March 20, 192^ 



The Illinois Agricultural Associatign Record 



I 



Pace 3 



FARM MEASURES . 

 ARE DISCUSSED BY 

 BUREAU LEADERS 



n 



"We Should Study Legislation" 



Says President Thompson; 



Bills Explained 



"I believe that it is important 

 that we, as farmers, sliould give 

 careful study to the legislation 

 proposed for agriculture at Wash- 

 ington," declared President 

 Thompson of the I. A. A. an open- 

 ing the meeting of county farm 

 bureau presidents in Chicago, 

 .March 6. "The I. A. A. has al- 

 ways had a well-defined polic^ on 

 legislation in Illinois. We must 

 use our influence to get good and 

 to kill bad legislation. We must 

 center our strength on the meas- 

 sures we want most." 



Presidents or other representa- 

 tives of 85 of the 94 Illinois farm 

 bureaus were present at the meet- 

 ing, called two days previous by 

 the I. A. A. for the purpose of 

 acquainting them with agricul- 

 tural measures now being consid- 

 ered In Congress. 



Taking up the McNary-Haugen 

 bill as the most important piece 

 of legislation under consideration, 

 President Thompson aslsed John 

 Faissler, DeKafb county attorney, 

 to give an explanation of the bill. 



What Can You Buy? 



"What can you buy when you 

 sell a pig or a steer or a bushel 

 of corn?" asked Mr. Faissler. 

 "That's what determines the 

 worth of farm products. Five 

 years ago five bushels of wheat 

 would buy a pair of shoes — now 

 it takes 10 bushels. We are sell- 

 ing our farm products on a world 

 market price but for merchandise 

 and farm labor we pay the home 

 market price. 



"The McNary-Haugen bill would 

 so arrange it that the prices of 

 farm products would be In a line 

 with what the farmer buys," he 

 e.Yplained. "If the bill was in 

 force today, wheat would be from 

 11.40 to $1.50 per bushel instead 

 of tl.OO. It should be tl.59 to 

 be on the same level as nob-agrl- 

 cultural commodities." 

 Purpose of Bill 



The purpose of the bill, as ex- 

 plained, is to put the purchasine 

 power of farmers on the same 

 level as it was in the 10 pre-war 

 years, 1905-14, thus putting them 

 on a fair trading basis with other 

 industries. It proposes to do this 

 by a government corporation to 

 buy the surplus of any farm com- 

 modity when its sales price is 10 

 per cent below the pre-war ratio. 

 The cost of this operation would 

 be borne by ail farmers selling 

 the commodity below ratio by the 

 issuing of .scrip for a share of the 

 commodity price. 



For illustration, it was stated 

 that in November, 1923, with the 

 price of hogs at $7.05 per hun- 

 dred, if the price had been on a 

 ratio with the purchasing power 

 of hogs in the 10 pre-war years, 

 they would have brought a price 

 of $10.85 per hundred. 



Kiiierj^ncy Is Great 



"The present emergency in 

 agriculture has had no parallel in 

 the history of our CQuntry," de- 

 c I a r e d President Thompson. 

 "Many say that the same condi- 

 tions prevailed in 1893. But at 

 that time the depression hit the 

 business man. the professional 

 man and all industry as well as 

 farming. , Everyone was on the 

 s.imp basis. But today the farmer 



EVERY CORNER OF ILLINOIS REPRESENTED HERE 



is not on a fair trading basis with 

 other ifadustries. 



"This hill proposes to put agri- 

 culture on this fair trading basis 

 with other business. It will start 

 men to thinkini; as they have 

 never thought before. It will give 

 us the same chance aK industry, 

 labor and *-vpry other class. 

 Intelligent I'rniluctlon 



"It has been said ttiat the bill 

 will lead to increased production. 

 I do not believe that it will. Over- 

 production will cause a larsre sur- 

 plus to go on the world market at 

 a lower price and this lower price 

 will come right back to the pro- 

 ducer in a lower value for his 

 scrip. 



"In my opinion, rather than 

 leading to increased production, it 

 will lead to intelligent production 

 and a study of supply and demand 

 on the part of the farmer. The 

 bill is the result of the thought of 

 the best agricultural minds of our 

 country and it reflects the true 

 sentiments of those who have the 

 best interests .of agriculture at 

 heart. 



"While it may not remove all 

 difficulties it is better than any- 

 thing else that has been proposed 

 for the relief of agriculture." 

 Co-op Marketlnic 



Asked what the effect of the 

 measure would be upon cooper- 

 ative marketing, Mr. Thompson 

 said that he could not see that it 

 would be harmful to its progress. 

 A free discussion Of the bill was 

 entered into by the meeting to 

 clear up questions before the reso- 

 lution was passed that is printed 

 in another column of the Record. 



A large number of county farm 

 bureau representatives stated that 

 their executive committers had al- 

 ready taken action endorsing the 

 McNary-Haugen bill. 



Packen- Stockyard* 



C. A. Stewart, director of live- 

 stock marketing, was called upon 

 to discuss the proposed amend- 

 ments to the Packers and Stock- 

 yards act. Some of the amend- 

 ments would strengthen the act 

 slightly, according to .Mr. Stewart, 

 but in the main they would have 

 little effect on Illinois livestock 

 shippers. 



Amendment Dangerous 



"However, the amendment 

 known as the Williams bill is very 

 dangerous," said Mr. Stewart. "It 

 would practically put cooperative 

 commission companies out of busi- 

 ness. According- to its provisions, 

 everyone connected with a Pro- 

 ducers' agency would have to be 

 a producer, even the manager. 



"It provides that each member 

 of a shipping association that de- 

 sires to join a cooperative com- 



Who Are Fighting It? 



The metropolitan press had 

 been giving the McNary-Hau- 

 gen bill the "silent" treat- 

 ment until recently. But now. 

 especially since the I. A. A. 

 meeting with farm bureau 

 presidents came out unani- 

 mously for passage of the 

 measure, propagandi against 

 the bill from the grain ex- 

 changes, livestock exchanges 

 and other big interests is be- 

 ing "played up" and many of 

 the big city newspapers are 

 protesting editorially against 

 its passage. 



Committee Gives 

 Thompsoft Power To 

 Fight For Bill 



After the meeting of farm bu- 

 reau presidents had stated their 

 stand on the McNary-Haugen bill 

 in no uncertain terms, the exec- 

 utive committee passed the follow- 

 ing motion: "That President 

 Thompson be authorized to be in 

 Washington sufficient time and 

 further be empowered to call for 

 or to employ any assistance that 

 he may deem necessary to safe- 

 gnard the interests of our asso- 

 ciation and agriculture in gen- 

 eral and that everything possible 

 may' be done to assist in the pas- 

 sage of the McNary-Haugen bill." 



O. K, RRLIBF .MF.ASVHE 



Endorsement of the McNary- 

 Haugen bill was made by the Ma- 

 zon Farmers' Elevator Company at 

 its annual meeting March 8, which 

 was attended by 800 farm folks of 

 Grundy county. George E. Mellen 

 is manager of the conipany. 



mission company must file his 

 written application with the Sec- 

 retary of Agriculture. It would 

 practically be impossible to get 

 the written consent of every mem- 

 ber of a livestock shipping asso- 

 ciation in order to Join a coopera- 

 tive commission agency. .-Vgain. it 

 provideS|that each member of such 

 a company must assume personal 

 liability for the association. An- 

 other clause would make it im- 

 possible for a non-member to ship 

 to a Producers' agency." 

 Has Little Chance 

 Mr. Stewart said that the 

 amendment had little chance of 

 passage out of the House Agricul- 

 tural Committee. Representative 

 Williams. Illinois, who introduced 

 it by request, is now one of its 

 strongest opponents, stated . Mr. 

 Stewart. The National Live Stock 

 Producers appeared against the 

 amendment at a hearing; on March 

 8 in which the livestock exchanges 

 were proponents of the measure. 



PROGRAM OF WORK 

 FOR I. A. A. IN 1924 



(Continued from pa^e 2) 



tional cost to the association, it 

 is the intention to do it free of 

 charge. Serv'ice to cooi»eratlve as- 

 sociations which calls for addition- 

 al outlay of money by the depart- 

 ment will be extended on a cost 

 basis. 



Carry on 6ur\ey to determine 

 value of radio as a means of pub- 

 licity and if it is determined a 

 worth while means, make provi- 

 sions for broadcasting I. .\. A. in- 

 formation regularly. 



Finance DefMrtment ' 



To supplement the collection 

 service rendered farm bureaus 

 through a field man to go to farm 

 bureau offices to put in a uniform 

 collection plan and to unify, as 

 far as practical, business practices 

 and methods in farm bureaus, 

 such as auditing, bonding financial 

 statements, handling and disburs- 

 ing of funds and otlier office de- 

 tails. 



To make available to the farm 

 bureaus an annual audit and ren- 

 der a report thereof in standard- 

 ized form to their executive com- 

 mittees for presenting to memlier- 

 ship. 



To make this service available 

 first to those county larm bureaus 

 having smaller memberships. 



To render ser\'ice and counsel 

 upon terms to be mutually agreed 

 upon to cooperative associations 

 at the joint request of the coop- 

 erative and farm bureau or bu- 

 reaus interested. ) 

 Lec^al De|i«runeat - ' ! 



To advise the heads of the I. A. 

 A. departments and the executive 

 officers on legal matters which af- 

 fect the association or its depart- 

 ment activities. 



To assist in the organization 

 and legal setup of cooperative as- 

 sociations fostered by the 1. .\. A. 



To assist county farm bureaus 

 or their members in legal matters 

 affecting them. 



To serve the legislative commit- 

 tee and special committees that 

 have the direction of legislation 

 affecting agricultural interests. 



To act as a clearing house 

 through which attorneys repre- 

 senting cooperative associations 

 shall bo able to receive advice on 

 the enforceability of producers* 

 contracts and on the rulings of 

 courts throughout the state on all 

 .statutes and questions related to 

 cooperatives. 

 PonHry and Kgg Marlcetlnc 



The program for the poultry 

 and egg marketing department 

 will be to encourage as far as pos- 

 sible the buying of eggs on a grad- 

 ed basis at countrA' points. By 



22nd DISTRICT T 

 ' LEADERS ENDORSE 

 FARM RELIEF BILL 



Favor I. A. A. Radio From St. Louis; 



Meeting Freely Discusses 



Farm Bureau Plans 



.\ meeting of farm bureau lead- 

 ers of the 22nd district at Water- 

 loo on March 9 with 1. A. ^. exec- 

 utive committeeman, Stanley Cas- 

 tle, passed resolutions fa\oring 

 the .McNary-Haugen bill, ctmdenin- 

 ing the Williams bill amending 

 the I*ackers and Stockyardf act. 

 (asked the !. K. A. to help the dis- 

 trict to get a test plot to try out 

 the Monroe county' plan of eradi- 

 cating wild garlic and appointed a 

 committee to investigate the ad- 

 visability of organizing a ooopera- 

 tive produce company in St. Louis. 



There was a feeling, Mr, Castle 

 sa.vs. that the I. A. A. is aoi get- 

 ting close enough to the farmer. 

 The suggestion was made at the 

 meeting that the I. A. A. eadea%-or 

 to broadcast its infoi4&atien over 

 the St. I»ui8 radio stations. 



In discussing the question of 

 candidates for public office, Mr. 

 Castle said that the farm bureau 

 should not get into politics by en- 

 dorsing candidates and working 

 for them, but he believes it the 

 duty of the farm bureau to advise 

 the membership to support candi- 

 dates wlio have supported agricul- 

 ture and men who know and un- 

 derstand agricultural problems. 



"It was about as free a meeting 

 as I have ever l>een in." Mr. Castle < 

 says. "It gave an opportuaity for 

 all to get acquainted. After a few 

 meetings like this, they will know 

 who is the -best man to pick for 

 the I. \. A. executive committee. 

 I feel that I am better able to rep- 

 resent the district." 



The next meeting of the district 

 'Will l>e held the latter part of May 

 at Greenville. 



STATE STAND ON 

 FARM LEGISLATION 



(Continued from'parc 1) 

 ^nd -other representatives of the 

 county farm bureaus of tiie state 

 of Illinois and the members of the 

 executive committee of the IlliDois 

 Agricultural Association in con- 

 ference assembled at Chicago on 

 this 6th day of March. 1924. that 

 |re urge the senators and repre- 

 sentatives in Congress from Illi- 

 nois to actively support all amend- 

 inents to the Packers and Stock- 

 yards act which will strengthen 

 the administration provisions of 

 the act and hereby declare our 

 onqualifled opposition to t^e pas- 

 sage of House Bill 5944, com- 

 monly known as the Williams bill. 



cooperation with the Illinois Poul- 

 try and Egg Shippers Association 

 it is t>elieved that most progress 

 can be made by assisting them in 

 getting the egg business on a 

 graded basis at the earlieat pos- 

 sible moment. 



In addition to this the program 

 -is to be planned from the flacts to 

 be obtain*^ by a sur\-ey of the 

 present poultry and egg marketing 

 machinery. Iieginning with the 

 huckster and country grocer on 

 through the list to the commission 

 fnd storage companies. This sur- 

 vey is to be conducted in coopera- 

 tion with the dealers, shippers and 

 ethers interested along with tb' 

 University of Illinois Poultrj divi- 

 sion and the Department of Agri- 

 culture at Springfield. 



