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The IIMnoi» Agricultural AMOciation Record 



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I Li Li 1 N OIS 



CfJLTliaAL ASSOCIA 



RECORO^ 



* 



Published •T«rT othar Saturday by th« IlUnola Asrlcaltnrml 

 AMOclatlon, •01 South Dearborn Street Chicago, Ilirnol*. Hd- 

 Ited by Department of Information, H . C. Butcher. Director. 



Bntered aa aecond claaa matter Oct. 10, 1»»1, at the poat offlca 

 at Chlcaco, Illlnola, under the act of March »..li7». Accmtance 

 for mallbiB at apeclal ratea of poatace proTided for In Section 

 JJOl. Act of October I. 1»17, authorlied Oct. tV, 1»21. 



The IndlTltlual membership fee of the Illlnola Agricultural Aa- 

 aoclatlon la Ave dollara a year. The fee Includea payment of 

 nfty cents for subacrlptlon to th* Illlnola Arrlcultural Aaao- 

 elation RxcoBD. 



Postmaster: In returning an uncalled-tor or mtassnt copy, 

 please Indicate key number on addreaa aa Is required by law. 



J OFFICERS 



I President, S. H. Thompson, Qnincy. 



Vice-President, H. E. Goembel, Hooppole. 

 Treasurer, 11. A. Cowles, Bloomlngton. 

 Secretary, Geo. A. Fox, Sycamore. 



EXECXmVE COMMITTCE 



11th i 



12th , 



13th J 



14th J 



1Uh 



leth . 



17th < 



18th.. 

 1»th.i 

 20th.. 

 21 it... 

 22nd.. 

 23rd.. 

 24th.. 

 2Sth.. 



By Congressional Districts 



William Webb, Rte. 1, Joliet 



Q. P. Tullock. Rockford 



C. B- Bamborough, Polo 



,.■', W. H.' Moody, Port Byron 



B. H. Taylor, Rapatee 



A. R. Wright, Varna 



I*. D, Barton, Cornell 



R. F. K«rr, Iroquota 



J. L. Whianand, Charleaton 



p Earl C. Smith, Detroit 



Samuel Sorrellt, Raymond 



, Stanly Castle, Alton 



W. I_ Cope, Salem 



Curt Anderaon, Xenia 



R. K. Loomla, Makanda 



Director!! of Departmenta 

 I. A. A. Office 



General Office and Atsiatant to Secretary, J. H, Kelker; Or- 

 ganization, G. E. Metzger; Information, HJ C, Butcher; Trans- 

 portation, L, J. Quasey; Taxation and Statistics, J. C. Watson; 

 Finance, R. A. Cowles; Fruit and Vegetable Marketing, A. 8. 

 Leeper; Live Stock Marketing, Wm. E. Hedgcock; Dairy 

 Marketing, A. D. Lynch; Phosphate-Limestone, J. R, Bent; 

 in charge PouKry and Egg Marketing, F, A. Gougler; ipeelal 

 representative on Tuberculosis Eradication, M. H. Petersen; 

 Legal Counsel, Donald KIrkpatrick; Co-oparatlve Accounting, 

 Geo. R, Wicker. 



THE RECORD'S PLATFOHM 

 Advance the- purpose for which the Farm Bureau wqm organized, 

 namely, to promote, protect and represent the business, economic, 

 social and educationul interests oj the farmers of Illinois and the 

 nation, and to develop agriculture. 



Keep the Fact* Straight 



The IQinoiB Agricultural Association has not asked 

 for a hearinf^ on the grain merger before the Illinois 

 Comnieroe Commission; we aslied the Commission to 

 investigate. The Commission has set the date of its hear- 

 ing as April 15. In the meantime, the I. A. A. committee 

 on grain marketing is working with the Farmers' Grain 

 Dealers ' Association on a common sense plan. The com- 

 mittee reports progress, but has no officdal announcement 

 to make at this time. 



About a Letter || 



In glancing through the many fatib papers which 

 come to the 1. A. A. office, not long ago we noticed a 

 letter in one df them which had been written by a mem- 

 ber of the F^rm Bureau in Illinois. This letter con- 

 tained an intejresting criticisni of the I. A. A. which we 

 had not heart^ before, so we are passing it along to our 

 members. The letter follows: 



Your trenchant editorial, "Tell the Truth", in your 

 issue o^ Febl 4. is in a nutshell the chief reason for 

 the apparent decline of farm organizations. Time was 

 when the farm bureau had a very definite open door 

 policy, when I public and press were welcomed to meet- 

 ings of the gorernin^ board, and when the president 

 and executivj committee of the American Farm Bureau 

 Federation as well as most of the state organizations 

 went on record time and again instructing their pub- 

 licity departments to tell the truth, the whole truth 

 and nothing but the truth. It was this policy Which 

 establislied the farm bureau in such high favor with 

 . the public aQd its membership. 



As a mem|t>er of the Illinois Agricultural Associa- 

 tion, I think that I have a perfect right to know every- 

 thing that is going on in the organization. Yet I 

 scanned the last issue of the Recosd from cover to 

 cover ini a vain attempt to find who is the executive 

 officer of our association. Yet I presume that the ex- 

 ecutive comnlittee must have chosen an executive sec- 

 retary, c(r at least discussed it. 



No faim organization can live and flourish unless it 

 belongs to it* members. And it cannot belong to its 

 member^ unless its members are fully informed as to 

 every pollicy *nd activity. 



Whenevp,r the officials of any farm organisation see 

 fit to suppresp an.v information or record of organiza- 

 tion activity, that minute they convert it from a dem- 

 ocracy tb an autocracy, and in order to preserve it- 

 self, autocratic methods must be used. 



The b^ard of directors of the California Fruit Grow- 

 ers Exctfangei meets in a room banked by a gallery. 

 This gallery is open to the public and- the press. 

 "Open covenants, openly arrived at", is fundamental 

 and it is one of the prime factors in the early success 

 of the farm bureau. 



As a loyal member I shall continue to hope for a 

 return to the open-door policy on absolutely every 

 Question that comes within the scope of our organiza- 

 tion's thought and action. 



About Time He Began to Handle Thoae 

 Levers Hinuelf—By J. N. Ding 



- -^^^^^gmm^ 





— Courtesy Twice-A-Wp«k Globe Democrat. 



From this, criticism, any farm bureau member 

 who is not close to the actual situation, might be led to 

 believe that the Chicago office of the Illinois Agricul- 

 tural Association has its entrance guarded with a dozen 

 six-foot, ferocious, South Sea cannibal guardsmen armed 

 to the teeth with glistening knives and treacherous dirks, 

 all waiting to devour any seeker of information. 



Any farmer whose belief in the Farm Bureau is like 

 the ordinary man's religion (needs a revival meeting 

 once in awhile) could be so misinformed as to believe by 

 such propaganda that the I. A. A, is governed by an in- 

 visible sultan of secrecy wlio keeps tlie facts concerning 

 this association in a sealed vault which can be approached 

 only after whispering a my.stic password to the glower- 

 ing guards. 



Indeed, we can imagine a suspicious-looking farm bu- 

 reau member stealthily approaching the I. A. A. office 

 in the manner of the Human Fly. At the peril of his 

 life he crawls from window ledge to window ledge from 

 the sidewalk on busy Dearborn street toward the 12th 

 floor wherein abides the Empire of I. A. A. Inch by 

 inch and foot by foot he climbs upward until he reaches 

 the window of the I. A. A. information department. 

 ; Crashing his fist through the sooty window pane and 

 ' hanging to the sill in irfidair with the other he cries : 



' ' How much are my farm bureau dues t " 



"What's the password?"' the inforraationist asks cau- 

 tiously. 



"I dunno any," explains the member, peeking over 

 the window sill, "but being in the city I thought I'd 

 come up and pay my dues." 



"No password — no information, that's our motto — 

 and take that ! ! " says the official informer as he calmly 

 kicks the member in the snout, toppling him from the 

 sill for a 12-story non-stop flight to the cement sidewalk. 



"The audacity of anybody trying to get information 

 from the I. A. A. without the secret password!!" we 

 could imagine the official informer saying as he leisurely 

 watches a white clad streetsweeper brushing a grease- 

 spot off the sidewalk 12 stories below. 



Seriously, now folks, your state farm bureau body is 

 not at all as pictured abeve. This association believes 

 in and endorses the open door policy. What is more, 

 it practices it. As much news as it is possible to squeeze 

 into the Record's limited space is sent to each member 

 every two weeks — 26 times a year. And this is more 

 than miiny organizations inform their members. 



In addition the I. A. A. sends out an average of at 

 least one news story a day to the public press. Each 

 story of average news value is printed in papers having 

 approximately one million readers. Some stories con- 

 cerning this association have had enough importance to 

 be printed from coast to coast. We know because we 

 have the clippings. And it might be interesting to you 

 as a farm bureau member to know that your state asso- 

 ciation is becoming more and more important in the news 

 of this nation ; it is rapidly assuming an enviable posi- 

 tion-of authority in its field. 



As for the "apparent decline of farm organizations 

 we effler in rebuttal the fact that' there is a growing 

 quarter-miUion treasury balance of this association. Also 

 the prediction that the 63,000 members will be boosted 

 to 75,000 when about 40 counties renew this year is 

 ample j evidence that this association is by no means de- 



clining. The I. A. A. is growing in reserves, members 

 and accomplishments. What more do you want! 



The specific instance mentioned in the criticism printed 

 concerning our secretary can be disproved officially 

 by referring the reader to the upper left hand comer 

 of this page in the issue in question. The officers are 

 named there and always have been. 



This association is founded upon that solid and 'en- 

 during basis such as Abraham Lincoln once so ably de- 

 scribed the secure foundation of the United States when 

 he said — "A government of the people, by the people 

 and for the people." 



The I. A. A., like the United States government, is 

 also conducted in democratic fashion and upon the prin- 

 ciple of a true republic. It is of farm bureau members, 

 by farm bureau members and for farm bureau members, 

 first, last and always. * 



And, like Senators or Congressional representatives 

 of the United States, the officers and 15 executive com- 

 mitteemen (also named in the left hand comer above) 

 and employed directors often times negotiate biiBiness 

 of vital importance to all the 63,000 members. Some- 

 times such business cannot be expo^d at the moment. 

 Exposing at the wrong time would be like a card player 

 showing his whole hand to his opponent before the game 

 is finished. 



All thinking members must realize that certain busi- 

 ness of the association has to he conducted without tell- 

 ing the world until the results have been accomplished. 

 However, any bona fide member can get any such infor- 

 mation by seeing personally or writing the executive 

 cqmmitteeman representing his district. County farm 

 bureau presidents and other county officers are also re- 

 liable sources of such information. District meetings 

 are good places to get informed. All members are in- 

 vited to these. Questions can be asked and answered 

 without getting the facts twisted. Difficulties can be 

 cleared up. 



Furthermore, there is a standing invitation to farm 

 bureau members to attend meetings of the executive 

 committee when members happen to be in Chicago at 

 meeting time, the first Friday of each month. This in- 

 vitation is also standing for representatives of the press. 

 The only closed periods are iluring executive sessions. 

 These are few and short. 



Yes, the I. A. A. subscribes to the open door policy 

 and practices it. However, it does not lay all its cards 

 on the table where opponents to the farm bureau mem- 

 bers' interests can see them. And don't forget, Mr. 

 Farm Bureau member, there are plenty of opponents in 

 this great game. Arfd oftentimes they would like espe- 

 cially to see what cards this farm organization is hold- 

 ing. 



The Illino'is Agricultural Association is of, by and for 

 its 63,000 thinking fanner members first, last and al- 

 ways. 



Whatever the I. A. A. does, it is in the interest of the 

 members who support it. If we may be permitted to 

 parallel that famous declaration of Stephen Decatur — 

 "Our Farm Bureaul In her intercourse with other.in- 

 terests may she always be in the right; but our Farm 

 Bureau, right or wrong! !" 



Deem Davenport it "For the Farm Bureau" 



Eugene Davenport, that great leader of agriculture 

 who is now on the retired list after many years as Dean 

 of Agriculture at the University of Illinois, has a warm 

 spot in his heart for the Farm Bureaus in Illinois and 

 the Illinois Agricultural Association. However, some- 

 one of the reporters who "covered" a meeting at which 

 he spoke during the recent Farmers' Week at the Uni- 

 versity, got the wrong slant on the former Dean's -views. 

 This has been taken up by some opponents of this or- 

 ganization of thinking farmers. 



The "Sangamo Farmer," official publication of the 

 Sangamon County Farm Bureau, reprinted an attack 

 on the Farm Bureau in which some non-member quoted 

 the statement Dean Davenport was supposed to have 

 made. We sent a copy of the "Sangamo Farmer"' to 

 Mr. Davenport and he replied as follows : 



Your marked quotation in the Sangamo Farmer, Vol. 

 VI, No. 2 in no wise represents either my views or my 

 expression at the University this winter, except as to one 

 particular phase of the organization. 



In so far as farmers are urged to imitate organized 

 labor and attempt to control prices and production by 

 force and starve the public into submission, I said I be- 

 lieve that the attempt is vicious and will fail as it ought. 



As to organization in general and especially for ex- 

 pression I believe that all the firms of co-operative un- 

 dertaking have done great good. On the whole I regard 

 the Farm Bureau as the best and most promising for 

 local results and the state and the national federations 

 the most useful and powerful for the larger issues. 



If this fails to make clear my unbounded faith in 

 national organization for farmers, I should be glad to 

 go further into any particular point. 



Sincerely yours, 

 (Signed) E. Davenport. 



