8. 1925 



July 18, 192S 



The niinoh Agricultural A»»oci«tion Record 



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OFFICE 

 MACHINERY 

 ■ KfCORD 

 FILES 



Maybe This Ramble Will Help You 

 ; , . , Picture Your State Office Better 



By Harry C. Butcher^ Editor 



WHEN you think of the "I. A. A.," how do you picture it in your 

 mind? 

 The average farm bureau member's conception of the I. A. A. can- 

 not help but be hazy because so tew of the 63,000 members ever get 

 into the office at Chicago to see what is actually going on. Farmers 

 are always welcome. It is surprising to know the number that visit 

 the office in a year, but this number after ail is very small when com- 

 pared with the total membership. 



It was to acquaint members with the actual situation that I started 

 out one morning not long ago to conduct and introduce an imaginary 

 farm bureau member to each one in the ofBce, regardless of whether 

 he or she is a director, secretary, mailing clerk, telephone girl or file 

 clerk, or what he or she was doing at the particular moment my mythical 

 visitor and I happened to call. 



Follow on the Plat 

 As a guide to my round of visits I have a plat of the floor plan of 

 the office showing how the office proper is divided into the several com- 

 partments. If you glance at the plat reproduced herewith, note the 

 outer row of offices be^nning with the cashier's office and running 

 around the edge in the direction of the transportation department, 

 thence, to the secretary's office and back toward the executive committee 

 room. Offices on the outside are 

 separated from each other by plas- 

 ter walls about three feet high, 

 then with painted glass to a height 

 of about five feet and from there 

 to the ceiling is plain window glass 

 paneled in soft wood stained in a 

 dark mahogany color. The central 

 partition marked "Files," "Mail" 

 and "Insurance" is set off by a 

 waist-high railing, so for the most 

 part the office proper is quite open 

 and not as congested as the plat 

 . appears. 



You (speaking to the reader as 

 if you were the invisible guest) — 

 you come along with me and we 

 will make a round of the various 

 departments and see what is going 

 on. This is a Monday morning 

 about 9 o'clock so we'll find out if 

 they're on the job. 



We Enter 



Let's go in the vestibule just 

 like a stranger, past the rack that 

 holds all kinds of farm papers, past 

 the "mourner's bench" and up to 

 the desk where the telephone girl is 

 seated who serves as sentry halting 

 all whom she does not know. 



"Good morning. Miss Jennings, 

 I'm conducting an imaginary farm 

 bureau member around the office 

 - "ihowlng him what every individual 

 vvho is employed in this office by 

 the farmers is actually doing this 

 early Monday morning. What are 

 you doing?" 



"Well, I am stamping these 

 Records that go to Chicago ad- 

 dresses. You know, we have tt 

 place a one cent stamp on eacl: 

 Recobd that goes in Chicago — ." 

 At the TeIei)hone Desk 



She was interrupted by a buzz 

 at the switchboard, indicating thai 

 some person in the office wanted tc 

 get connected with the outside 

 world. Before she had taken the 

 number wanted and put in her call 

 there came another buzz and an- 

 other light from the outside which 

 apparently completed a connection 

 she had been trying to make. She 

 answered it. 



"International Harvester Com- 



'.pany? Is this the secretary to Mr. 



I.egge — to Mr. Alexander Legge, the 



president? Just a minute, please, 



Mr. Davis is calling." 



But here we left her and turned 

 the corner into the office labeled 

 "Cashier, Assistant Treasurer and 

 Membership Auditor." At the first 

 desk inside the door and just be- 

 yond the railing that keeps strang- 

 ers outside, sat Helen Kummerow. 

 who, when she started with the I. 

 A. A. in 1920, signed her name a.? 

 Helen Jensen. She's a Chicago 

 girl. I found her busy at her desk 

 working on her books where she 

 had just sat down, having just com- 

 pleted distributing the first mail ot 

 the morning, a regular duty of Mrs. 

 Doris King, who holds forth at the 

 mail desk situated in the central 

 part of the larger office and who 

 happened to be taking her vacation. 

 We Visit Mr. Evans 



Crashing the gate, so to speak, 

 I guided my imaginary visitor over 

 to the desk in the corner where L. 

 A. Evans, membership auditor, 

 watches your membership dues 

 through the County Farm Bureaus 

 and very kindly sees that they do 

 not lapse, a service for which you 

 have no doubt thanked ( ? ) him 

 many times. 



"I'm just finishing checking 

 membership records of Tazewell 

 county and I have entered it in the 

 books. I find that Tazewell county 

 has collected and remitted 87 per 

 cent of dues payable in June, which 

 is a good percentage." 



The desk of Miss Lily Sederholm, 

 the assistant treasurer, who for a 

 year has been Mrs. Peterson, but 



George R. Wicker, manager ot 

 the I. A. C. A. and by virtue ot 

 that office also director of the audit- 

 ing department of the I. A. A., 

 which are really one and the same, 

 said he was preparing a paper on 

 hedging and its relation to stored 

 grain. At the moment he was going 

 over an audit of the Buckley Farm- 

 ers' Grain Company in order to 

 check up on any possible inaccuracy 

 and to give the audit his final o. k. 

 before sending it on to the elevator. 

 Other audits awaiting his o. k. in- 

 cluded one for the Carthage Live 

 Stock Shipping Association in Han- 

 cock county and the Springfield 

 Dairy Producers' Association. His 

 secretary's desk was vacant and the 

 typewriter covered. He said she. 

 Miss Hilma Johnson, was on her 

 vacation. She has also been with 

 the I. A. .\. since the organization 

 ot the I. A. C. A. a year ago, and 

 lives at Batavia. 



"You see only a very small por- 

 tion ot the department," Mr. Wick- 

 er said. "The assistant mantger. 



"What will you do in a case of 

 that kind?" 



"First, as in any case, we will 

 investigate to determine the facts. 

 We want farmers to have the serv- 

 ice." 



Finds Something InterestinfC 



Swiftly running his pen down the 

 list he came to one wbich he 

 checked and paused. 



"Aha! I see the Illinois Bell 

 Telephone Company asked for an 

 increase in phone rates. This is 

 something we will be interested in." 

 "How do you tell when a pro- 

 posed increase is justified?" 



"Well, each case must be proven. 

 We stand, like a stubborn mule un- 

 til we have to come across and 

 where the facts are not proven by 

 the petitioning companies we are 

 usually successful." 



Clara Jacox, the secretary in this 

 department had not yet returned 

 from a trip to Michigan tor the 

 4th of July. She has been with the 

 I. A. A. since 1920. 



i skin^ 

 but 1 

 he 

 (lere'K 

 J E 

 that 

 the 

 for 

 be 



;f 



CASHIER 

 ASSr TREASmt 

 HEHBERSHIP 

 AUDITOR 



TRtASKBf^BfllERAL 

 OFFICE 



ILLINOIS 

 ACmCULTURAL 

 COOPERATIVES 

 A^OCIATION 



lACA 

 PRMfTE 



orncE 



TRANSmUHSPORTATIOH 

 PORT- . 

 ATI ON K 



TmMSPORTATION 



TAXATION 



AW) 



STATISTICS 



\ 



OROAHIZAVON 



PHOSPHATE 

 LIMESTONE 



MATION 



GRAIN 

 HKTC 



DAIRf 



POULTRY SECRE 



EBcmac 



LIVESTOCK 

 MARKETIN6 



TARY 



SECRETARY 



PRESIDENT 



Island Cttttoty Farm Bureau 

 him id come there July 11 

 kno# h* can't do that because 

 has another engagement, and 

 one from Saline county wher< 

 Whitchurch, farm adviser, sa 

 Mr. Gates, vice-president < 

 Farm Bureau, sa.vs a meeti 

 July 16 at Harrisburg woi 

 o. k." 



"And are all those other tetters 

 on your desk concerning dat^s 



"Yes." 



"Well. It looks like Mr. Mfctiger 

 will be a busy man if he takef 

 of all ot them." 



Bent Was • Busy Man 



In the phosphate-limestoije de- 

 partment, J. R. Bent was busy at his 

 desk but stopped to meet our imag- 

 inary farm bureau member. 



"I'm planning to meet Dr 

 ot the University at St 

 morrow," he said. "Then 

 going into Missouri to inspecl 

 lead mines to see it we 

 their available by-product, w 

 dolomitic limestone, to help 

 a pouible shortage ot limestone 

 southern Illinois. I also 

 letter from the Missouri Farjn 

 reau Federation wanting to 

 how the I. A. A. has handled 

 pooling of phosphate^ orders 

 say they are planning to u 

 the same serv'ice. Today I a 

 ting out a circular to our 

 Bureaus telling the policies 

 limestone companies that co 

 with us and what prices th< 

 panics are getting. In addi 

 am also getting out a circifar 

 the Farm Bureaus which 

 affected by certain changes i; 

 stone freight rates along 

 bash. I can give you a half 

 more things it you want th< m 



"No, that's enough. W i just 

 wanted a peep into your aff irg to 

 see what you are doing at th s par- 

 ticular moment." 



Miss Elizabeth Watts, the secre- 

 tary, better known as Bett ', and 

 who has been an employee >t the 

 I. A. A. since 1923, was cutting a 

 stencil for one ot the ctrcula -s and 

 attending to department coriE^spon 

 dence. 



Bauer 

 Lot is to- 

 ife are 

 some 

 1 use 

 I ich is 

 elleve 

 in 

 l^ve a 

 Bu 

 know 

 its 

 They 

 nd^rtake 

 1 get- 

 Farm 

 >f the 

 perate 

 com- 

 ion, I 

 to 

 be 

 lime- 

 Wa- 

 dozen 



lill 



th> 



still uses her maiden name officially 

 to avoid confusion, we found vacant 

 and Mr. Evans said that she, too, 

 was enjoying her annual vacation. 

 Miss Sederholm has been with the 

 I. A. A. since 1920. She serves as 

 notary public in addition to her 

 duties of helping keep a careful 

 check on where the money comes 

 and goes. 



In the next office, which is 

 marked "Treasurer" in the plat, 

 sat R. A. Cowles, the treasurer, 

 who is better known as "Bob." At 

 that minute he was checking the 

 budget preparatory to showing the 

 directors, who were scheduled to 

 hold a regular monthly office con- 

 ference that afternoon, it they had 

 exceeded their budgets. On Mr. 

 Cowles' desk I saw envelopes on 

 business pertaining to the Illinois 

 Farm Relief Committee, of which 

 he is chairman and is devoting con- 

 siderable time. "I am going down 

 in southern Illinois again this 

 week," he said. 



Next door in the office labeled 

 "General Office," Edythe Lindquist, 

 who has been with the I. A. A. since 

 May, 1924 and whose home is Cor- 

 nell in Livingston county, sat mer- 

 rily pecking her typewriter. 



Copying Iteinsurance Contract 



"I'm copying an application tor 

 a specific reinsurance contract," 

 she said, reading from the copy. 

 "This is for the new reinsurance 

 company, you know." 



"Where is Mr. Kelker?" I asked. 



"He's gone out on an insurance 

 matter and is also taking $100 to 

 the post office to deposit tor postage 

 on the Recoed." Mr. Kelker's 

 duties are to manage the general 

 office, hire help and supervise em- 

 ployment. On his desk 1 saw sev- 

 eral bills tor the various depart- 

 ments which must come to him for 



0. k. as to details before they go 

 to Secretary Fox to receive his o. k. 

 In addition the finance committee 

 gets the bills later so they are 

 scrutinized several times very care- 

 fully. The salesmen who sell Mr. 

 Kelker office supplies have named 

 the seat where they wait in vesti- 

 bule "mourners' bench." 



Miss Vega Mekota sat before a 

 areat wide typewriter in the I. A. 

 C. A. office, copying a report one 

 of the auditors had completed on 

 the Buckley Farmers' Grain Com- 

 pany of Iroquois county. Miss 

 Mekota started with the I. A. A. 

 when the I. A. C. A. was organized, 

 and is a native lowan, hailing from 

 Cedar Rapids. She worked tor the 



1. A. A. once before, trom 1920 to 

 1922. 



F. E. Ringham, is down at Flora 

 today where he is doing some work 

 tor the Egyptian Fruit Growers E.x- 

 change." 



Most of Deiiartinent in Field 



Mr. Ringham came to Illinois 

 from Minnesota with Mr. Wicker. 

 He was on the faculty ot the Uni- 

 versity of Minnesota where he 

 taught accounting, and also had 

 considerable experience in auditing 

 co-operatives in Minnesota in the 

 state department of auditing, which 

 was under the direction of Mr. 

 Wicker. 



"Our examiners," Mr. Wicker 

 continued, "are in several places 

 over the state. They do not get in 

 the office very often since it is 

 cheaper to have them travel from 

 points where they work rather than 

 back and forth trom Chicago. C. 

 H. Chilson, one of our examiners, 

 is another Minnesotan. Today he 

 is auditing the Milledgeville Farm- 

 ers' Grain Company in Carroll 

 county. A. J. Preszler, another ot 

 our examiners, is in Kankakee 

 county auditing the Farmers' Grain 

 Company at Grant Park. Joseph 

 W. King has two jobs' today— both 

 auditing. One is the Dietrich Ship- 

 ping Association in Effingham 

 county and the other is the Effing- 

 ham -Equity Co-operative Exchange, 

 a store." 

 In the Trans|K>rtation Department 



Miss Anna Townsley, clerk in the 

 transportation department, who has 

 been an I. A. A. employee for four 

 years, was busy checking up on an 

 Illinois Central claim for the Farm- 

 ers' Shipping Association of E. Du- 

 buque, Illinois. Two calves had 

 been lost in transit and the rail- 

 road had sent a check tor $28, 

 which was the amount asked for by 

 L. J. Quasey, the director of trans- 

 portation, who sat studiously before 

 a mimeographed packet of sheets 

 in the corner room. 



"What are you doing, Lee?" 



"I'm checking a docket ot the 

 Illinois Commerce Commission." 



"That's a regular chore tor you, 

 isn't it?" 

 Quasey Checking I. C. C. Docket 



"Yes, we keep a watch on the 

 cases that come up before the Illi- 

 nois Commerce Commission because 

 sometimes we find big companies 

 are asking an increase in rates that 

 would be unfair to farmers. We 

 wouldn't be much good to the farm- 

 ers if we didn't have our eyes open. 

 In this docket I see that the rail- 

 roads are suspending train service 

 in some instances because of bus 

 competition." 



The next partition ot the trans- 

 portation office is the one where 

 G. W. Baxter, assistant director, is 

 usually found, but Miss Townsley 

 said he had gone out to the Chicago 

 Producers to make some necessary 

 arrangements by which the trans- 

 portation department will take over 

 all the claim work of the Chicago 

 Producers. He was investigating 

 losses which had come to the trans- 

 portation department from several 

 states. 



Mr. Watson Dictating 



My visitor and I paused at the 

 door ot the taxation and statistics 

 department because John C. Wat- 

 son was deeply engaged in dictat- 

 ing a letter to Miss Josephine To- 

 bin. (She said: "Print it as 'Jo.' ") 

 He wound up the letter with a 

 "Yours very truly" and in response 

 to my inquiry said he had just fin- 

 ished a letter to F. E. Longmire, 

 farm adviser ot the Grundy County 

 Farm Bureau, about the analysis 

 Mr. Watson had made of the rela- 

 tive valuations ot property in Grun- 

 dy county. It we had stayed longer 

 we would probably have found a 

 great deal more which farmers 

 would have been interested in, tor 

 who isn't interested in getting taxes 

 reduced? And that is Mr. Watson's 

 largest job. Under present condi- 

 tions he finds that in most cases 

 farm taxes would be reduced if 

 there were more equality in the 

 whole system, so his job is a big 

 one indeed. 



Miss Tobin has been an I. A. A. 

 employee since April, 1924. 

 In the Organization Department 



Miss Edith Colvin, secretary in 

 the organization department, was 

 trying to make E. E. Walworth, 

 farm adviser of Macon county, St 

 Decatur, understand what she was 

 saying over long distance telephone, 

 and from appearances I judge Mr. 

 Walworth was trying to do the 

 same. 



"I've got to call Quincy to see if 

 Mr. Thompson can possibly take a 

 date in Macon county on July 11, 

 but I know that's the day Secretary 

 Jardine is to be in Chicago and Mr. 

 Thompson has an appointment with 

 him so I'm afraid it will be im- 

 possible. It he can't go I will have 

 to get someone, else. That's one ot 

 the biggest jobs we have — getting 

 speakers at meetings. There's al- 

 ways one or two farmers meetings 

 in session every day over the state 

 and to provide speakers sometimes 

 gets to be a real problem. 



"Yes, Mr. Metzger is out on the 

 road where he spends most of his 

 time. Here's a letter from Sidney 

 S. Carney, farm adviser ot the Rock 



answei ii 



Live Stock Marketing 



Miss Willa Nelson 

 the live stock marketing 

 ment, was making Fome ch 

 names of officers on a list 

 SOO Illinois live stock assoi 

 when I steered my mythical 

 into his compartment. Mil 

 son has been with the I. A. . 

 since April. Previous to thi 

 she was employed at the 

 ton office of the A. F. B. 

 before that she was in 

 work in Iowa State College 

 office ot the well known 

 Evvard. hog specialist. 



The desk ot Wm. E. 

 called "Bill" for short, was 

 and upon inquiring I found 

 had gone to the Chicago 

 the National Wool Exchange 

 ing after shipments of woo 

 Illinois farmers in the Illinol 

 pool. From the looks of the 

 ing mail which was stacked 

 on his desk, I judge that liv 

 marketing business is much 



Miss Schecter Here IXMis 



Now to the compartment 

 to the secretary and 

 Stopping at the desk ot Mist 

 Schecter, who series as 

 the inner portal, she 

 inquiry saying that she was 

 up the minutes of the last 

 live committee meeting. 

 I have several requests 

 have just come for slum 

 That's the nicest work I do. 

 a lot ot pleasure out ot 

 ing secretary, because it 

 an inspiration to help these 

 children get into the country 

 here is a stack ot letters 

 Fox hasn't seen because be 

 busy on those which came 

 first mail. Mr. Fox writes a 

 letters in answer to 

 to the association, and I 

 eral on my book already 

 only 10 o'clock." 



Miss Schecter has been 

 I. A. A. longer than any 

 other secretaries. She 

 January, 1920. 



It is not difficult to get In 

 Mr. Fox, that Is, if you hav '. 

 ness on your mind. He sat 

 behind his desk, reading 

 evidently weighing the coi 

 letter which he held in his 

 In front ot him on the deal 

 two piles ot letters, eviden 

 vided into one class that he 

 yet considered and anothei ' 

 that he had read 



.Mr. Fox Says "Welconi4' 



When I introduced my 

 visitor, Mr. Fox said that I 

 be sure and make It known 



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