now in Washing- 

 ton to keep an eye on the new bill. 



Co-operation and Human Nature 



It was an interesting meeting that the Illinois 

 Fruit Exchange held the other day at Centralia. 

 It started promptly on time, disposed of its re- 

 ports, elected officers and made resolutions with 

 little delay, had no long speeches and set to work 

 to thresh out the problems of its members in a 

 business-like way. 



All right, let's hear from eich of the units, 

 said the chairman. Give us the truth. Tell us 

 about the kicks. If your local -tlon't like the man- 

 agement, say so. We'll hear from Alma first. 



Well, things have never gone smpothly. There's 

 lots of bunk up there. There wis no interest in 

 our local annual meeting and the few that were 

 there wrangled and complained. They have kicked 

 on the management. JIany of them say they 

 won't sign up again under the present manage- 

 ment. They say the manager is to blame because 

 pears didn't sell well. They sold peaches outside 

 of the unit. There has been no kick by the big 

 growers and they say that the fault has been 

 mostly local. 



Here's a representative from the Anna and 

 Cobden units. He says that some of the members 

 are not good cooperators down there. They kicked 

 on prices received from several cars. He says he 

 believes it all comes back to the members in the 

 way they pack their stuff. They have no packing 

 shed. He says he believes that most of the mem- 

 bers should turn around and kick themselves. 



All right, here's Belleville. Nineteen cars of 

 potatoes were shipped from that unit in 1923. 

 The majority are well satisfied. No kicks against 

 the manager heard. The only trouble was that 

 they didn't sell their potatoes early enough. 



Cartter unit is next. Not much to say from 

 Cartter. Not very strong. Only had 8 members 

 at the annual meeting. No kicks to speak of. 

 Centralia, yoij're next. Members are pretty well 

 satisfied with the exchange. Have had no kicks 

 except from one fellow who talked of wanting to 

 get out of it. 



Here's the man from Creal Springs. We have 

 28 memljcrs down there. Half of them were at 

 the annual meeting. There's general harmony 



and no complaints. Everybody seems well satis- 

 fied, especially with the Jonathan prices. 



Here's a man from Carbondale. Nothing to 

 sa3'. Didn't do any business and haven't had 

 any kicks. 



What's been doing at the Flora unit? Nothing 

 much. The speaker says he's the only oiie that 

 has sold through the exchange, and he got better 

 prices than his neighbors. One of the officers of 

 the Flora unit calls the Illinois Fruit Exchange a 

 bunch of grafters. 



Here's a man from the Kell unit. Interest is 

 only luke warm. No kicks. Probably we had 

 better kick ourselves. We don't cooperate with 

 the local manager enough. Several members have 

 used the exchange as a lever to extract higher 

 prices from the local buyers. 



Let's hear from Makanda. Interest fairly 

 warm. No complaints against the management. 

 Thinks the local should be more particular with 

 the grades that it puts up. Shouldn't sell No. 2*8 

 through the exchange. Biggest objection is that 

 the contract is too long. Mascoutah, you're next 

 — 108 members in this unit. Most of them are 

 not interested. Some of the members have only 

 about a half acre of potatoes. Shipped three cars 

 of potatoes. Started to sell too late. Not enough 

 business to hire a manager and the officers are 

 too busy with their own business to tend to ship- 

 ping. 



Quincy is next. Have done a big business. 

 Sold 142 cars. One member trying to raise 

 trouble. Declares the exchange and Federated 

 Pniit and Vegetable Growers didn't give them 

 a square deal. Trying to get the unit to market 

 through some commission comptfny in Chicago. 



Here's a man from Ozark which has the larg- 

 est packing house of any of the units. Have had 

 knocks on the officers, packing house, packing and 

 prices. Says he thinks most of the knocks are 

 through ignorance. Don't know how they'll come 

 out in the reorganization. Need some one to ex- 

 plain the plan to them. Another man from Ozark 

 explains the use of the packing house for com- 

 munity purposes. Have weekly movies when 

 there is^ood weather. Hold good short course 

 in horticulture. Also have farm and home bureau 

 meetings in the building. People are getting to- 

 gether as a result of the meetings. 



Here is a man from the Texico unit. Not many 

 kicks from Texico. Just a few on apples. Sold 

 16 cars bf peaches. Some of the members took 

 their peaches to Marion and West Frankfort but 

 they won't tell what they got for them. It took 

 the wind out of their sails. Have a good pack- 

 ing house in Texico. Think it is essential as a 

 home for the unit. Think most of the growers 

 want to stay with the fruit exchange. 



Lastly, we'll hear from Villa Ridge. The knocks 

 are mostly local. Some of the members lost 70 

 to 80 cents a bushel on peaches by not shipping 

 through the exchange. Main crops are asparagus 

 and strawberries. Asparagus growers netted 10 

 cents more than outsiders got. 



That finished reports from the units. Mr. 

 Leeper, the manager, says the reports are just as 

 he expected. Most of the knocks come from dis- 

 tricts where there are feW farm bureau members. 

 The proposition was oversold to men who are not 

 cooperative. "We've got to have cooperative men 

 to have a cooperative association," he says. 



Other men get in the discussion. One man says 

 that too many of the members think that coop- 

 erative marketing is no good if it can't always 

 get more than they can get locally. Too many 

 people expect cooperative marketing to revolu- 

 tionize things in one year. The whole trouble is 

 often with local management ind leadership. 



The meeting discusses various other subjects, 

 shipping point inspection, restricting membership 

 of exchange to farm bureau members, etc. Meet- 

 ing is concluded with reading of an explanation 

 of the reorganization plan and its unanimous ap- 

 proval. 1. . .. ,. . i .. _, , .. ;.i(li 



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