HjlilNOIS 



is ^1 



ICVLTUBIAIL ASSOOAmBN 



Published twice a month by the Illinois Agricultural 

 Association, 608 South Dearborn Street. Chicago, Illinois. 

 likliLea by Department of Information. E, l* Bill. Director. 



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

 office at Chicago. Illinois, under the act of March 3. 1»7». 

 Acceptance for mailing at special rates of postage pro- 

 vided for in Section llOJ. Act of October 3. 1917. author- 

 lied Oct. 31. 1921. 



The Individual membership fee of the Illinois Agricul- 

 tural Association is five dollars a year. This fee includes 

 payment of fifty cents for subscrlptloa to the Illinois Ag- 

 ricultural Association Record. 



Ilthl. 



12th.. 



13th.. 



14th.. 



ISth.. 



ISthi. 



17th.. 



18th.. 



19th.. 



20th.. 



21st.. 



22nd. 



23rd.. 



24th.. 



2«h.. 



OFFICERS 

 President, S. H. Thompson, Qnincy. 

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

 Treasurer, R. A. Cowles, Bloomington. 

 Secretary, Geo. .\. Vox, Syca more. 



EXECirm'E COMMITTEE 

 Bj Congressional Districts 



Jacob Olbrleh, Harvard 



G. F. Tullock, Roekford 



C. E. Bamborough, Polo 



W. H. Moody, Port Byron 



H. E. Goembel, Hoopole 



, A. R. Wright, Varna 



F. D. Barton, Cornell 



, R. F. Karr, Iroquoii 



...J, L. Whlsnand, Charleston 



Earl C. Smith, Detroit 



Samuel Sorrells, Raymond 



Stanley Castle, Alton 



.J. E. LIngenfelter, Lawrenceville 



Curt Anderson, Xenia 



Vernon Lessley, Sparta 



Directors of Departments 

 I, A, A. Ofllce 



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

 Organization, G. E. Met^ger; Information, E. L. Bill; 

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

 Finance. R. A. Covyles: 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. 



Thompson Answers Rainey 



Tke full texts of both Cojigres.sniaii Rainey 's let- 

 ter to President Thompson and our president's re- 

 ph' are printed in this Record. Read both and 

 you will find the stock objections to the relief mea- 

 sure land effective answers to them. 



Oar Duty On April 8th 



Farm bureau members have an important duty 

 to perform Tuesday, April 8, 1924, on primary 

 day. It is more than a duty to self — it is a duty 

 to agriculture as well as to our country. The re- 

 sponsibility to vote on primarj' da.v is equally im- 

 portBiit, if not more so, than to vote on election 

 daj'. Candidates are to be nominated for United 

 States Senator, for Governor, as well as other re- 

 sponsible public ofiSces. 



Apiculture needs broad-minded and honest pub- 

 lic servants. It needs sympathetic friends in pub- 

 lic office. It is therefore imponant to carefully 

 scrutinize the character and record of candidates. 



The duty of farm bureau members is not only 

 to vote but also to influence others to vote for able 

 and friendly candidates. The I. A. A. and farm 

 bureaus have often asked public servants for their 

 support of agricultijral measures. Public servants 

 have been told that their record was being watched. 

 They have not been promised the use of I. A. A. or 

 farm bureau organizations for re-election. How- 

 ever, men in public service who have served faith- 

 fully and ably have a right to expect every farm 

 bureau member to do his duty by voting at the 

 primarj- and using all proper methods to get others 

 less interested to vote, 



Primarj' day not only brings a duty but an op- 

 portunity to demonstrate our right to demand 

 faithful and honest Service from men in public 

 office. Let's work, and vote. It is a sacred duty 

 we owe to our country, to agriculture, to our or- 

 ganiiations and to oiy^elves. 



Cooperatives and the Farm Bureau 



We are trj'ing to find ourselves in the relation 

 of county farm bureaus and cooperative market- 

 ing associations. Many county farm bureaus 

 have a direct tie-up with local livestock shipping 

 associations, and many more are planning a direct 



relationship between the membership of the farm 

 bureau and the shipping associations. 



The Illinois Fruit Growers' Exchange ran into 

 this same problem in discussing the policy in re- 

 gard to qualifications for membership, and the 

 following motion was adopted : 

 , "In counties where there are farm bureaus, 

 it shall be the policy of the Board of Directors 

 to require individual members in the Illinois 

 Fruit Growers' E.xchange to become members 

 of the county farm bureau and the Illinois Ag- 

 ricultural Association ; and in counties where 

 there are no farm bureaus, it shall be the 

 policy of the Board of Directors to require 

 the members joining the Illinois Fruit Grow- 

 ers' Exchange to agree to join the farm bu- 

 reau and the Illinois Agricultural Association 

 if organized in that county." 

 The farm bureau in Illinois, both eoun^y and 

 state organizations, has championed cooperative 

 marketing. It has worked hard in many different 

 ways to help cooperative associations over the 

 rough places. Now the question is whether the 

 farm bureau shall cut loose entirely from the 

 marketing associations or shall it have some defi- 

 nite relationship with them. The action of ship- 

 ping associations and of the Illinois Fruit Growers' 

 Exchange throws some light on this question. 

 Whiat do you say about itt 



We Champion Cooperative Marketing 



In the March 5 i.ssue under this .same head 

 we told about the Williams bill, carrying a num- 

 ber of amendments to the Packers and Stockyards 

 Act which would practically put the cooperative 

 livestock commission companies out of business. 



The Williams bill is dead n6w. An I. A. A. 

 representative went to Washington and explained 

 to Congressman Williams what it would do to 

 cooperative marketing and Mr. Williams with- 

 drew the bill 



"Strictly Clean" Doesn't Mean Washed Egg* 



Following the recommendation of the Illinois 

 Poultry and Egg Shippers Association, many egg 

 buyers at country points are now bu.ving eggs on a 

 graded basis. The I. A. A. wa9 verj- active in pro- 

 moting this plan of paying a premium lo producers 

 of quality eggs. 



These, buyers are offering five cents per dozen 

 more for "strictly clean (not washed), fresh eggs; 

 free from cracks and cheeks: weighing llA pounds 

 or more per dozen ; no duck, bantam, guinea or 

 small eggs." 



Reports come to the I. A. A. that many people 

 are washing their eggs and thus losing the advan- 

 tage of the higher grade. 



Most of the eggs sold during this period of the 

 year are sold for storage purposes and washed eggs 

 will not keep in storage. Washing removes the 

 protective covering, permitting germs and molds 

 to enter very readily, bringing about decomposi- 

 tion much earlier than otherwise. 



Only eggs that go into the retail trade at once 

 should be washed. 



The 1923 Wool Pool 



There has b«*n some dissatisfaction with the net 

 prices received by the wool pool in. Illinois in 

 1923. Around 200,000 pounds of wool were con- 

 signed to the National Wool Warehouse and 

 Storage Company in 1923 as the Illinois share 

 of the pool. 



Poolers with the better grades of wool were as 

 a whole well pleased with the results of the pool. 

 They received an average net price of 41 cents 

 for their wool compared to an average of 36 

 cents paid by local dealers. Of course there 

 were some instances where local dealers bid espe- 

 cially high in order to discourage pooling, caus- 

 ing complaints in such localities on the pool price. 



The fact that wool graded lower than during 

 1922 resulted in a somewhat lower price. If the 

 grading had been on a par with the previous year 



April S, 1924 



the pool would have netted about two cents per 

 pound more. No satisfactory explanation can be 

 given for the difference in grading of the two 

 clips but the fact remains that Illinois wool in 

 the 1923 pool was as a whole of poorer quality 

 than that of the previous year. 



One big difficulty with last year's pool was 

 that much of it was shipped in small lots, caus- 

 ing heavy transportation charges. It cost from 

 7 to 8 cents a pound to market wool through the 

 pool when small amounts were shipped hy freight 

 or express to their destination. Contrasted with 

 this is the example of a shipment from a western 

 Illinois county of 17.000 pounds in one carload 

 with total transportation and handling costs of 

 4 cents per pound until the wool, was warehoused. 



Counties which expect to enter the wool pool 

 in 1924 must assemble their wool at a definite? 

 time to ship in carload lots if they expect satis- 

 faction. Good results cannot be obtained when 

 small shipments of wool are made indiscriminately 

 throughout the season. The cost^ are too high. 



Jast as in the cooperative marketing of any 

 other commodity, there must be volume of the 

 product in order to bring the lowest transporta- 

 tion and other handling charges. 



■ - . -o- .1 :% 



Cream Producers' Problems 



Figures taken from cream buying stations at 

 Paxton, Ford county, using the prices paid for 

 butterfat on the 26th of each month from May, 

 1923, to February, 1924, compared with prices on 

 the Chicago market for 92 score butter on the 

 same days, showed that the fanners received a 

 variation of all the way from one to seven cents 

 for their butterfat below the Chicago market 

 price for 92 score butter. In the ten months, on 

 the 26th of each month, the prices for fat at 

 Paxton varied from 32 to 53 cents with an aver- 

 age of 41.8 cents. The Chicago market for 92 

 score butter on these same days fluctuated from 

 4314 to 54 cents, with an average of 49.7 cents. 



On March 18 the I. A. A. Dairj- Marketing de- 

 partment met with an organization committee of 

 Ford -county farm ibureau members interested in 

 changing such conditions as the above. On the 

 same day the cream buyers paid 45 cents for but- 

 terfat and the Chicago market for 92 score butter 

 was 43V2 cents, or one and one half cents above 

 the Chicago butter price. 



Wasn't it quite a- coincidence that the cream 

 bu.vers' butterfat price went above the Chicago 

 butter market on the same day that farm bureau 

 members met to consider the proposition? 



The 1923 report of the Mt. Carroll cooperative 

 creamery, which was organized with the aid of 

 the I. A. A., showed that the co-op paid its mem- 

 bers from 40 to 50 cents for butterfat' during 

 1923, or an average of 46.8 cents. That shows 

 what cooperative marketing can do. 



The dairy marketing department did not recom- 

 mend the organization 01 a cooperative creamery 

 in Ford county as the amount of cream produced 

 is not sufficient to warrant a creaMery. How- 

 ever, the department recommended the organiza- 

 tion of a collective bargaining association through 

 which members of the cream producers' associa- 

 tion will have their own cream-gathering stations 

 and will contract for cream sales with some large 

 cream buyer. Their organization will study the 

 butter market and will be in a position to know 

 whether or not Ford county producers are receiv- 

 ing what they should for their butterfat. 



Red Top Success 



The Egjrptian Seed Growers' Exchange, com- 

 posed of over 600 red top seed producers in Clay, 

 WajTie and neighboring counties, sold 1,169,739 

 pounds of seed last year and members received a 

 net price of 11.6 cents per pound with the final 

 settlement that has recently been made. ^ This 

 beat the average price paid by local dealers in the 

 pooling district by about one half cent per pound. 



I 



u 



r 



i| 



I- ^ --'I- 



J.a. 



,1...^ 



