T 



ber 24, 1925 



iblems 



at23rd 



nferences 



iMureTf TelU 

 ncerted Ac- 

 onal Farm 



ketine and pro- 

 on m the va* 



W. L. Cope 



ction of W. L. 

 itive committee 

 ict of the I. A. 

 Blisa E. Loy. 

 ingham County 

 ary of the meet- 

 were asked to 

 he work in their 



I Promising 



open discussions 

 g in solving the 

 fse talks covered 

 rculosis eradica- 

 imestone« discuti- 

 d cream market- 

 ', boys and girls 

 1 plots, and live- 

 I Adviser Wasch- 

 ibership drive of 

 Farm Bureau is 

 i indications are 

 go over 100 per 



. state treasurer, 

 le meeting. Be- 

 of the question? 

 s present regard- 

 ! problems, Mr. 



need of co-oper- 

 action regarding 



problems of the 

 )articularly those 



lave a voice in 

 3 and political 

 •y," stated Mr. 

 be accomplished 

 1 co-operation in 

 Farm Bureaus." 

 I making known 

 our mid-western 

 le same disaster 

 )ngland met fol- 

 the English corn 

 time the English 

 at England was 

 trial country and 

 ber rural people 

 laws that were 

 get cheap food 



e Promising 



at the people of 

 3 principally in- 

 leir food at the 

 mot expect them 



in the efforts to ' 

 il returns. It is 

 her through the 

 tiios Agricultural 



American Fam* 

 stating and di- 

 and industrial 

 -nmental bodies, 

 ate that, in gen- 

 ^tions and lead- 

 st are co-operat- 



agri culture. 



Work Told 



also trustee of 

 eau fund for re- 

 ado stricken dis- 

 f the efforts and 



expended to as- 

 at district to re- 

 gs ^nd purchase 



devastated area 

 its former pro- 

 mittee in charge 



with the Araeri- 



rehabilitation. 

 t were: W. W. 

 ind D. H. King, 

 ind County Farm 

 , farm adviser of \ 

 arm Bureau; L. 

 met; L. R. Cald- 

 Jefferson County 

 Blackburn, lanrN^ 

 )unty Farm Bu- 

 I G. R. Williams 

 N. F. Elder of 

 L Cope of Sa- 

 r of Lawrence 

 im of Shumway; 

 in; Otto Braasch 

 W. Miller, presi- 

 Farm Adviser, 

 etary of the F-f- 



B'lr^Bii, 



I li Ij I ]^ 



CULTUMAL 



1- 



Volume 3 



issued Every Other Saturday for 63,000 thinking Farmers — November 7, 1925 



No. 22 



FARM BUREAU HNDS ERRORS IN RAILROADS' TESTIMONY 



Farm Bureau Members 

 Must Reserve Places 

 At A. F.B.F. Meeting 



Farmers Should Notify Farm 

 Bureau if They Plan to Hear 

 President Coolidge Talk at 

 Chicago 



Special arrangements are being made 

 by the American Farm Bureau Federa- 

 tion to provide "hearing and seeing" 

 space for every farm bureau member 

 who attends its seventh annual meeting 

 at the Sherman hotel, Chicago, when 

 President Coolidge speaks on Decem- 

 ber 7. 



Members of each County Farm Bureau 

 wishing to attend, should make reserva- 

 tions through their County Farm 

 Bureau either by phone, personal call 

 or letter. 



Seats are being allotted to each state 

 in proportion to the number of mem- 

 bers it has in the national organization. 

 This entitles the Illinois Agricultural 

 Association to approximately 300, which 

 does not include farm advisers, there 

 being a special section reserved for 

 them. 



Seats For 200 Members , 



With 92 presidents of county farm 

 bureaus invited by the Illinois Agricul- 

 tural Association to attend a state-wide 

 prexy conference during the national 

 convention, seats are available to slight- 

 ly over 200 Illinois farm bureau mem- 

 bers. 



Special railroad rates are effective for 

 . those attending the meeting. The fare 

 amounts to one and one-half round trip. 

 Tickets should be purchased to Chicago 

 the regular way, but a certificate of 

 purchase mi st be obtained from the 

 local station agent. Through the trans- 

 portation department of the American 

 l^'arm Bureau Federation, the'cfrtificate 

 will be properly validated so a. return 

 ticket can be purchased at one-half 

 fare. There will be no reduced fares to 

 those who forgot their certificate^. 



Reinsurance Company 



Applies for Charter; 



Total Now $700,000 



Applications and Books Pass- 

 ed Inspection By State Ex- 

 j aminers; Henry Leading 

 County in' Campaign 



Puncturing Their Testimony 



wow THAT THEOES A &CAWO 



PETUOkj OC PACM PQOSPECiTV 



UJMV St-OULOW'T TWE CAIUQOAIJS, 



Be GQAWTEQ TmEiO 



'VJCOEASE' 



Illinois Real Estate 

 Now Pays 85 Per Cent 

 of State Tax Revenue 



Land Ownership Becoming 

 Undesirable in Illinois Due 

 to Old Tax System — Wat- 



AU arrangements and requirements 

 are being completed and the Farmers' 

 Mutual Reinsurance Company of Illi- 

 nois will soon be under way, according 

 to Vernon Vaniman, I. A. A. repre- 

 sentative of the new mutual state-wide 

 insurance company. 



Last week. W. Rufus Kendall, chief 

 examiner, assisted by W. E. Cable and 

 Max Beekler of the Illinois State In- 

 surance Department, Springfield, exam- 

 ined the applications and books and 

 passed sanction on the new company. 

 Application for the state license has 

 been made to the division of insurance 

 of the Department of Trade and Com- 

 merce, Springfield. 



Campaign Totaled $700»000 



Farmers in 67 counties of this state 

 assisted in getting the charter for the 

 reinsurance company by sending in ap- 

 plications for insurance to an amount 

 totaling over $700,000. According to 

 Mr. Vaniman, it is expected that other 

 counties would have assisted in the 

 campaign but the personnel of the new 

 :'ompany did not have time or oppor- 

 tunity to explain the project to the 

 members in all counties. 



In ranking the counties according to 

 amounts of insurance subacribed dur- 

 ing the campaign, it was found that 

 Henry county led with a total of $48,- 

 950. LaSalle county ranked second with 

 $40,000; Madison, third, with $35,460; 

 and Henderson, fourth, with a total 

 amount of $30,650. 



Work has begun in signing up coun- 

 ties for specific reinsurance and blan- 

 ket reinsurance. Six counties have al- 

 ready signed the contracts for specifi? 

 reinsurance and the new company will 

 be in position to take care of insurance 

 ceded to it by the local company just 

 as soon as they have signed the con- 

 tract. 



Blanket reinsurance cannot be put 

 (Continued on page i, Col t) 



t.j 



son 



Illinois real estate constitutes less 

 than 40 per cent of the wealth of the 

 state but is paying 85 cent of the taxes, 

 according to J. C. Watson, director of 

 the I. A. A. taxation and statistics de- 

 partment. 



"People of Illinois realize very keen- 

 ly the breakdown of the present revenue 

 laws," stated Director Watson, when 

 discussing the proposed revenue amend- 

 ments to the State Constitution which 

 will be voted upon by the people of Il- 

 linois during the general election of No- 

 vember 1926. 



"Farmers of Illinois realize also that 

 unless the General Assembly is given 

 much broader powers than it now pos- 

 sesses, it cannot do much to remedy the 

 present condition. As a result of the 

 present Illinois tax system, people are 

 becoming more and more unwilling to 

 own their own homes, and farm owner- 

 ship has become very undesirable. 

 Tax Laws 55 Years Old 



"The Constitution , of Illinois was 

 adopted in 1870 when practically all 

 property in the state was tangible and 

 could be assesed and taxed in the same 

 manner. This is no longer the case. Un- 

 der the proposed tax amendment to the 

 Illinois Constitution, the members of the 

 two legislative bodies of our state will 

 be permitted to adopt methods of tax- 

 ation, free from limitations in the pres- 

 ent Constitution, adopted fifty-five years 

 ago, which now prevent an equitable 

 adjustment of our tax burdens. The 

 proposed amendment will Impose no 

 new taxes or affect any existing exemp- 

 tions from taxation." 



Illinois County Farm Bureaus and the 

 Illinois Agricultural Association have 

 been co-operating for more than three 

 years in the work of bringing about 

 more equitable adjustments in the taxes 

 of this state. 



M. P. Roike becane farm adviser for 

 Carroll county in October. 



Red Grange Reared on 

 Milk; Worked on Farm 

 of Uncle, Says Father 



Prisoners of the DuPage County jail 

 should consider themseh'es lucky ant^ 

 might be expected to develop into su- 

 per-athletes because they are fed by 

 no other than Deputy Sheriff L. N. 

 Grange, father of Harold "Red" Grange. 

 Illinois football ace and famous grid- 

 iron sprinter of all football history. 



Harold, as his father recently told a 

 representative of the I. A. A. Record, 

 is very fond of milk. Ever since Red 

 was a little tot and attended his first 

 athletic event, way back in Pennsyl- 

 vania, he has drunk milk with practi- 

 cally every meal, according to his father. 



"Harold would have made a good 

 farmer. He likes the fferm and farm 

 work says Mr. Grange, in telling how 

 years ago before Red Grange became 

 the famous 'Wheaton Iceman,' he 

 worked on the farm of his uncle, E. 0. 

 Grange. 



"Harold can milk, plow, disc, make 

 hay and do «ll farm chores. Several 

 years ago when we had the exceptional 

 cold weather, Harold was one of the 

 hands on his uncle's farm. The hard 



ghysical work of the farm appealed to 

 im. He is a lover of aaimals and es- 

 pecially of fine horses. He would go a 

 long way to see an exhibit of pure- 

 bred livestock." 



Chicago Producers' 



Buy 27,000 Montana 

 Lambs For Feeders 



A lamb-buying pool composed of ap- 

 proximately 27,000 head of Montana 

 lambs has been completed by the Chi- 

 cago Producers* Commission Associa- 

 tion. 



This pool was conducted by the Pro- 

 ducers' for their patrofts in Illinois 

 and Iowa who were desirous of pur- 

 chasing feeder lambs at the lowest price 

 commensurate with good quality and 

 condition. A. E. Adams, representing 

 the Producers', made a special tour 

 throughout the entire state of Montana 

 where he purchased and loaded some 

 90 double-deck' carloads of lambs and 

 shipped them ^direct from the loading 

 point to fanners' feed lots in Illinois 

 and Iowa whb had contracted for pur- 

 chases. ' 



Railroads ' Picture of Return of Prosperity, 

 Painted Last September , Gets Severe Reversal 

 Under Cross Examination by Farm Bureau 



I. A. A. Gathering Data Direct From Countiea and Country 

 Banks to Give Interstate Commerce Commission an Actual 

 Picture of Farm Conditions Which Will Be Introduced at 

 Kansas City in January 



irh of farn^ 



HE story of the grand relurh of farnJ prosperity which 

 was told the Interstate Commerce Commission in Sep- 

 tember by economists employed by jthe western rail- 

 roads was thoroughly punctured by the FaJtm Bureau during 

 the cross examination proceedings at Chicago which began 

 Ott. 26. One of the impoitant basis for rate-making is to 

 charge "what the traffic will bear," consjequently the rail- 

 roads introduced testimony in the hearing iit Chicago in Sep- 

 tember to show that the farmers could affi>rd an increase in 

 freight rates — namely, that the farmers* {purchasing power 

 h^s been fully restored to the pre-war basis, and that a de- 

 pression in agriculture no longer exists. Tjhe carriers hoped 

 thtet, had their testimony prevailed, it would have had the 

 effect of completely eliminating the possibility of reduction 

 in rates on farm products under the Hoch-Smith resolution. 

 Railroads* Testimony Punctv^n d 

 It was this testimony which was pi'.i^ured in cross 

 examining Dr. David Friday, formerly presidAit of the 

 Michigan Agricultural College, and H. W. Moorhouse; of 

 the Brookmire Economic Service, both of whom were em- 



Cider Effective in 

 Extinguishing Fire 

 When Water's Scarce 



"Cider, cider everywhere" was the 

 situation at Neo^a, Camberland 

 cOunty, recently, when, according to 

 estimated reports, 40,000 gallons of 

 processing vinegar were used to fight 

 the fire which destroyed one of the 

 cold storage warehouses and 30.00C 

 barrels of apples owned by the Wat- 

 son Orchard Company. 



When the fire broke out in the 

 main warehouse, on this eventful 

 Sunday morning, the only water 

 supply of the plant was used to fight 

 the blase. Sparks soon spread to a 

 nearby warehouse where a half-mil- 

 lion gallons of cider was stored until 

 it would reach the proper state of 

 fermentation. The men attempting 

 to defeat the conflagration realized 

 that the cider would eventually be 

 destroyed, if the fire were not con- 

 trolled, and substituted the beverage 

 for the much needed but scarce 

 water. 



No report was made to indicate the 

 effect of the alcoholic content of the 

 hard cider upon the blaze. 



Lower Prices on Farm 

 Products Expected in 

 Future. Economist Says 



Three hundred farm bureau leaders, 

 home demonstration agents and county 

 agents who met at the thirteenth an- 

 nual extension conference at Iowa State 

 College recently were told by G. F. 

 Warren of Cornell University, New 

 York, one of the outstanding agricul- 

 tural econonnsts of the country, that a 

 period of low prices is in prospect. He 

 feels that there is likely to be a trend 

 toward lower prices during the next 10 

 or 15 years. 



Dr. Warren stated that he stands 

 about half-way between two schools of 

 economic thought — one saying that there 

 will be a return of the pre-war price 

 level, while the other believes future 

 prices will be about 60 per cent higher 

 than the pre-war. Dr. Warren personal- 

 ly believes there will be somewhere be- 

 tween these two, or about 20 to 30 per 

 cent above pre-war levels. , 



4:- 



For 1924 the Taxable VALrAXios of property 

 ill niiDois 0ubj«^ to ad valorem tazatioD was 

 $4.090.509. SM: the amount of lUtc taxea levied 

 wai920A52MS: and per eapiu Inr «24N). 



r 



ployed by the railraads to prepare «ta- 

 ttstics and to testifyon the agricnltor- 

 al situation. !■ their direct testimony, 

 botii painted a rosy picture of the re- 

 turt) of agricultural prosperity, a situ- 

 ation that is not believed by those who 

 are close to tbe farms, and a picture 

 which has raise^ considerable ire among 

 fartners. 



R«ve«l [Faulty Fig hfm 



Perhaps the imost important reveU- 

 tiort in the Fat^ Bureau's cross-exam- 

 ination was the, bringing to light of tbe 

 erroneous figures of Dr. Friday which 

 had been used t-O show that the farm- 

 ers* purchasing , power in 19£4 and 19£!> 

 had risen to ai high a point as was 

 reached in 191p, the highest pre-war 

 yeah*. When this testimony was given 

 by him in Seiitemfcer, the impression 

 was taken by the public from the press 

 reports that agriculture had regained 

 its pre-war conqition. which was taken 

 for granted as having returned to a 

 prosperous conqition. 



Ifi direct testimony during the bear- 

 ing in September, Dr. Friday said: 



"Agricultural i products in the year 

 1924. according to this computation, as 

 well as accordint^ to the computation of 

 the department 'of agriculture, have re- 

 gained, within a fraction of a per cent, 

 the reiatti-e purchasing power of 191S. 

 the I highest pre-jwar year.'* 



^mrm Bure*^ Points Out Errors 



F>«d S. Jack^n. attorney represent- 

 ing the American Farm Bureau Feder- 

 ation and IltinbTs Agricultural Asso- 

 ciation interests, in crossexamining Dr. 

 Friday, pointed lout errors in figuring, 

 and substituted fiie correct ones as pre- 

 pared by the Ui^ted States Department 

 of Agriculture, i which were compiled 

 upon reque^A of ^nd in cooperation with 

 the Farm Bureau. 



A part of the record of the cross ex- 

 amihation reveals this fmportant point: 



Q^— (by Mr. jkekson) Dr. Friday. Im« 

 your attention been called to the (act that 

 b«iribninr with 1V09 errors oectir In yovr 

 division! 7 I 



Av— No. air. ' 



Q.' — And that tpe defertf iiKreaw from 

 thert on down toi the end of the column? 



A.^— No. air. I 



Qj — Your attention hat not been di- 

 rected to that. Doctor, you say? 



A^-No. sfr. 



Q-^-Well. if tfeS»ae w«re eorrected. tbay 

 would read a« follow*,—^ I nay be per- 

 mitted to read tWni. Mr- Chaimian — 



Chairman Aiteiison: Commencinc with 

 whatT I 



Mr. Jaeksen — nt9. oolumB S. the flrur* 

 should b* lt»— .] 



Introduce CorracI Fiyvros 



The figures re^d by Col. Jackson sub- 

 stitute for those which Dr. Friday's ex- 

 hibit showed as representing the pur- 

 (ContauMd on p9g« h (W IJ 



. 



■( 



