Page 



] 



The Illinois Agricultural Association RECORD" 



done in a way which is practicable, 

 ami 1 'hich the American people will 

 accep . Up to this time the various 

 plans presented to Congress have not 

 been teund workable, but equality 

 for airiculture is an issue that will 

 not d< wn. 



Must Find Better Market 

 "Ag riculture must be placed square- 

 ly un<ler our protective system. Our 

 tariff nust apply to agricultural sur- 

 l^uses, otherwise its beneficient pro- 

 tection is likely, I fear, to be removed 

 from >ur surpluses of manufsctured 

 prodwits. Very few fanners. 1 am gim! 

 to say. subscribe to a program of arbitr.ir\ 

 price-fi.[ing by the governmeDt, or pun'l\ 

 political expedients that are unaound and 

 imprac ical. While the fEovemm«nt should 

 not en ;age in the buying and selling uf 

 coramo iities. nor the arbitrary fixing of 

 prices, it can take a more active part in 

 finding a better market f6r our agricultural 

 surplus . that prices of farm products 

 shaU n)t continue to be out of line *ith 

 the general price level. 



•'An< ther thing which Congress will 

 cooflide r this winter is co-operative mar- 

 ketine. I endorse all that President 

 CooUdi B said to you yesterday on thu 

 gvhject n hia splendid address on the prob- 

 lems o agriculture. To reorganize our 

 fannini industr>' on modem lines we must 

 have a better marketing system in the 

 hands 4^ the producers of the basic com- 

 modities. Farmers are subject to the 

 organ^ed wiles of big buying inten- 

 ests %nth the disposition and the 

 facilitifM for securing the products 

 at thei lowest possible pricee and in 

 absolute disregard of production costs. 

 Agriculture n^ust create and use the 

 selling ;n:\echinery that general indus- 

 try has found so necessary. Co-op- 

 erativef marketing can be made to 

 ahorte^ the spread between producer 

 and consumer, eliminate waste and 

 benefit^ all. Evidence of the success 

 of co-«l>eration, where It is set up on 

 a sensible, business -bstfis and so con- 

 ductedTcontinues to pile up." 



December 19, 1925 



"Our Sam" Takes 

 A.F.B. F. Presidency 



Con' inued from page I. col. 5. 



of directors for two years are: C. 



" Hearst, president of the Iowa 



L. 



After President Coolictge's address before some 3,000 delegates and farmers, of wiiich over 1000 were 

 from Illinois, he was treated to a luncheon on products marketed co-operatively. The President pronounced 

 the food as "great." Illinois products were represented by "Creamy Products*' milk from the Quincy Co-op< 

 crative Milk Producers' Association and "Illini" apples from the Illinois Fruit Growers* Exchange, Centralia. 



MEIZGER ON PROGRAM 



GEORGE E. METZGER. director of the 

 orgi nisation department of the I. A. 

 A., adtireased the convention on "The 

 latensiv s Method of Selling Membership." 

 Directoi Metsger emphasized the neces- 

 sity of laving a definite pmgram in the 

 Htate and county Farm Bureaus and that 

 it must include certain activities that will 

 reap di ect benefits to the membership 

 in a duL ar and cents manner. To sell the 

 idea to farrocre, stated Mr. Metager. 

 t>M» •rti;,;*r.». mii^t have something to sell. 

 I . '.n. . .' . tO explain 



^:U^'^. "we sre quite 

 i)n\incea mat to secure member- 

 farm Iwreau propr.im must first 

 pretty thoroughly understood by 



ship the 

 of all b« 



a good e Ised group of leadine men in each 

 county. To attain this end we have 

 attempt id to make organiz.^tion one of 

 the regt lar projects of the county Farm 

 Bureau. When a piece of work is pro- 

 jected, two things essentially happen. 

 First, a definite set of rules is laid down 

 which w 11 govern in a basic way the carr>- 



of the piece of work in question. 



a number of men are interested 



tng out 



Sc^nd. _ - 



m the p ©position to the extent that they 

 wiU take " ' '"^ — ' *""" 



those rules, put them into action, 

 and can v out the work so as to arrive 

 conclusion." 



WOMEN HAVE PROGRAM 



communi 



LIVE 



B. 



lisciation, 

 ovestock 



THE w >mcn members of the Farm Bur- 

 eau n ere not without a program and 

 interestir g speakers on subjects of par- 

 ticular ii terest to them, for on Tuesday 

 aftemoot , Grace E. Frysinger, extension 

 home ec onomist of the United State? 

 Dep&rtm ^nt of Agriculture, addressed the 

 wives aE d daughters who attended thc 

 conventit n. In telling of the projects of 

 the Hon e Bureau and farm community 

 work for 1926, Miss Fo'singer, threw out 

 this chall mge: "It seems to me," she said, 

 "that yo 1 women members of the Farm 

 Bureau have a two-fold function to 

 perfonn. As an individual, a citizen, and 

 a co-ordi: late farm owner or operator you 

 may wei . be interested in matters of 

 legislatioi , tax redvtction rate fixing, co- 

 operative marketing and the many and one 

 other economic matters contained in the 

 program of the American Farm Bureau 

 Federation But as a woman, as the one 

 who thrc ughout the centuries has been 

 e to carry on from generation to 



problem of marketing co-operatively th.' 

 great volume of livestock produced in the 

 mid-west states of Nebraska. Iowa, Kansas 

 Colorado, and Illinois, be said: 



"I have not come to boast, but I think 

 that we, as farm bureau folks, have a right 

 to feel proud of the fact that the 13 term- 

 inals operating under the National Live- 

 stock Produce lb Association, are more 

 nearly approaching the handling of this 

 volume than any other organization in this 

 '■ountry. The fact that during 1924 we 

 handled more than 92.000 cars of livestock 

 valued at more than $121,0<X>,000 for 

 ipproximately 240.000 membora, justifies 



:>ur pride. Thus we have an organization of 

 producers from the range country of the 

 west and southwest, the combelt feeder and 

 breeder, with markets located entire^ 

 itrr^ss the country in which today we have 

 'lur fingers on the pulse of the trade on 

 these markets and are able to tell our 

 membership about these markets in 

 1 inguage which they can understand." 



BRADFUTE'S MESSAGE 



PRESIDENT Brad- 



fute's message to 

 the convention was 

 made up of a review 

 of the various activi- 

 ties of the federation 

 and recommendations 

 for future work. He 

 stated that the former 

 debt of $47,418.46 has 

 been completely wiped 

 out and organisation 

 now has a surplus of 

 more than $10,000. In 

 speaking of the finan- 

 cial expenditures of the 

 federation, he said: 



"When we stop to 

 think that the results 

 attained bythe Ameri- 

 pan Farm Bureau Fed- 

 eration during its six years of operation has 

 rost the individual member but $3 each alt 

 told, we begin to resize that the work has 

 been done at a minijbum cost." Of tiie 50 

 cents which went to the Federation during 

 1925 from each jnember, the money was 

 9[)ent as fDllows> 



O. E. Bradfut* 



Illinois Farm Bureau 

 Member 'Signed' Father 

 of Cool id £e in Bureau 



<^. J. Cooper, formerly a memher 

 of the DeKalb County Farm Bureau 

 and the I. A. A., but now residing 

 in Oak Park, 111., bears the unique 

 distinction of having "signed" Col. 

 Coolidge, father of the president, 

 in the Farm Bureau. It was several 

 years ago. 



In the early days of the Farm 

 Bureau in Illinois, Mr. Cooper helped 

 organize "in 40 counties, and later 

 was called to assist in expanding the 

 organization in other states. 



Because he was practically through 

 with active farming himself and 

 more concerned with his store, Mr. 

 Coolidge, Sr., at first did not feel 

 justified in joining, but when told 

 of the Farm Bureau's benefit for his 

 grandchildren and nephews, who 

 would inherit the farm, he "peeled 

 oflF a 10-doIlar bill, sighed, and 

 signed." The largest cultivated field 

 on the Coolidge farm is about three 

 acres, Mr. Cooper said, and the land 



is rough and stony. 



I ftdminiatrmtioD < 



Pt Hideat'* offic« and | 



OrcKoisation work . 



I )«l>«Tt(i>eat of MarkAtlos and 8««r*t*ry. . 



TrMMiirer and Departncfit ot Floaaea. . . . 



Trwuimrtatioii Dvpartnent. , 



Fork . SJie 



3A! 



4.0e 



2Mc 



,2 Jo 



responsib _ __ 



generatio; t those values which develop soul 

 :uid hear^ 

 must feel 



as well as mind and body, you 

 it your especial function to stress 

 without c jssation the need of ^xing greatly 

 increased attention in the programs of 

 rommuni y, county, state and national 

 Farm Bu reaus to such factors as health, 

 rccieatioi . music, reading, religious educa- 



1 iwi-Utive work t>y ourdapartmaM at Waobiostoo. .4.Sc 



1 >*Dartni«r)t of Infomultioa 4.4c 



Cieneral oSm-c axpaonaa 7.0r 



Mur«!l«n«oas''^uch aa Woman'* Hama and C(^a- 

 munity Work; Boyn' and Oirk' Club work: Com- 

 ntittee on tl>« Relation of Electndty to Asrieultura 3.4c 



Pfiard of Diractora 2Jc 



.\nniual Maatiag 3.8e 



t V»d in paynfMit of old dabta 7.7(: 



In referring to the importance of taxa- 

 lion work to American fanners, Mr. Bfad- 

 fute mentioned particularly the taxation ac- 

 tivities of the Illinois Agricultural Associa- 

 lirm, calling attention to the annual saving 

 in this state of over $2,000,000. In this re- 

 gard he stated: 



"We also should be making some special 

 studies along the lines' of federal taxation, 

 und should, therefore, have a specialist 

 working on these problems. Some of the 

 hiost valuable services rendered by a num- 

 ber of our state Farm Bureaus have been 

 through this means, of which Illinois is a 

 notable example. If it is not possible to 

 have a specialist, we should by all means 

 have a special committee with sufficient 

 funds available to begin such work." 



that $50,000,000 left to be applied on 

 principal each year. 



"It amounts to $26.29 for each farm in 

 America. It is equivalent to one-half the 

 value of all crops raised in the State o! 

 Indiana in one year. It approximates the 

 4otul value of all annual crops in such states 

 jw Michigan and South Dakota. The build- 

 ing material thus consumed materially dis- 

 oounta the combined efforts of the Govern- 

 ment and other bodies to conserve the 

 forests and other natural resources of the 

 naticn. If, as believed, one-half of this loss 

 comee from the destruction of buildings, 

 our forests are depleted to the tune of 

 "",500 acres annually. 



"But, while fire losses are showing a per 

 aptta decrease for the nation and a decrease 

 in certain cities, they are still increasing on 

 the farm. Figures, compiled by the Farm 

 (Insurance) Association, which includes 

 practically all bi^siness transacted by legal 

 reserre companies on farm property in 

 twelve of the middle western states known 

 as the Heart States, indicate an increase of 

 29 j)er cent in fire losses for the five-year 

 period ending December 31, 1924." 



FARM FIRE LOSSES 



i 



; y centers, ci\ics and other con- 



sideratioi s for the common weal." 



DIRECTLY in line with the recent ac- 

 complishment of the Illinois farmers. 

 Farm Bureaus, and mutual fire and ight- 



. ^, ^ ning insurance companies in the oTganiza- 



tion. trailing for j>arenthood. better schools I tion of the Farmers Mutual Reinsurance 

 ' ' Company, as well as former work in this 



field by other state Farm Bureaus, Wallace 

 Rogers, chairman of the fire prevention 

 committee of the Farm Fire AJasociation^ 

 Chicago, addressed the convention on 

 "Farm Fire Losses" and the prevention of 

 such losses. In this he statea: 



"The loss by fine to farm proj)erty, real 

 and personal, in America has attained the 

 astounding figure of $150,000,000 annually. 

 The toll which the fire demon exacts from 

 American farmers will pay their annual in- 

 terest bill on all borrowed capital jrith more 



STOCK MARKETING 



DENMAX. president of 

 Natio lal Livestock Producers 



the 

 As- 

 spoke before the delegates on 

 marketing. In speaking of the 



Farm Bureau Members 

 Get $15 Discount on 

 Phosphate Next Year 



Beginning Jan. 1, 1926, Farm bureau 

 members in Illinois will have an op- 

 portunity to save $15 on every 30-ton 

 car of phosphate that they order, due 

 to a recent agreement withLthree phos- 

 phate companies accomplished through 

 the effort^^ of J. R. Bent, director of the 

 I. A. A. phosphate-limestone department, 

 and his advisory committee. 



This phosphate discount amounting to 

 50 cents a ton is given as a special 

 recognition to farm bureau members by 

 means of a farm bureau membership 

 credit certificate similar in principle to 

 the one used in ordering limestone dur- 

 ing the past two years. The phosphate 

 discount will be applied as a credit at 

 the time of paying for the material. 



One minimum carload ordered by a 

 farm bureau member allows him a sav- 

 ing of $15 or an amount equal to his 

 membership dues in the county and 

 state organization for an entire year 

 or will justify a non-member in join- 

 ing due to this one item alone. 



"It is hoped and expected," states Mr. 

 Bent, "that this will be a big talking 

 point for the Farm Bureaus in securing 

 and keeping members, and that it will 

 not only justify but encoufage the 

 members and advisers in their promo- 

 tional work for the use of phosphate 

 and thereby result in an increased de- 

 mand. In fact, that is the main argu- 

 ment upon which the producers were 

 finally convinced in granting the dis- 

 count. We hope to prove that it was 

 a sound argument." 



The Illinois Agricultural Association's 

 accredited list of phosphtate companies 

 at present include: 



Robin Jones Phosphate . Company, 

 Nashville, Tenn. 



Limestone Rate on 

 Wabash R, R. Saves 

 $9,000 in 4 Months 



Illinois farmers living in 21 counties 

 served by the Wabash railroad are gain- 

 ing ft. saving of over $2,000 a month in 

 limeatene transportation costs due to an 

 agre^ent secured by the Illinois Agri- 

 cultutml Association through J. R. Bent, 

 director of the phosphate-limestone de- 

 partiamt. 



This saving to farm bureau members 

 was brought about on Aug. 17 of this 

 year when officials of the Wabash lines 

 agreed to absorb a portion of (he cost 

 of switching at origin on shipments of 

 limestone intended for delivery at 

 Wabash points in Illinois. This meant 

 an average saving of approximately $10 

 a car on the transportation costs. Since 

 the agreement was arranged, close to 

 900 cars have been handled by* the rail- 

 road with the result of a saving of 

 nearly $9,000 to Illinois farmers in less 

 than four months. 



Director Bent states that this special 

 rate agreement was first accepted by the 

 Wabash company as an experimental 

 proposition for the balance of 1925. The 



results, however, have been so satis- 

 factory that the railroad officials have 

 consented to extend the rate for 1926 

 and it may become permanent. 



Counties affected by this special lime- 

 stone rate are: Adams, Brown, Cham- 

 paign, Christian, Cook, Ford, Effingham, 

 Grundy, Hancock, Livingston, Macon, 

 McLean, Montgomery, Morgan, Moults 

 rie, Piatt, Sangamon, Scott, Shelby, 

 Vermilion and Will. ;. 



Illinois' 20 Master 

 Farmers All Members 

 of the Farm Bureau 



"To these farmers, because they are 

 good farmers, good neighbors and good 

 citizens, Prairie Farmer is awarding the 

 degree of Master Farmer, and present- 

 ing each with a gold medal." 



Such is the enviable honor bestowed 

 upon 20 Illinois farmers, all farm 

 bureau members, because "they stayed 

 on the farm and made a good job of 

 farming and farm living." 



All farmers in Illinois, whether they 

 belong to the Farm Bureau or not, were 

 eligible in the contest which culminated 

 in the selection of the 20 Master 

 Farmers, but it is notable that each of 

 the 20, coming from 16 counties which 

 range from "Little Egypt" in the south 

 to the Chicago Milk territory in the 

 northj are members of their respective 

 county Farm Bureaus. 



Judges in the contest werei Sam H 

 Thompson, president of the Illinois Ag- 

 ricultural Association and the American 

 Farm Bureau Federation, Dr. W. L. 

 Burlison, University of Illinois; C. V. 

 Gregory, editor, Prairie Farmer and S 

 R. Guard of the WLS radio station. 



The 1925 Master Farmers of Illinois 

 are: Roy Atwood, Grand Ridge, La- 

 Salle county ; E. E. Boyer, Ashmore, 

 Coles county; Glenn Craft, Burlington, 

 Kane county; A. O. Eckert, Belleville, 

 St. Clair county; L. B. Eidman, Mas- 

 coutah, St. Clair county; John B. Ey- 

 man, Pontiac, Livingston county; Clyde 

 Hall, Aurora, Kane County; W. D. How- 

 land, Gardner, Grundy county; Law- 

 rence Kiesling, Mason ; City, Mason 

 county; W. 0, Kunkle, Carthage, Han- 

 cock county; E. R. Leigh, Sparland, 

 Marshall county; John C. Meis, Fair- 

 bury, Livingston county; J. E. Mum- 

 mert, Astoria, Fulton county; S. Nie- 

 meyer, Humboldt, Coles county; A. J. 

 Pallissard, St. Anne, Kankakee county; 

 Oris Pepple, St. Francisville, Lawrence 

 county; John Rathbun, Lombard, Du 

 Page county ; W. E. Reigle, Tolono, 

 Champaign county; L. C. Rinker, Grand 

 Ridge, LaSalle county and Carle C. 

 Walker, Clinton, DeWitt county. 



The gold medals were awarded at a 

 banquet given in honor of the Master 

 Farmers in Chicago, Dec. 2, at which 

 former Governor Frank 0. Lowden 

 spoke. 



-I 



■1.- 



Ruhm Phosphate and Chemical Com- 

 pany, Nashville, Tenn. ■ 



Thomson Phosphate Company, 137 

 So. LaSalle St., Chicago, 



Vl 



Farm Bureau Federation; M 



Noon, president of 



the Michigan Farm 



Bureau Federation 



and L. B. Palmer, 



president of the 



Ohio Farm Bureau 



Federation. Those 



elected for one 



year: W. H. Settle, 



president of the 



Indiana Farm Bu- 



reau Federation 



and F. L. Kelso, A. R. Wriiht 



president of the *'»•"'■«• Dele«ate 



South Dakota 



Upon request of Frank Ridgway, 

 agricultural editor of the Chicago 

 Tribune, President Thompson gave a 

 statement from Quincy Friday, Dec. 

 11, as follows: 



"I was extremely pleased to see 

 the editorial in the Chicago Tribune 

 this morning entitled, "The Far- 

 mers' Just Complaint." The biggest 

 opposition that agriculture has been 

 confronting has been due to lack of 

 sympathy from other interests who 



hould lend us a hand. Our problem 

 is a common one to all people. 



"I particularly like the statement 

 that if Congress disapproves of the 

 farmers* own remedies it must come 

 forward with something constructive 

 to take their place. The problem of 

 the surplus, which is our principal 

 one, is a problem that can be solved 

 by the brains of America if we will 

 adopt the right attitude toward it. 



Not Unfriendly to Coolidge 



"I am not unfriendly to Presidetit 

 Coolidge, in fact, I agree with much 

 of what he said before the American 

 Farm Bureau convention, especially 

 as regards co-operative marketing. 

 He referred to but failed to recog- 

 nize adequately our paramount prob- 

 lem — that of disposing of the normal 

 surplus, which, because it is sold in 



world markets at world prices in 



competition with the very cheapest 

 standards of living, sets the price on 

 the entire American demand. In tak- 

 ing up the surplus problem, he con- 

 sciously or unconsciously assumed 

 me responsibility of dealing with it. 

 "As regards the present agricul- 

 tural situation, I think that such 

 improvements as have taken place in 

 the relative prices of wheat and of 

 hogs have been due to abnormal con- 

 ditions of production, rather than to 

 any correction ef the fundamental 

 underlying maladjustment. In 1924 

 we profited from a world-wide short- 

 age of wheat due to misfortunes 

 abroad. This year we have been 

 placed on a domestic basis with our 

 wheat because of the partial failure 

 of the winter wheat crop of this 

 country. Hogs are high because we 

 have comparatively few hogs to sell, 

 owing to the short com crop of last 

 year, and the unprofit9ble prices for 

 hogs that have ruled since 1921, 

 while com this year, of which we 

 have a good crop, is selling today at 

 less than it cost to grow it. 



Quotes Jardine on Farm Situation 



"In the 1925 report, released Dec. 

 7. Secretary of Agriculture says: 

 'Much remains to be done to put 

 agriculture on a profitable basis. 

 The purchasing power of farm prod- 

 ucts in October was still 13 per cent 

 below its pre war level.' " 



"Agricultural conditions of the 

 past five years have resulted in a de- 

 cline of the capital value of agricul- 

 tural investment of 20 billions of 

 dollars. Even after writing this off 

 as lost' agriculture is not in a posi- 

 tion of parity. With normal crops 

 at home and abroad, I can see no 

 reason why the price relationship in 

 the future may not slump further to 

 the disadvantage of the products of 

 those crops that normally are pro- 

 duced in excess of the amount which 

 the domestic market can absorb at a 

 fair value. 



The problems of the new admin- 

 istration of the American Farm Bu- 

 reau Federation will be determined 

 by the resolutions of the convention 

 and carried out by the concurrent 

 action of the board of directors and 

 myself. i 



The Illinois delegates wtre S'am 

 H. Thompson, Earl C. Smith, Frank 



D. Barton and J. L. Whisnand. A. 



E. Wright was alternate. These del- 

 egates were placed on several im- 

 txirtant committees. 



i 



I 



