October 24, 1925 



The Illinois Agricultural Association RECORD 



Page 3 





Wicker in Washington 

 Telling Why Co-op Tclx 

 Law Needs Some Fixing 



Op^ns Campaign to Get Law 

 ClariRed Regarding Income 

 Tax Elxempti<Hu for Co-ops. 



40,000 Head in Lamb Pool 



i-Georpe R. Wicker, manager of 



niinois Agricultural Co-operatives' 



sociation and 



Gm>. R. Wicker 



the 

 As- 

 di- 

 rector of the I. A. 

 A. accounting de- 

 partment, is in 

 Washington this 

 week assisting in 

 representing the 

 interests of agri- 

 cultural co-opera- 

 tives before the 

 ways and means 

 committee of the 

 69th Congress. 



The congression- 

 al committee is 

 considering and 

 drafting the 

 amendment to the 

 revenue act which 

 will exempt agri- 

 cultural co-operative associations and 

 organizations from payment of income 

 tax and filing annual returns. Recent- 

 ly Director Wicker discussed the pro- 

 posed amendment with Secretary Jar- 

 dine and it is understood that every 

 effort will be made to include the agri- 

 cultural amendment in the revenue act 

 which will receive considerable atten- 

 tion during Jhe next session of Con- 

 gress. » 



"For the pagt five years, farmers' co- 

 operative associations have been handi- 

 capped by the present interpretation 

 of sections of the Federal Revenue Act," 

 stated Mr. Wicker. "When the act was 

 passed by Congress it was evidently 

 intended that farmers' co-operatives 

 should be exempt from payment of in- 

 come tax and filing income tax reporUs. 

 However, that part of the act has been 

 abridged bp the regulations of the 

 United States treasury department to 

 such an extent that the intended bene- 

 fits are no longer available. This 

 amendment is of vital importance to all 

 farmers* organizations." 



To Speak at Cornell 



On November 13 Mr. Wicker will ad- 

 dress the students and faculty of Cor- 

 nell^4J^iversity, Ithaca, N. Y., ,on "An- 

 aly^ fof AccorntB of Co-operatives and 

 Thejr ;ReIationship to Business Prac- 

 tices," .which is along the line of in- 

 formation which he gave at the Amer- 

 ican Institute of Co-operation at Phila- 

 delphia this summer. "Co-operative 

 Marketing in the Midwest" is another 

 talk he will give. 



Cornell University, a leader among 

 educational institutions on subjects of 

 co-operative marketing of farm prod- 

 ucts, is reaching into the field of prac- 

 tice for in formation on how co-opera- 

 tive marketing is actually done. In 

 seeking an authority on accounting 

 methods of co-operatives, and for 

 specific information on chronic maladies 

 of co-operatives, the university invited 

 Mr. Wicker. 



St Louis Producer*' Complete 



Largest Lamb Pool for Corabelt 



F«eclert. 



Producers List Eight 

 Reasons Why Thinking 

 Farmers Support Them 



Eight reasons that thinking farmers 

 give for shipping to the Producers are 

 given out by the Chicago Producers 

 Commission Association in a recent let- 

 ter to its regular shippers. These rea- 

 sons are: 



1. Producers selling service is the 

 best to be obtained anywhere. 



2. Producers are owned and con- 

 trolled by the member shippers, and 

 the policies directed by a board of direc- 

 tors elected by the members. 



3. Producers operate their business 

 on a cost basis and return profits to 

 their members — $255,000 saved in three 

 years. 



4. Producers, through their feeding 

 buying service, connect the range and 

 feed lots directly; this fall 30,000 lambs 

 were purchased direct from Montana 

 ranges and shipped to producer feeders 

 at an estimate saving of between $25,- 

 000 and $30,000. 



5. PRODUCBais operate a Claim and 

 Transportation Department which col- 

 lects losses FREE OF CHARGE. 



6. Producers Live Stock Credit 

 Corporation furnishes money for feed- 

 ing operations at lowest possible rate, 6 

 per cent at present time. 



7. Producers have successfully in- 

 augurated new systems of selling and 

 handling of shipments (such as pooling 

 and sale of out-hogs, and pigs). 



8. Producers are a national organiza- 

 tion, and due to their large volume of 

 business are in a position to become a 

 real factor in the marketing of the 

 farmers product. ; 



II IS BEFTXrrELT DECTDED THAT THE pRESI- 



dent'a Agricultural Conference will not meet 

 before Congress convenes. 



.\DVOCATtS OF THE CHILD LABOR AHE.VDUEIfT 



•re utartiiiK an aclivc campaign of propsRanda 

 designed to rn-atc public wnliment in favor of 

 it in rfa(et« whrrv it »fi*> voted down last year. 



The largest lamb pool ever conducted 

 in the United Stated was completed this 

 month by the Producers' Livestock Com- 

 mission Association at the National 

 Stock Yards, according to H. D. Wright, 

 manager of the Producers' association. 



More than 40,000 head of ewe and 

 ;wether lambs were shipped in from Wy- 

 oming to fill contracted orders of lamb 

 feeders in Illinois and other midwestern 

 states who patronize the St. Louis 

 market. The lamb pool was conducted 

 by the Producers' association on a co- 

 operative basis for the purpose of as- 

 sisting its patrons to purchase feeder 

 lambs direct from the western range at 

 the lowest cost and transportation ex- 

 pense consistent with the desired qual- 

 ity. 



"This pool," stated Manager Wright, 

 "saved the lamb feeders of the Middle- 

 west from $1.50 to $2.00 a hundred 

 pounds or approximately $270 on each 

 double deck of lambs purchased. The 

 feeder lambs that we bought for our 

 patrons cost on an average of $12.75 a 

 hundred at the loading point or less 

 than $14.00 at the point of delivery. To 

 appreciate the saving it is only neces- 

 sary to consider the prices of feeder 

 lambs on the Chicago market this month 

 which are ranging from $15.25 to 

 $15.75 a hundred. 



Direct to Feeder 



"The pool lasted practically one 

 month. During the latter part of 

 August we sent four of our men to Wy- 

 oming to buy the lambs to fill the future 

 orders we had contracted. The animals 

 were driven in from all over the 

 mountain sides to loading points. They 

 were then graded to comply with the 

 desires of our patrons and shipped di- 

 rect to the purchasing feeder. This 

 also eliminated the usual speculative 

 factor of former methods of buying 

 feeder Iambs. 



"The pool has been so successful this 

 year that we are planning to make it 

 a national pool next year, with all of 

 the Producers Commission Associations 

 in the United States pooling their 

 orders instead of separate lamb pools." 



To Have Calf Pool 



A fcimilar pool will be conducted next 

 month on the buying of feeder calves by 

 the St. Louis Producers* Association. 

 During the latter part of October, 

 special calf buyers ynW be sent to the 

 extreme western part of Texas, near 

 Marfa and Alpine, wliere they will pur- 

 chase Highland calves and yearlings 

 from the Big Bend country for cornbelt 

 feeders. According to Mr. Wright, in 

 that part of Texas the production of 

 feeder calves is an agricultural specialty 

 and the cattlemen produce the best 

 feeders that are shipped out of Texas. 

 Only pure bred stock will be purchased. 



It is expected that nearly 10,000 head 

 of calves will be handled by the pool. 

 The first consignment will be shipped to 

 Kansas City where the calves will be 

 auctioned o^ to the feeders of that ter- 

 ritory about November 1. Other con- 

 signments will be shipped to St. Louis 

 at later dates for feeders patronizing 

 that market. This is an entirely new 

 feature in cooperative livestock buying 

 and is conducted for the benefit of 

 producer patrons on a cooperative basis. 



Corn Borer Dangerous 

 To Cornbelt Farmers 

 Says Iowa Authority 



Pest ^reading at Rate of 5 

 to 2P Miles a Year; Cana- 

 dian Com Destroyed This 

 Year 



There is real cause for Illinois and 

 other cornbelt farmers to fear the in- 

 troduction of the European corn borer 

 into this area, in the opiaion of C. F. 

 Curtiss, dean of agriculture at Iowa 

 State College, who has been named 

 chairman of a special committee to work 

 with state and federal authorities in 

 finding control measures. 



Cornfields were completely destroyed 

 in Ontario, Canada, this ^ear and the 

 pest is spreading at the rate of 5 to 20 

 miles each year, with no means yet de- 

 vised for checking it. 



So far, western Ohio and eastern 

 Michigan is as close as the corn borer 

 has approached Illinois, but since the 

 peat attacks 200 different food plants 

 and cotton, there is no tdling when it 

 may be carried into the cornbelt. Al- 

 though no important damage has been 

 done to corn this year, except in west- 

 ern Ontario, the pest seems to be in- 

 creasing in severity each year and no 

 one can forecast when it may reach a 

 severe stage in the United States, ac- 

 cording to Dean Curtiss. 



Special Committee Appointed 



More than 100 representatives from 

 12 states and Canada were present at 

 conferences held recently in the infected 

 areas. So seriously did the men ftom 

 the cornbelt look upon the advance of 

 the pest toward this area, that they ap- 

 pointed a special committee to work 

 with the state and federal authorities to 

 find control measures. Dean Curtiss was 

 made head of this committee. 



Strict quarantine measures are being 

 used by state and federal authorities in 

 the infested areas. Quarantine officials 

 in western New York t(Sok 100,000 ears 

 of corn from automobiles of tourists 

 and hucksters coming down from Can- 

 ada this past year and found that 12 

 per cent of these cars had corn borer 

 worms. Should any of these ears get by 

 and be carried to new areas, it would 

 probably cause a fresh outbreak. 



About the only promising means of 

 combating the corn borer at the present 

 time appears to be by introducing par- 

 asitic enemies of the borer. These are 

 being imported from foreign countries, 

 but not enough has yet been done to 

 cause any material effect in control. 



"Facts brought out at the conferences 

 show clearly that all agricultural states 

 have a vital interest in this problem of 

 the corn borer," Dean Curtiss asserts. 

 "If the pest should enter and become as 

 severe In its injury as it has in Canada, 

 the loss would be enormovs.** 



— From Knox County Fum Bureaa Bulletin. 

 Is This Team Work? 



W. A. McXEILLOrCHANDLERVrtXE, iLusom, 

 forniprly a member of the I. A- A. grain commit- 

 tee, was selected to impenM>nat« Abraham Lincoln 

 ill the Jackaocville centennial pageant. 



Evert boy avd oirl who oot a BErrmo or 

 e«ora last spring through the White Coimty Farm 

 Bureau must bring a pullet and show it in Carmi. 

 October 31. Winners in each breed will be given 

 pri«e« by Carmi merchanta. The Kiwanis club 

 IS Co-operating. 



A SHEET or PAPER MADE rHOM COBV BTALKfl 



ifl reported by chemists of Iowa Stale College. 



Wfth 1,460 NAMES eiONEO TO FfS HEMBBB8HIP 



roll for the three-year period, the McLean County 

 Farm Bureau closed ita drive. An increase of 

 26 per cent of the expirinc membership of 1,100 

 ia recorded. 



Thbocqh arra.voemevts made bt the 

 Mont^niery County Farm Bureau, approxi- 

 mately 125 farmers of that county are expected 

 to entrain October 25 on a "Dairy Special" to 

 Green Countv, Wlscomtin. where seneral dair>- 

 conditionit will he iiiventigtited. 



Women May Have 



Program at Aimual 

 I. A. A. Convention 



Plans for the program of the annual 

 meeting of the Illinois Agricultural' As- 

 sociation to be held at Urbaija, Janu- 

 ary 21 and 22, furnished one of the 

 chief subjects of discussion at the I. A. 

 A. executive committee at its regular 

 meeting on October 8. 



The consideration of having a special 

 woman's program for the wixes of the 

 delegates and other women whp will be 

 present at the annual meeting was dis- 

 cussed. A suggestion was made that 

 the home economics department of the 

 University of Illinois be asked to co- 

 operate with the I. A. A. program com- 

 mittee in arranging this special feature. 



The question of co-operative purchase 

 of farm supplies, chiefly feeds, seeds 

 and fertilizers, by count/ Farm Bu- 

 reaus for their members was discussed. 

 In the past, no definite policy in this 

 nature had been determined by the ex- 

 ecutive committee. At the June meet- 

 ing of the committee, a special commit- 

 tee was appointed to formulate a plan 

 whereby a purchasing service could be 

 furnished by the I. X. A. for its mem- 

 bers. 



The legislative committee of the I. A. 

 A. reported three major legislative proj- 

 ects that the association would suggest 

 to the A. F. B. F. for t6e national leg- 

 islative program during the next Con- 

 gress. The committee suggested: 



"First, legislation that will put agri- 

 culture on equality with industry and 

 labor; second, legislation regarding our 

 revenue laws establishing proper exr 

 emptions for co-operative marketing or- 

 ganizations; and third, legislation .re- 

 garding Muscle Shoals, looking toward 

 the manufacture of fertilizers at the 

 least possible expense." 



Other topics of consideration included 

 a report of the co-operation between the 

 I. A. A. with other state fiirm bureaus 

 and A. F. B, F. regarding the present 

 fight against the 5 per cent freight rate 

 increase asked by the western railroads. 

 and a motion to assist the Illinois Milk 

 Producers' Association of Tazewell, 

 Woodford and Peoria counties in their 

 membership drive. The I. A. A. will 

 underwrite one-half of the cost of an 

 organizer to assist in the milk pro- 

 duce rs%.^mpaign. 



Member in Stephenson 

 County Breaks World's 

 Record for Ton Litter 



Having raised the world's record 

 single litter of pigs is the honor of the 

 W. T. Rawleigh company, operator of 

 Ideal Stock Farms, Freeport, a member 

 of the Stephenson County Farm Bureau. 



Not only on one litter was the former 

 world's record broken, but on two, both 

 of which were bred, fed and developed 

 on the same farm, according to official 

 figures announced by W. H. Smith of the 

 College of Agriculture, who has charge 

 of the Illinois Ton Litter contest. 



"The two litters of purebred Poland 

 China pigs entered in the contest by W. 

 T. Rawleigh have recently come off feed 

 at the end of the allotted six months 

 time with respective weights of 4,7S9 

 and 4,51 m pounds of pork to their 

 credit. The former world's record, which 

 was made last month by a Kentucy lit- 

 ter, was 4323 pounds. The Kentucky, lit- 

 ter contained 12 purebred Poland 

 Chinas, while the heavier of the two 

 Illinois litters contained 16 and the 

 lighter 15 pigs. Both litters were slued 

 by the same boar and were fed under 

 diredtion of Farm Adviser W, A. Her- 

 ring^n. 



Trials of One Are 

 Tribulations of Other 



{Continued fTom page J, col. S) 

 into any city of the United States. 

 wherever, you will, and you see feverish 

 building activity, the development of 

 great residential districts and the tear- 

 ing down of old but usable business 

 blocks to make room for sky-scrapers 

 to rise in their foundations. Go out 

 through the country, and obsen-'e the 

 contrast. There you see unpainted 

 buildings, a wearing down of the capital 

 plant and equipment that means an 

 unbalanced economic life in this countrj* 

 and nothing else. Over half the farm 

 sales in this great state of Illinois last 

 year were forced sales. I could tell you 

 a story of farm mortgage foreclosures 

 in tiis state and our great neighboring 

 stat^ of Iowa that would amaze you, 

 but lack of time will not permit. I 

 want to suggest to the railroads that 

 "newspaper prosperity" will not pay 

 theiif freight bills, and what is just as 

 esseitial, will not enable their best cus- 

 tomers, the farmers, to buy loads of 

 freight for them to haul back to balance 

 the freight movement out of the farm- 

 ing districts. 



Surplus Seta Price 



I am glad to acknowledge that some 

 b^etficial price increases have taken 

 i)lfc« recently, but I ask you gentlemen 

 to dPstinguish between the actual and 

 the nominal improvement. The dif- 

 ficulty that ctontronts the farmer is that 

 he always has a surplus to sell of that 

 which brings the lowest price. 



Last year the farmers of lUlnoia had 

 hogS' to sell in great abundance, but the 

 prictf was below the cost of production, 

 and they had to be finished on high- 



?ricod corn, which was a short crop, 

 his year hogs are high, but we find 

 we are short on hogs, and long on corn, 

 and you know what is happening to the 

 corn price right now. Oats are selling 

 at fer below the cost of production. 

 Last year's wheat price was satis- 

 factory, but reached its level after most 

 of the farmers had sold their crop, and 

 the price increase was abnormal, due 

 to general crop failures, particularly 

 severe on our neighbors to the noi^h. 

 A partial failure in winter wheat start- 

 ed this season's market off on a satis- 

 factory level, but it did not last. But 

 such price for wheat as we do get this 

 •eason will be due to the f:ict that 

 drought and winter kill made the year's 

 wheat production the lowest in decades. 



Large Crop — Low Prices 



So it has been with cotton. It has re-' 

 quirad disaster here or abroad to bring 

 a living price to the American farmer, 

 and it is unthinkable that we should 

 consider prices resulting from it as evi- 

 dence of the fundamental correction of 

 the iarm situation when norma) corps 

 next year or the year after will bring 

 a return of the old disadvantage in i 

 price: relationships. '^ ! 



Th4 fixed charge^i of farming are 

 incla^c and inescapable. Taxes, wages, 

 interest and the cost of non-agricultural 

 commodities make a total which has no 

 relatipn whatever to the price the farm- I 

 er gtts when he hauls his crop to j 

 Tparket. His only possible response is 

 to stk^ive for the utmost production 

 from his land. If Nature is kind, we 

 witngss the paradox of low prices and 

 an uaprofitable year. 



Quotes Lowtlen's Article 



I know of no better statement on this 

 question than the article written by our 

 former governor, Frank O. Lowen, and 

 publiihed in the October number of 

 Worlds Work. Every man here who 

 is sincere in his interest in the welfare 

 of farming ought to read that article. 



Governor Lowden says: 



"A year ago this summer there was a 

 drouflbt ia the Southwest which was in- 

 juring the cotton crop. The sovemment 

 estimated the crop of the year at 12,400,- 

 000 bales. And then the drourht wsk 

 broken. The government got out another 

 report and thix time estimated the yield 

 at IS.DOO.OOO bales, an increase of less than 

 6 per cent. Prices at once fell about 20 

 per oent. If l hese prices reflected real 

 valacs. the l<M» to the rottnn farmert: ni 



Watch for Cholera! 

 States Warning to 

 lUinpis Stockmen 



i i— 



loWa Authority Report* In- 

 crease of Disease This Year; 

 Illinois Farmers 



t'holbra s>iiip- 

 srning to Illinoih 



"Watch your 

 Toms,"' states \ 

 I farmers sent o(i't 

 I by Wm. E. Hed 

 cock,! dirertor \ii 

 theljvestoclf marl 

 etinr of the I. A. ^. 



-T>is is the tirir 

 of y^ar when h^g 

 cholet'a is mofct 

 likeljf^ to breik 

 out,'"] states Direc- 

 tor Hedgcock," a0<J 

 so fkr this ye*r 

 more jthan 10 cou 

 ties pf this stale 

 have Ireported chol- 

 era cjases. As >^t 

 cholera reports 



Illinois are not hnduly alarming but 

 every hog feeder! or breeder should l»e 

 on tne lookoBt fo^ the disease. If cascK 

 are Reported inl his community he 

 shoulfi vaccinate jh is herd immediately. 



"Vaccination Ar cholera is not a' 

 cure but a prevcn|ative. It is the cheap- ' 

 est insurance th^t a hog feeder caa • 

 procuR. Farmers |who attempt to ca)*ry 

 hogs ko maturity Without first vaccinat- 

 ing ak% running, k risk that may prove 

 very |co«tly. This fcan best be done with 

 the Ifrast when the animals are young 

 and light in weight. If the feeder waits 

 until the epidemic breaks out in his 

 countlrj* he may b^ forced to spend more 

 mone^* for varciiation and lose about 

 two ^-eeks of hi»| feeding period or sell 

 his htrd at a prcmable l<>ss. 



"According to Dr. K. W. Stouder. ex- 

 tension veterinar^n of Iowa State Col- 

 lege, Knore hog chk)lera is to he found in 

 Iowa as a whole tthis year then a year 

 ago. This is profakbly due to neglect to 

 immunize the hoes by vaccinat'on be- 

 cause the diseas* may not have ap- 



peared in certain 

 time. Conditions 

 genefally similar 

 nois tend for that 

 state may 

 carefbl 



symptoms this fall.' 



communities for some 

 in our sister state are 

 to thoM' found in Uli- 

 reasnn farmerp of this 

 II t^ke hood and be extra 

 watching for hog cholera 



the Sioulh, due to fc timely rain, w«)> some- 

 \ thinir like $}00.0^0.i*00. And yet th«->* 

 was ^ dearth of cotton Huch ss had not 

 exist^ since the Civil War. The presK had 

 been filled wiih fairs of a cotinn famine- 

 ■"Two yeant ago there wat. a bumper crnr 

 of ecrn. As a rasult. the prico declined 

 so low that it was kheaiker in Kontc parts of 

 the Dnkutas and Npbrnftka. and even Iowa. 

 to bum com for [fuel than tn buy eoal. 

 Last lyear. owins Lo a cold, wet suinHier. 

 the rpm crop was small in yivid and in* 

 feriop in quality.] Th*- irovernment rRti- 

 mateil the crop a^ 20 i>er crnt l*'^'' than 

 the bumi>er crop or the year before. Ak a 

 ro^julti arcordinir tp the eovemment'x flr- 

 ures. [the smaller Icrop of defe«'tive corn 

 WR-i 4orth S3&0.00p.00n more in thr nar- 

 kets ^han Ihe crop! of the y<-«r before. - 



"Scne economists soe nothing illoriral 

 or i-v|l in suck a nltuation. They nay that 

 it i-i an inevitable re^ul( — the result of the 

 law of supply and nem«nd. I cannot quite 

 arced^ to Ihifi pfopotiition. It answers 

 it--*olf. For. anden the law, if the world 

 will \^y a larger arire fur ten buiAtel* of 

 wheat] than it will jpay for fifteen, it must 

 b.* because it prefars ten husheb* of wheat 

 to flfieen bushelf. lanA the supply, there- 

 fore, {will adjust (tself to me^^ that de- 

 mandj Thin ■neat*' a conxtanily fncrca*- 

 ins cist to the consumer." 



Nornuil Produciion Cannot B* R»- 

 I <iaced 



It ps sometimes bard to be patient 

 with I the man Fho. recognizing this 

 problem, says: 'Well, let the farmers 

 reduc^ their production, and grow only 

 what our domestif market can absorb." 

 This pan be donejin a factory. It can- 

 not be done on a farm where from long 

 before planting time, until after the 

 crop Js marketedj elements over which 

 the farmer has Ino control make or 

 break it. 



Asks Assistance to Secure Equality 



Let me quote yiu an illustration. We 

 cut oar wheat acieage in ll*:;4 by four 

 and one-hulf milion acre> t<elow that 

 of 193i, but our wheat i rop was 70,000,- 

 000 btishels more lin the year with the 

 smaller acreage. The same is true of 

 com, lor cotton, or pig*, or calves. 



Of kcourse the iarnicru and farm or- 

 ganizitions want jto muke adjustments 

 in farming to meet changing condi- 

 tions; and want tp improve methods o( 

 growing and selling crops. But there 

 has been no sigi to thoughtful men 

 that these improvements can ■ lialanc^ 

 the sctales in a system.where every con- 

 ceivahPe device In organization and 

 legislation has be«n employed to stabil- 

 ize industn' euccisfuHy. This is why 

 we wflnt the railroads to face this prob- 

 lem With us squally, and help us to a 

 place of equality [with other forms of 

 industry in the i American protective . 

 system, If we are \o retain that system, f 



S«7S Railroajils Ignore True 

 Situation 



You may aide wHat this has to do with 

 trans|»ortatien, ard 1 repeat that the **■ 

 railroM^ds of the ^ est will be wund and 

 proftp4^^UK just \n the HeeV#>«> thai 



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