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Volume 4 



Issued Every Month for 63,000 thinking Farmers— May 1, 1926 



No. 5 



PRESIDENT SMITH URGES EVERY FARMER 



TO WRITE 



Smith Gives Reason 

 Why Tincher Bill Is 

 No Good for Farmers 



Says Administration's Farm 

 Relief Proposal Would 

 Place Entire Burden of 

 Stabilization on Coopera- 

 tives, Thus Making Mem- 

 bership Undesirable. 



THE Coolidge administration's 

 program for farm relief as em- 

 bodied in the Tincher bill, referred 

 to in Washington as a measure 

 "everyone knows has the endorse- 

 ment of the administration," and 

 which has the open support of Sec- 

 retary Jardine and the endorsement 

 of "the spokesman of the White 

 House" is unqualifiedly disapproved 

 by the Illinois Agricultural Associ- 

 ation. 



Speaking for the association's 

 6.1,000 farmer-members, Earl -C. 

 Smith, Detroit, Pike county, presi- 

 dent, issued the following state- 

 ment : 



"The appearance of the Tincher 

 bill in the House and its companion 

 bill in the Senate, draws a clear 

 picture of the tremendous gap be- 

 tween the nationaPagricultural pro- 

 -am which the farmers are work- 

 ing for and what the administration 

 offers as its program. 



"Now that the House committee 

 on agriculture has reported out both 

 the farmers' measure,, vi*ich is the 

 Federal Farm Board "biU^ and the 

 Tincher bill, bringing both to the 

 attention of the whole House, it is 

 time that we clearly state our po- 

 sition. 



Would Not be Effective. 



"In our opinion the Tincher bill 

 fails utterly to address the basic 

 problem of agriculture besides em- 

 bodying in it most objectionable 

 provisions. 



"The reasons why the Tincher 

 bill has the unqualified disapproval 

 of the Illinois Agricultural Associ- 

 ation are: 



"(1) It provides no mechanism 

 or funds for making the tariff ef- 

 fective. 



"(2) It makes no provision of 

 any kind for handling the surplus or 

 stabilizing markets or prices. 



"(3) : It provides no aid for car- 

 rying over surplus production from 

 one year to the next or for finding 

 markets. 



"(4) The revolving fund pro- 

 vided in the bill cannot be used ex- 

 cept to make loans to cooperatives 

 which must be repaid with interest. 

 Cooperatives do not need govern- 

 ment loans for their regular mar- 

 keting operations. If they need 

 loans for handling the surplus they 

 will unfairly impose upon their 

 members the entire cost of stabil- 

 ization, and, therefore, they will not 

 j'ccept such loans. In other words, 

 this bill provides for an additional 

 method for cooperatives to get into 

 debt. If cooperatives undertake to 

 handle a crop surplus so as to sta- 

 bilize prices, to make the tariff ef- 

 fective, or to regulate the world 

 price, (as in the case of cotton) the 

 costs of the endeavor and the risks 

 they run would be borne by the 

 members only of such cooperative 

 ansociations. The cooperative which 

 atti-mpted to do this would certainly 

 <\'stroy itself for it would in effect 

 be placing a penalty on membership 

 in that organization. 



"The Federal Farm Board meas- 

 ure vt-hich is supported by the farm 

 organizations of the Corn Belt, of 



No Use Throwing a Life 



Saver That Won't Reach 



225 of Illinois ' Best Farmers Earned 



3.21 Per Cent on Investment in 1925 



THE first annual report of Farm 

 Bureau-Farm Management serv- 

 ice conducted under auspices of the 

 department of farm organization 

 and management of the University 

 of Illinois and the Farm Bureaus in 

 Livingston, McLean, Tazewell and 

 Woodford counties, shows that the 

 225 farmers whose records were 

 used in preparing the report, after 

 paying all expenses of operating 

 their farms, without including any 

 allowance for their own labor, 

 lacked $382 of making 5 per cent 

 on their investment. 



M. L. Mosher and H. C. M. Case 

 are authors of the report, the form- 

 er acting as field man for the 225 

 farmer-cooperators who keep rec- 

 ords. 



The average investment pel acre, 

 states the report, including build- 

 ings, livestock and other equipment, 

 was $258.15 per acre. Expressed in 

 another way, these men earn 3.21 

 per cent on their investment, after 



the North, the West and of the 

 South, truly representative of the 

 producers and in substantial agree- 

 ment, and has been reported on 

 favorably by the Senate committee 

 on agriculture, places the cost of 

 caring for the surplus on every pro- 

 ducer. It is not price-fixing any 

 more than the tariff is price-fixing 

 or the . immigration law, or the 

 transportation act. It does not 

 place the government in business, 

 and does make the tariff effective." 



deducting all expenses of operating 

 their farms and $720 for the Value 

 'of their own labor. 



"In addition to the wages allowed 

 a man for his own labor, these farms 

 on an average received the use of 

 produce from tbe farm which at 

 farm prices was worth $430 per 

 farm. Also the house they lived in 

 was worth $446 per farm each year 

 based on depreciation, upkeep and 

 interest charges. The total value 

 of the living furnished from the 

 farm at farm prices amounted to 

 $876 per farm. 



These Farms llluch Above Average. 



"In considering tlie earnings on 

 these farms it must be recognized 

 that these farms do not represent 

 the average farm conditions and 

 average farm earnings. Most of 

 these men own their own farms or 

 else are renting them from relatives, 

 and on the whole they are more pro- 

 ductive than the average of all 

 farms of a community in this sec- 

 tion of the state. A survey was 

 made of all the farms of one town- 

 ship in the center of the area repre- 

 sented by the 225 farms securing 

 information which would determine 

 the approximate farm earnings. It 

 was found that the 225 cooperators 

 in this project received a return of 

 more than a thousand dollars great- 

 er net income per farm for 1925 

 than those in the one township 

 where very few farm records were 

 kept." 



Farmers* "Lead Pencil" Letters Needed 

 Down at Congress NOW; Says Farm Board 

 Bill Only Hope to Quickly Boost Prices 



VERY farm bureau member is urged to write letters to 



his Congressman, the two Congressmen-at-large and the 



two Senators, by Earl C. Si«ith, president of the Illinois 



cultural Association. 



['In the last issue of The Record," says President Smith, "we 



nted the full text of the Federkl Farm Board measure which 



he definite form of the general principles of farm legisla- 



endorsed by the delegates at the annual meeting at the 



iversity •f Illinois last January. 



'We askei at that time that members study the bill and be in 



position to act when called upon. 

 It has developed, witli the drawing 

 of definite lines in this fight, that 

 the administration leaders who do 

 not want the Federal Farm Board 

 measure are saying that the real 

 farmers in the country do not want 

 the equalization fee, which nukes 

 it possible to skim the surplus prod- 

 uction off the domestic market and 

 dispose of it abroad at world prices 

 and place the loss on the producers 

 of the commodities benefited. 



3 Important Bodies 

 Indorse I. A. A. Stand 

 on Farm Legislation 



Three important indorsements 

 of the Illinois Agricultural As- 

 sociation's ^and for "Equality 

 for Agriculture" have been ren- 

 dered recently. 



iThe American Federation" of 

 Labor officially indotsed the Fed- 

 eral Farm Board bjl before the 

 proper committees at Washing- 

 tan. The Hamilton Club of Chi- 

 cago, the largest Republican or- 

 giinization of its Idnd west of 

 New York, passed a resolution 

 urging Congress to "redeem the 

 Republican pledges of lil24" bj> 

 providing adequate relief l^is- 

 lation for the farmers. The Illi- 

 nois Bankers Association,' 

 through its administrative com- 

 mittee and committee on agricul- 

 tural relations, endorsed the Fed- 

 eral Farm Board measure. In a 

 letter from Secretary M. A. 

 Graettinger iof the Bankers as- 

 sociation to Secretary Fox, he 



"The general sentiment was in 

 faivor of going along with the 

 Illinois A^itultural Association 

 arid cooperating with it to the 

 fullest extent, and with this end 

 iqjview, action was taken endors- 

 ing the Fedenal Farm Board bill." 



Many local Chambers of Com- 

 mtrce in IBinois have tak^n 

 similar action. 



Legislative Situation 

 at Washington Rallies 

 500 More to Our Ranks 



At least 500 new members in 

 the Farm Burdaus and the I. A- A. 

 will I result from the large number 

 of township meetings held in some 

 40 Illinois coUnties the week of 

 April 19 to 24, according to George 

 E. Metzger, oqganization director. 



"I'p to Tuesday morning, April 

 27, 2,76 new members have been re- 

 ported to my office," Metzger says. 

 "Thtre are 39 from Pike countv; 

 25 from Rock Island: 22 from Ma- 

 con; 25 from Morgan; 6 from pan- 

 cock; 12 from Henry; 22 from San- 

 gamon; 25 from DeWitt, and 100 

 ^onk McLean. 



Bad Weather laterfered. 



"Reports from farm advisers show 

 that storniyi weather 3eriou.sly haadi- 

 capped holding the meeting. The 



(Continued on pace 4. col. 5) 



Equalization Fee Necessary. 



"1 am con\-inced, as are the oth- 

 ers who have piven thi« nrnhUnt 

 close study, that the equalization 

 fee is absolutely necessary to make 

 the plan effective; to avoid direct 

 government subsidy and to strength- 

 en our cooperative marketing organ- 

 izations. 



"I know that Con^ressmeti and 

 Senators give more weight to letters 

 from farmers within their district 

 than a half-dozen telegrams from 

 outside. The more letters each 

 member writes, the greater is his 

 realm of influence and usefulaess in 

 this fight. 



"The following Ck>nKres$men and 

 Senators should be written IM- 

 MEDIATELY: 



1. Senators Charles S. Deneen 

 and William B. McKinley orf Illi- 

 nois. 



2. Congressmen-at-large Richard 

 Yates and Henry R. Rath bone. * . 



3. Your own Congressman. t 

 "Address these men care of the 



Senate or House Oflice buildings, 

 Washington, D. C. i 



What t«> Write. | ^ 

 "The poinU that should be 

 stressed in letters are: (1) That 

 Congressmen exert their utmost ef- 

 forts to pass the Haugen bill, which 

 is the name of the farm organiza- 

 tions* Federal Farm Board measure 

 in the House, and, that Seaators 

 •igorously support and defend the 

 .McNary bill, as our bill is known, 

 in the Senate; (2) Urge defeat of 

 the Tincher bill in the House and 

 the Capper bill in the Senate as it 

 is e\ndent that the administration 

 has brought out this proposal to sub- 

 stitute for and to defeat the F*d«ral- 

 Farm Board measure. 



"There is no doubt that the Fed- 

 eral Farm Board measure is the only 

 bill before Congress that promises 

 to immediately enhance the value of , 

 major farm commodities." 



HELP US HELP YOU GET EOUALIH FOR AGRICULTURE-WRITE! 



