i 2S, 192S 



:-f 



April 28, isais 



The HlinoM AgiiaHmwS A«»ocMitioa Recerd 



Pat* 3 



{ 



.34.6 cents 



34.5 



33.4 

 .33.5 

 .32.8 



30.8 



LOWDEN WONDERS IF 

 RAINS BRING BENEFIT 

 OR FAILURE IN TALK 



Lettets EndoTM Idea of Having 

 Radio Bring Farm Leaders 

 Direct to Home* and CommU' 

 nity ClnlM 



Letters from many parts of the 

 Middle West tell the story that a 

 tremendous audience was listening 

 to the flrst program of the mythical 

 ' Midwest Radio Community Club 

 given over WLS of Chicago Wednes- 

 day evening,- April 15. 

 I All the letters speak highly of 

 l' the event. These will be mounted 

 ' in a scrap book and presented to 

 ( former Governor Frank O. Lowden 

 who delivered the main address of 

 ythe evening, It being on the condi- 

 tion of agriculture. The purpose 

 ■^of the club is to bring big speakers 

 Into contact with farmers who 

 •otherwise could seldom, if ever, 

 hear the leading agricultural thinks 



• era of the day. 

 Following community singing led 



► by J. H. Checkley, farm adviser of 

 the Logan County Farm Bureau, 



t President Sam H. Thompson opened 

 the meeting with a short talk on 



I "Changing Agriculture." 



"There has been enough said 

 about agriculture In the last Ave 

 years to fill volumes, both as to 



• cure and remedy," said President 

 Thompson. "So when I started to 

 study what had happened to the 

 farmer, I started right at home. I 



' lived In a country community six 

 miles from a railroad station on a 

 good average Illinois farm, in what 

 , is usually called the corn belt of 

 ' America, and Is well adapted to di- 

 versified farming and is conceded 

 to be among the best farming dis- 

 .1, tricts of the country. 



What are Farm Conditions? 



"What has taken place here at 

 '. home? Following the road east and 

 west six miles across the township 

 ^representing 24 160-acre farms on 

 ' both sides of the road, we find but 

 u five farm owners farming their own 

 I farms. All the rest of those farms 

 J are now operated by tenants. Sur- 



t prising as this may seem I followed 

 the road running north and south 

 through the center of the township 

 six miles and found only three own- 

 , ers living on their farms. Another 

 '!• six miles streak revealed a similar 

 j condition with only four owners op- 

 f erating their farms. This would 

 ' make a stretch of 18 miles repre- 

 ', sentlng 72 16 0-acre farms with only 

 I 12 owners operating their own 

 '* farms. There must be some reason 

 for such a wholesale change taking 



♦ place in a few years. 



"Farmers have been, and are, 

 ' discontented, and not without rea- 

 son. Some of these reasons will 

 t disappear only with lapse of time. 

 I Others come and are being Im- 



* proved, through education, organi- 

 j^ zation and the reconstruction of ag- 

 [irlculture. With all the Improve- 

 ifments that have been wrought, the 

 T intelligent farmer realizes that hi.i 

 1 net profits have been growing small- 

 1 er, while his land has been growing 



poorer and poorer and he has not 

 been able, speaking generally, to 

 maintain his buildings and equip- 

 ment. The Individual farmer has 

 become a more efficient and intelli- 

 gent producer, while he has been 

 I forced to admit that his margin of 

 profit has ^eir^jwvlng smaller and 

 smaller. 



t Losses Not .Mentionetl 



he disastrous effects of the ag- 

 gicViltural depression are immeasur- 

 able. It is impossible to estimate, 

 even approximately, the tremendous 

 losses that have been sustained. 

 Probably there has been a tendency 

 to stress these losses too much. I 

 don't think so. As a matter of fact, 

 some of the more serious results are 

 seldom mentioned, and we are at 

 times liicllned to refer to these 

 losses as a thing of the past. While, 

 as a matter of fact, many farmers 

 are hanging on, hoping against 

 hope, that in some miraculous way 

 the tide will turn and bring relief. 

 Some adopt this point of view be- 

 cause of a dogged unwillingness to 

 admit defeat. 



"It is proper to deal with the 

 agricultural depression as an acute 

 problem, and to do all that can be 

 done to bring relief. It Is more im- 

 portant, however, that we under- 

 stand the causes for agricultural 

 depression and that we determine 

 the factors affecting the future of 

 the farming business. There is a 

 growing evidence that farmers are 

 (Continued on pave 4, col. 2.) 



EVEN THE DOG WANTS HIS SHARE 



SEES NEW DAY IN 

 FORD COUNTY PLAN 

 FOR SELLING CREAM 



Integration of Effort Will Pro- 

 vide Volume of BuiineM, 

 Leaden BcKeve; Henry 

 County to Follow 



fTithin '17 days after the storm, the first relief award in the wind-sicept area u-as made in White county, Illinois. 

 The check was from the Illinois Farm Relief Committee, co-operating with the /. A. A. and providing permanent relief 

 to farm sufferers. The photo shows Miss Margaret McGrievy, Red Cross worker; 3. M. Crebs, Carmi banker; Henry 

 Gates, farmer storm victim of White cotmty; H. M. Baker, national disaster relief director of the Red Cross; anil 

 E. W. Creighton, White county farm adviser. 



New Grain Director 



Hits Two Lines of Work 



Under Way for Present 



Activities in the newly created 

 grain marketing department, with 

 Chester C. Davis who has been the 

 Commissioner of Agriculture of 

 Montana now in charge, have taken 

 shape in the form of conferences 

 by him and the grain marketing 

 committee with committees repre- 

 senting National and State Associa- 

 tions of Farmers' Elevators, and the 

 Indiana Wheat Pool. 



The general aim of the depart- 

 ment is toward helping establish a 

 grain marketing system that is truly 

 co-operative in every respect and 

 one that will rest on the farmers' 

 elevators as a foundation. With 

 this objective, two principal lines 

 of work are under way in this de- 

 partment. 



The flrst resolves into an investi- 

 gation to determine whether a true 

 co-operative, with special emphasis 

 on the pati;onage dividend feature, 

 can get onto the Chicago Board of 

 Trade if the memberships are held 

 by farmers' elevators organized as 

 they are at the present time. While 

 most farmers' elevators are co-op- 

 erative in spirit, some are not so in 

 their organization, many being 

 stock companies supported by farm- 

 ers. The point of obtaining en- 

 trance onto the Board of Trade un- 

 der the Capper-Tincher act rests 

 with the Interpretation as to wheth- 

 er these farmers' elevators are co- 

 operative as defined in the Capper- 

 Volstead act, which permits co-op- 

 erative marketing. 



To Survey Soft Wheat Area 



The second line of work is to 

 make a survey of the soft wheat 

 situation in Eastern Illinois in the 

 row of counties adjacent to the 

 Wabash river. The purpose is to 

 determine whether it would be ad- 

 vantagious to the growers of soft 

 wheat Jn these counties to develop 

 a marketing plan along the line of 

 that of Indiana. 



No Reason for Alarm 

 if Check for Reactor 

 Indemnity Not Received 



There is no cause for worry 

 if you have waited overlong for 

 your indemnity checks on re- 

 actor cattle. 



.-\n instance has conie to the 

 attention of the I.-.\. A. where 

 a member having a reactor, re- 

 ceived a check for federal in- 

 demnity but none for state in- 

 demnity. The I.A..4. live stock 

 marketing defiartment took up 

 the matter with Dr. F. .A. Laird, 

 state veterinarian. Investiga- 

 tion dlsclo.sed that a check had 

 been mailetl several months 

 previous, and apparently was 

 lost in the malls. 



On the receipt of afflda\1t 

 from the owner of the reactor 

 stock, Dr. Laird Issued a dupli- 

 cate check which was promptly 

 forwarded to the farmer. 



The I. A. .\. announces that 

 It is ready to follow up any like 

 ca<tes and that owners who do 

 not get their Indemnity checks 

 within reasonable time should 

 bring the matter to the atten- 

 tion of the dairy marketing or 

 live stock marketing depart^ 

 nients. 



UW MAKERS VOTE YES 

 ON FARMERS' DEMANDS 



(Continued from page 1.) 

 Farmers Need Revenue Amendment 



The hearing for Wednesday was 

 scheduled to be before the Senate 

 sitting as a committee of the whole, 

 to whom the bill was passed by the 

 committee on revenue without a 

 hearing but with the recommenda- 

 tion that it "do pass." 



The third legislative desire of the 

 I. A. A. lies in the fortunes of the 

 proposed revenue amendment. This 

 amendment should have the whole- 

 hearted support of every farmer be- 

 cause It Is by this means that he 

 can get permanent relief from his 

 present unjust ta.\es. Under the 

 present revenue section of the Illi- 

 nois constitution, taxation along the 

 lines of present-day affairs is im- 



REUEF FUND AND 



WORKERS NEAR GOAL 



(Continued from page 1.) 



Pike IIS.SO 



Pope (Ind. Contribution)... 1.00 



Randolph (Ind. Cont.) 3.00 



Richland 2,75«.88 



Roek Island 413.50 



Sangamon 4.929.00 



Schuyler 400.00 



Scott 1,028.80 



Shelby 1.82J.2S 



Stark 328.00 



St. Clair 1,0»0.00 



Stephenson 2.502.00 



Taiewell 2.580.55 



Union ...i "... 1.405.66 



Wabash 84.50 



Warren ,. 2.021.50 



Washington SO.OO 



Wayne . . .i 445.88 



Whiteslcie ' 3.682.81 



Will . . .l^r- 2.921.40 



Williamsori 623.60 



Winnebago 1,810.00 



Woodford , 4,355.91 



WLS Listeners' Fund 25.000.00 



Chicago Drovers Journal... 115.90 



Porter County, Indiana 5.00 



IIl-Mo Dairy Co-operative.. 17.00 



Prairie Farmer 2.247.62 



Strauss Bros 16tl.00 



Miscellaneous 22.00 



National Grange 71.00 



A. P. B. F JJ.10 



Upper Defer Creek Church 



Wellman. Iowa 178.00 



Highland U, B. Church. 



Tama. Iowa 21.00 



Sunshine Circle. Hammond, 



Minn 1.00 



tl32.980.C4 



possible. By securing an amend- 

 ment such as is being fostered by 

 the I. A. A., In company with other 

 state groups, it will be possible to 

 get more intangibles taxed, an Im- 

 portant one being incomes. 



Farmer Cant Afford to 

 Be Without Farm Bureau, 

 Declares Mr. Johns 



Claims against raitroa(ts by Illi- 

 nois farmers continue to' come to 

 the attention of the I. A. A. trans- 

 portation department. One of them, 

 successfully adjusted by the I. A. A., 

 Involved a shortage of six lambs and 

 a decline in the market due to de- 

 lay in transit of a shipment to the 

 Chicago "Producers. The following 

 letter was received after the nego- 

 tiations were completed: 

 Gentlemen: — 



This will acknowledge re- 

 ceipt of your letter of April 9, 

 file number 2035, with draft 

 attached in our favor from the 

 railroad for $200. 



We wish to thank you for 

 your efforts in our behalf in 

 regard to this claim and to as- 

 sure you that we are very ap- 

 preciative of what you have 

 done for us. Such results as 

 this, confirm our belief that 

 the Farm Bureaus and the Illi- 

 nois Agricultural Association 

 are organizations that no one 

 in the agricultural game can 

 afford not to be affiliated with. 

 Ewing and Johns, 

 By Corwin H. Johns, 

 Forsythe, Macon Co. 

 The I. A. A. transportation de- 

 partment also took a hand in the 

 case of Flagg station on the C. ft 

 N. W. Ry. in Ogle county. Under 

 the Illinois law a railroad must have 

 an order- from the Illinois Com- 

 merce Commission either to close a 

 station orl to take off a train. 



If the railroad does so without 

 securing the permission of the Com- 

 mission, it is a plain violation of 

 the law. 



This happened in the Flagg sta- 

 tioD< case. In August last year, the 

 station was closed and the agent 

 removed. 



D. E. Warren, Ogle county farm 

 adviser, brought it to the attention 

 of the I. A. A., and the transporta- 

 tion department promptly went af- 

 ter both the Illiaois Commerce 

 Commission and the North Western 

 line. 



Due to the fact that the station 

 had been closed without the permis- 

 sion of the Commission, the station 

 was re-opened by the railroad, and 

 a station agent re-instated on April 

 20, without waiting for an order 

 from the Commission. 



A ant mt •M.oaiMM In farm land 



assessments is the record of the Mis- 

 souri Farm Bureau Federation. This 

 sister organization to the I. A. A. 

 asked the Missouri Board of Equali- 

 zation for the reduction and was able 

 to save Missouri farmers '8302.000 in 

 taxes for 1925. John C. Watson. I. 

 A. A. tax director, gave fhem asalst- 

 ance. 



Fana aec««Jita, hoa aaaltatioB. pig 



clubs, limestone - legumes - phosphate, 

 seed corn improvement, and commu- 

 nity meetings make up the Ford 

 County Farm Bureau program. 



The cream marketing system in 

 Illinois is taking a turn for the bet- 

 ter. 



Indiscriminate selling and buying 

 of small and frequent quantities of 

 cream has not worked to the ad- 

 vantage of the Illinois farmer, de- 

 clares the I. A. A. dairy marketing 

 department. A. D. Lynch, director. 



from obsenations extending over 

 a period of years. 



"Our past scheme of marketinie 

 dairy products has been adverse to 

 the farmers owning a few cows, 

 largely because of the larf^e spread 

 existing between producer and con- 

 sumer," says the department. "This 

 spread has been due to the exces- 

 sive number of middlemen in the 

 assembling game. " 



Better Days t'oining 



The almost universal practice 

 throughout the state heretofore — 

 except where local circumstances 

 have warranted the establishment 

 of co-operative farmer creameries 

 — has been for the. farmers to haul 

 their cream to local assemblinfc 

 points or cream stations where it 

 was bought by private individuals 

 or by representatives of centralizer 

 creameries: or for the farmers to 

 ship their cream direct to central- 

 izer plants, not owned by the pro- 

 ducers. Recently, however, the 

 sails of co-operative cream assem- 

 bling and marketing have appeared 

 on the horizon of a better agricul- 

 tural system, says the I. A. A. de- 

 partment. 



Mr. Ljrnch points to the establish- 

 ment of co-operative cream clubs In 

 various sections of the state, as one 

 way out of the difficulty, and as a 

 step In the direction of a more 

 equitable distribution of income de- 

 rived from the sale of butter fat in 

 Illinois. He cites the Ford County 

 Dairy Marketing Association as a 

 successful example of what can be 

 accomplished along the lines of co- 

 operative effort in the marketing of 

 dairy produce. 



Co-ops Pay Better Prices 



The Ford county association so 

 far has but one unit — at Paxton. 

 In the 10 months since the associa- 

 tion was organized and began oper- 

 ation, it has paid approximately 2.4 

 cents a pound more for butter fat 

 than the average price paid by other 

 cream stations in Illinois in the 

 same period. In its first nine 

 months of operation, this co-opera- 

 tive has sold cream amounting to 

 »17,989.91 — and $1,672.59 worth 

 of eggs besides. An average of 34 

 cents was paid to the members and 

 patrons per pound fat, besides a 

 patronage dividend of 2.3c a pound. 



Equipment amounting to $306.53 

 has been paid out of the earnings 

 of the associatioD, and $50.37 has 

 been laid aside tor depreciation on 

 equipment. 



"The Ford County Dairy Market- 

 ing Association so far has Increased 

 the returns for fat to the members 

 seven per cent over what they could 

 have received by selling it by the 

 old method," says Geo. T. Swaim. 

 farm adviser. "Our plan is to add 

 other units and thereby increase the 

 volume of business. Every new 

 unit joining the association will be 

 represented on the board in the 

 county organization." 



lx>oks to Ford County 



The I. A. A. dairy marketing de- 

 partment looks on the Ford county 

 idea as worthy of repetition else- 

 where. In Henry county, it states, 

 farmers around Geneseo. dissatis- 

 fied with cream prices received in 

 recent years, are contemplating the 

 organization of a cream club on the 

 Ford county plan. Already 50 

 cream producers have signified their 

 intention to start the plan in Henry 

 county. 



.Surveys Heveal Plentjr 



A recent suirey conducted by the 

 I. A. A., disclosing a differential of 

 5 to $ cents per pound fat In favor 

 of co-operative creameries, has done 

 much to stimulate desire on the 

 part of farmers to do their own 

 dairy marketing, says Mr. Lynch. 

 Another suirey made by the I. A. A. 

 in connection with 12 other states 

 showed that Illinois stands in sixth 

 place on butter fat prices received 

 by the producers. Ohio, which has 

 88 cream clul», was Vrst, the sur- 

 vey revealed. 



ik 



