I-!':- 



The ntinois Agricultural A«»ociation RECORD 



December 5, 1925 



.» 





Value Ofl925 Com 

 Crop Is Lower Than 

 Short Crop Of 1924 



Current Com Prices Fall 

 Short of Paying Cost of 

 Production, Says I. A. A. 

 Grai* Director 



Notwitfistanding the size of the 

 1925 buttiper com crop in Illinois, 

 its cash Value to the farmers who 

 produced! it is sixty million dollars j 

 less than the value of last year's i 

 poor crop, if the price which the 

 farmers «t the state are actually re- 

 ceiving at country elevators in No- 

 vember Continues through the sea- 

 son, according to findings of Ches- 

 ter C. Davis, I. A. A. grain market- 

 ing director. 



The statement of Director Davis 

 points out that November 1 esti- 

 mates credit Illinois with a corn 

 crop of 394,994,000 bushels for 

 1925 as compared with 293,600,000 

 bushels in 1924. But the 1924 crop 

 had a farm value of |278,920,'000 

 at the December 1 price, accowiinpr 

 to the V. S. Department of Agricul- 

 ture, whije the price which farm- 

 ers, are actually receiving at coun- 

 try pointe in the state this week 

 would yi*ld a total of only $217,- 

 246,700 ijf it were all sold. 



Farmeis who are selling their 

 com are deceiving from fifty to six- 

 ty cents la bushel for it, with the 

 bulk of it going at 55 cents or less. 

 Excessivd moisture in this year's 

 corn is tbe factor which is holding 

 the country cash price below con- 

 tract gra<le quotations. 



Production CuU 68 Cents 



Current com prices fall far short 

 of paying) costs of production, and 

 enfail a Ipsa of millions to farmers 

 of Illinois if they continue, it is 

 pointed put. Actual cost records 

 on a nui»iber of farms in Cham- 

 paign an(^ Piatt counties, in one of 

 the best Oorn producing districts in 

 Illinois, show a com production cost 

 of 68 cent* oer H..^i-"i f-~ iq9,i on 

 fxif.c3 h4>:ig an .- ^rotfBi.yicia of 

 • 4*';ba *iJ» .-i »■ . 



If €> ! u.fc.» U-o r^i'Vet rules 

 through tfce season," states Direc- 

 tor DavisL "farmers who sell their 

 corn as their cash crop will be in 

 much worse state than those who 

 feed and market their com as pork, 

 or who buy com to feed. Many 

 factors e«ter into a calculation as 

 to what the trend of corn prices 

 will be this winter. Heavy discounts 

 . have ruled on the new corn crop 

 because of excess moisture. Weath- 

 er that ^would permit drying before 

 the corn is marketed would help the 

 farm pride. Spoiling of cribbed 

 corn -is r«Jx)rted from all over the 

 state as a tesult of the wet weather. 



Need Way to Handle Surplus 



"Faimefs of Illinois are not as 

 iruch interested in devices to make 

 more credit available to enable 

 them to hdld their com, as they are 

 in some means to handle the sur- 

 plus that follows a normal crop, so 

 as to prevent it from .brewing 

 down prices disastrously. It is not 

 lack of credit So much as wet com 

 and inadequate storage facilities 

 that prevents farmers from holding 

 their com this year. 'The unfavor- 

 able fall, Hhe short carry-over, and 

 the relatively good market for hogs 

 a.".d best grade cattle all support the 

 farmers' view that he ought to have 

 a better price for corn, but no one 

 can be certain of what the market 

 A -a do." 



Insurance Totaling 

 $750,000 Placed 



(Continued from page J, eoL i.) 



surance. The extension of these 

 aids to loc^l mijtuals, it is estimat- 

 ed, will sa+e Illinois farmers more 

 than $3,000,000 annually. This esti- 

 mate is reached upon consideration 

 of the greater amounts of individual 

 risyi ^^sij the mutual companies 

 wilF be aBlp to handle and the re- 

 daction injcostVand additional as- 

 sessments due to exceptional losses. 

 Individual farmers, by respond- 

 ing heartily to the campaign, have 

 made the reinsurance company an 

 actual accomplishment and it is 

 now up to thedocal and county mu- 

 tuals to take advantage of the or- 

 ganizatinn and gain the benefits for 

 Ibcij respective members. 



The Goal of a 25- Year- Old Ambition 



Popularity of Farm 

 Sports Growing; Big 

 Aid to Home Morale 



Mythical AIl-F arm Sport 

 Team of Mid-West Com- 

 posed Entirely pf Illinois 

 Bureau Members 



Charter of the Farmers' Mutual Reinsurance Company of Illinois 

 granted by the state department of trade and commerce, Nov. 17. A 

 document that opens a new and larger field of insurance to Illinois farm- 

 ers and mutual farm insurance companies of this state. An acknowledged 

 need of more than a quarter of a ce«lury accomplished through the co- 

 operation of Farm Bureaus, mutual insurance companies of the state and 

 Illinois Agricultural Association. 



Milk From Tested 



Herds Pays Premium 



Dairymen of the Chicago Dis- 

 trict who -have tested their cattle 

 and Tfho-jell fliilk to the Bowman 

 Dairy Company, one of the big- 

 gest distributors in Chicago, are 

 receiving a premium of twenty- 

 five cents a hundred, beginning 

 with December 1. 



The Bowman Company, along 

 with other Chicago distributors, 

 have been paying $2.55 a hundred 

 for all milk, regardless of source. 

 The new price to farmers with 

 tested herds is $2.75. Dairymen 

 with untested herds will be paid 

 only $2.50. ' 



In addition to this penalty for 

 not having tested herds, the com- 

 pany is paying only $2.10 a hun- 

 dred for surplus but no milk go- 

 ing from h^a- under State and 

 Federal Supervision will be clas- 

 sified as surplus, the company of- 

 ficials state. 



This premium for T. B. free 

 milk is a goal sought by the Farm 

 Bureaus and the Illinois Agricul- 

 tural Association for three years 

 and now that one company has 

 seen fit to estab)i.sh a premium for 

 the farmer who produces the 

 higher quality and- safe milk, the 

 Illinois Agricultural Association 

 will continue and try to get as 

 many as possible distributors in 

 the Chicago district to pay the 

 premium. 



Frank D. Barton 



Wants Next I. A. A . Convention 



I. A. A. 17lh District Conference 

 Held at Bl oomingto n, Nov. 27 

 Representatives of the Farm Bu- 

 reaus in McLean, Ford, Livingston 

 and Woodford 

 counties who at- 

 tended the 17tb 

 district confer- 

 ence, held at 

 B I o o m i ngton, 

 Nov. 27, passed 

 a resolution ask- 

 ing the Illinois 

 Agricultural As- 

 sociation to con- 

 sider Blooming- 

 ton as the logical 

 place to hold its 

 next annual con- 

 vention, which 

 will probably be in January, 1927. 

 It was pointed out that Blooming- 

 tan has excellent facilities for such 

 a I meeting and is ideally located in 

 the center of the state. 



The Farmers' Mutual Reinsurance 

 Company of Illinois was endorsed. 

 One resolution, passed by the lead- 

 ens suggested that the I. A. A. in- 

 vestigate the plans and programs of 

 other state farm bureau federations 

 with the view of bettering the serv- 

 ice rendered in Illinois. 



The proposition of the Kenneth- 

 Murry Company to lease the C. and 

 A. yards and operate as a livestock 

 order buyer in Bloomington, buying 

 through commission companies, was 

 brought up for considerable discus- 

 sion. Some farmers were not so 

 sure as to the advisability of the 

 scheme. 



There has been more organized 

 farm sport in Illinois during 1925 

 than in any other year in the his- 

 tory of the state. 



Only two of the five sports which 

 were extensively participated in by 

 the Farm Bureaus are common to 

 both rural and city people — baseball 

 and horseshoes pitching. The other 

 three are distinctly farm sports. 

 These are hog calling, chicken call- 

 ing (for women) and corn husking. 



The development of sports among 

 farmers, their sons, and even their 

 wives and daughters is regarded by 

 President Sam H. Thompson as a 

 splendid condition. He says that 

 farm sports contribute much to the 

 happiness and contentment of farm 

 life. Anything along the lines of 

 competition creates more interest 

 around farm life, he says, and, 

 furthermore, farm sports have a 

 bearing on the problem of keeping 

 boys and girls on the farms- 

 Torberts on Team 



Farm sport enthusiasts, like their 

 city cousins who are now busy se- 

 lecting, re-selecting and debating 

 over who shall be on the Ail-Amer- 

 ican football team, can also point 

 to star performers in the various 

 farm sports field. ; 



Walter and Harry Torbert of De- 

 Witt county, Illinois, earned a place 

 on the mythical All-Farm sport team 

 by throwing the most ringers and 

 counters in the annual state farm 

 bureau horseshoe tdumament held 

 in connection with the state picnic 

 of the Illinois Agricultural Associ- 

 ation August, 27 at Taylorville. 

 Walter and Harry are 19 and 20 re- 

 spectively, and are sons of Ed. Tor- 

 bert, a member of the state cham- 

 pion team of 1920, 21, and 22. The 

 boys defeated Reuben G. Bright and 

 Samuel G. Smith of McLean county, 

 champion team of 1924. About 25 

 county horseshoe pitching contests 

 were held by county Farm 'Bureaus 

 preliminary to the state competition. 



V. E. Robison of Morton, Taze- 

 well county, perhaps qualifies best 

 for the quarter-back or signal-call- 

 ing position of the All-Farm sports 

 team. He proved that "whoo-o-oey, 

 whoo-o-oey" is the most effective 

 way to call hogs when he was de- 

 clared by the two-legged judges to 

 be the champion swine yodeler in a 

 contest which was also held at the 

 state farm bureau picnic. This was 

 the first state-wide competition ever 

 held and was the basis for a long 

 preliminary discussion by city fea- 

 ture writers and editorial expound- 

 ers on the merits of "poo-o-oey" 

 or "who-o-oey," the former being 

 the form fancied by a metropolitan 

 newspaper as comparable to strains 

 of opera, but one which showed the 

 writer was not a hog caller. 



Mrs. Wooley Selected Captain 



Mrs. I. N. Wooley of luka, Marion 

 county,, won the state chicken call- 

 ing contest, and since she is the only 

 woman rating the All-Farm sports 

 team, she should be captain. 



The baseball division of the All- 

 Farm sport team is awarded to the 

 Tazewell County Farm Bureau ag- 

 gregation, it having won the state 

 title after an interesting season 

 which terminated in the champion- 

 ship game at the state picnic. Base- 

 ball among the Farm Bureaus is 

 conducted through the Illinois Farm 

 Bureau Baseball league. 



Elmer Williams of Toulon, Stark 

 county, wins a prominent place on 

 the All-Farm sports team, and is 

 also entitled to a place on a national 

 selection, having won both the Illin- 

 ois and the Mid-West com husking 

 contests. On November 2 in the 

 Montgomery county contest staged 

 by Prairie Farmer, state farm paper, 

 he out-shucked 19 other contestants, 

 many of whom were winners of 

 county contests staged by Farm 

 Bureaus. On November 19 he Red 

 Granged the best shuckers of Iowa, 

 Nebraska, Minnesota and Indiana 

 when\he picked 35.9 bushels in 80 

 minutes in the Mid-West contest at 

 Burgess, Mercer county, a speed 

 equivalent to 2G9 bushels in JO 

 hours. 



This stands as an official world's 



Large Number to 



Attend Meeting 



(Conitnued from page 1, col. 5.) 

 will discu.ss the program of the annual 

 meeting of the I. A. A. to be held at 

 the University of Ilhnois, Champaign- 

 Urbana, Jan. 21 and 22. The new 

 plan of speeiiil sectional meetings will 

 be explained to the county executives. 



Hoadliners on the second day's 

 program includes: 



Demonstration by Club Boys Har- 

 old Rubiger and Geo. Bohman, 

 Bureau county, state championship 

 team of Illinois. 



Capper to Speak at Banquet 



Twenty-minute talks on "Co-oper- 

 ative Cotton Marketing" by C. O. 

 Moser, manager, American Cotton 

 Growers' Exchange; "Livestock Mar- 

 keting " by C. B. Denman, president, 

 National Livestock Producers' Asso- 

 ciation; "Fruit and Vegetable Market- 

 ing" by A. R. Rule, manager. Fed- 

 erated Fruit and Vegetable Growers, 

 Inc., New York; and, "The Farm 

 Bureau's Opportunity in Co-operative 

 Marketing by Dr. E. G. Nourse, 

 chief of agricultural division. Insti- 

 tute of Economics. 



During the annual banquet, to be 

 held on Tuesday evening, the prin- 

 cipal addresses will be given by 

 Senator Arthur Capper of Kansas 

 and Mrs. Ivan D. Gore of Utah, 

 authority on farm home and com- 

 munity work. The third day will be 

 taken up with reports of resolution 

 committees, election of officers, adop- 

 tion of resolutions, new and un- 

 finished business and adjournment. 

 Seat Requests Heavy 



Demands for seat reservations to 

 hear President Coolidge have been 

 coming in thick and fast from Illinois 

 arm bureau members. Officials of 

 the (American Farm Bureau Federa- 

 tion at first allotted 300 seats to 

 Illinois, but this number was increased 

 to 750 upon the urgent request of 

 Secretary Fox, who on Dec. 1 had 

 nearly 800 requests from county 

 Farm Bureaus throughout the state. 

 There are only 2600 seats in the whole 

 hall where President Coolidge speaks 

 and Illinois has more seats reserved 

 than any other state. However, it 

 seems probable that all Illinois re- 

 quests will be cared for. The I. A. A. 

 ticket booth will be open at the> 

 Sherman Hotel on Sunday and Mon- 

 day morning. Members are advised 

 to get their reserved tickets as soon 

 as thry arrive in the city. At 10:30 

 Monday morning the booth will be 

 closed and all seats not called for 

 will be given to those not holding 

 reser\ ations. 



record — one actually established by 

 physical, field performance in the 

 presence of sgme 7,000 witnesses, 

 whereas many higher unofficial re- 

 cords have been established around 

 the stoves of country stores in the 

 presence of hot air competitors. 



The personnel of the 1925 All- 

 Farm sports team foltows : 



Champion hog caller — V. E. Robi- 

 son, Morton, Tazewell County Farm 

 Bureau. 



Champion chicken caller — Mrs. I. 

 N. Wooley, luka, Marion County 

 Farm Bureau. 



Champion baseball team — Taze- 

 well County Farm Bureau. 



Champion busker — (Illinois' and 

 Mid-West) Elmer Williams, Toulon, 

 Stark County Farm Bureau. 



Champion horseshoe team — Wal- 

 ter and Harry Torbert, DeWitt 

 County Farm Bureau. 



Prices were given by the Dlinois 

 Agricultural Association to the 

 champions of hog -and chicken call- 

 ing, horseshoe and baseball. These 

 were, for the hog calltTig champ, a 

 gold miniature hog for watch chain 

 pendant; for the chickeji calling vic- 

 tor, a silver cream piteher; and a 

 silver loving cup each for the horse- 

 shoe and baseball teams. Prairie 

 Farmer gave $100 to the winner of 

 the state husking contest, $50 for 

 second, $25 for third, $15 for 

 fourth and $10 for fifth. This farm 

 paper, in company with Wallaces' 

 Farmer, Nebraska Farmer and The 

 Farmer (St. Paul) gave $100 and 

 a gold medal to the Mid-West cham- 

 pion, and Prairie Farmer gave $50 

 for the winner of second place who 

 was Walter W. Olson of Rio, a 

 member of the Knox County Farm 

 Bureau. 



A DrCHKABE or FROU lU Ttt l.*) PKK CENT IN 



the protluction of hogs and entile in Iowa ttiia 

 vear as compared with 1924 h-^H t>een n*ported 

 by Knute l-'spe, secretary of the Federation of 

 Uve Stock Shippers. 



McLean Countt Farm Bubeau has secured 

 Henry A. Waltsce, ed tor of Wallaces" Farmer 

 a» principal speaker f r the annual meeting to 

 be held at ninontington, Dec :U. 



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