CULTURAL A 



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Volume 4 



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



No. 6 



COWLES REPORTS TO MEMBERS ON STATUS OF FARM RELIEF 



"Haugen Bill Would 

 Bring Nation a New 

 Prosperity, ' ' — Fox 



Says Effective Action hy Con- 

 gress Would Change Pessi- 

 mism Into Optimism, Be- 

 sides Helping Prices. 



A permanence of prosperity 

 never before seen in this country 

 would be a logical result of enact- 

 ment of the Haugen federal farm 

 board measure by Congress, accord- 

 ing to George A. Fox, executive 

 secretary of the Illinois Agricul- 

 tural Association. 



"The enactment of a genuine 

 farm relief bill, making possible 

 equality for agriculture and effec- 

 tively coping with the uncontroll- 

 able surplus, would have a two-fold 

 beneficial effect upon the farmers 

 themselves, and the rest of the 

 nation," declares Secretary FoJt. 



"The first is psychological. Farm- 

 ers have been more or less pessimis- 

 tic for five or six years. Pessimism 

 is a brake on any industry, and if 

 effective legislation is passed, optim- 

 ism will chase away pessimism, 

 which will be of considerable value 

 in helping agriculture get back on 

 its feet — an event which would re- 

 flect benefits into every allied in- 

 dustry and business. 



Would Increase Prices 



"The second is material. Low 

 prices have caused pessimism. Leg- 

 islation along the lines of the 

 Haugen bill, if properly adminis- 

 tered, would materially enhance 

 prices to the farm«is. All who 

 trade with farmers would benefit 

 therefrom, as would the farmers 

 themselves. 



"What ibout the consumer? His 

 benefits from a rehabilitated and 

 rejuvenated agriculture would 

 greatly offset the small increase in 

 the cost of living, if there is any. 

 An increase of 25 cents a bushel 

 on wheat adds only three tenths of 

 one per cent to a one-pound loaf of 

 bread, the government has found. 



"Wheat is a fair example of all 

 foodstuffs; consequently it follows 

 that there would be a very small in- 

 crease in the cost of living to con- 

 sumers, and if there should be 

 much, the merchandising mechan- 

 ism of the country would be prof 

 iteering, and not the farmers. 



'Some interests profess to believe 

 that if any effective bill is enacted 

 which would raise farm prices for 

 farmers, the other two-thirds of the 

 population — the major portion cf 

 the consuming public — -would imme- 

 diately react unfavorably and wipe 

 out all the fanner had gained, and 

 even set him back a notch. 



"What happens under present 

 conditions when the farmers are 

 prosperous? AH the country is 

 prosperous, and the press is full of 

 prosperity talk, 90 per cent of 

 which is based on the farmers' 

 higher prices. 



Cites Aluminum Interests 



"What about other similar cases? 

 Take, as an example, the Mellon 

 aluminum interest which is virtually 

 a monopoly of products used ex- 

 tensively in practically every Amer- 

 ican household. The consumers of 

 aluminum are a much greater ma- 

 jority over the aluminum interests 

 than the food consumers are over 

 the farmers. But, were tyrannical 

 laws made or regulations promul- 

 gated against the aluminum inter- 

 ests as a result of the recent Con- 

 gressional inquiry? No. 



"The same is true of manufac- 

 turers who enjoy the benefits of our 



The Fight In the House 



I. A. A. APPRECIATES 



BANKERS HELP ON BILL 



Appreciation for the indorsement 

 by the Illinois Bankers Association 

 of the Haugen Federal Farm Board 

 measure was expressed in a resolu- 

 tion passed by the I. A. A. execu- 

 tive committee at monthly meeting 

 May 7, as follows: 



whereas, the admintstrmtive committee 

 and the committee on asricultural rela- 

 tions of the Illinois Bankers Association, 

 in joint meetins assembled at Chicairo on 

 April 21, 1926, have hy suitable action 

 endorsed the activities of the Illinois 

 Affricultaral Association in its effort to 

 secure the enactment into law of the farm 

 organisations' Federal Farm Board bill; 

 and have given assurance of the coopera- 

 tion of the Illinois Bankers Association. 



Therefore, be It resotved, by the execu- 

 tive committee of the Illinois Agricultural 

 Association : 



That we express, on behalf of both the 

 Illinois Agricaltural Association and this 

 committee, and -of the members of our as- 

 sociation, genuine appreciation of the ac- 

 tion taken and expression made and con- 

 veyed to this Association: and 



Be it further resblvad, that a copy of 

 this resolution be transmitted by our sec- 

 retary to the secretary of the Illinois 

 Bankers Associstion; and that this resolu- 

 tion be incorporated in the minutes of this 

 meeting of the executive committee. 



protective tariff which increases 

 costs of practically all our products 

 to the consumers yet the manufac- 

 turers are an insignificant minority, 

 numerically. The tariff is known; 

 to benefit many consumers more 

 than it increases their cost of liv- 

 ing, therefore there is no general 

 attack against it. 



"Making the tariff effective on 

 agricultural products, as is done by 

 the Haugen federal farm board 

 measure, also benefits most of the 

 consumers by rehabilitating the 

 finances of the largest single con- 

 suming class in the country — the 

 farmers." 



Pboh 1922 TO 1926 BOVINB tubbbculosis 

 was reduced from 4 to 2.8 per cent in the 

 United States by the cooperative federal, 

 state and county testing program, says the 

 U. S. D. A. 



Important Ruling of 

 Commerce Commission 

 Affects Many Farmers 



Farmers who have or want elec- 

 trical conveniences on their farms 

 gained a large measure of protec- 

 tion from possible exorbitant rates 

 as a result of the recent order is- 

 sued by the Illinois Commerce Com- 

 mission which requires that all pub- 

 lic utilities about to render rural 

 electric service in the state shall 

 file with the commission a detailed 

 statement of the cost per mile of 

 constructing rural lines. 



This ruling is of considerable im- 

 portance and means much to the 

 advancement of electrification of 

 the farms of Illinois, according to 

 L. J. Quasey, director of the de- 

 partment of transportation of the 

 Illinois Agricultural Association. 

 Heretofore, states the commission, 

 estimates of costs of building rural 

 electric lines have varied from $600 

 to $1,600 a mile for the same qual- 

 ity of lines. 



INDIANA WHEAT POOL 



SELECTS A NEW NAME 



"Central States Soft Wheat 

 Growers Association" is the name 

 selected by the board of directors 

 of the Indiana Wheat Growers As- 

 sociation to replace their present 

 one because of expansion of the 

 organization beyond Indiana. This 

 will be submitted to a vote of 

 the members by mail according to 

 Vernon Vaniman, who is handling 

 grain marketing work for the I. A. 

 A., and, in all probability it will 

 carry. 



Illinois membership in the pool is 

 gradually increasing, Vaniman 

 finds. Clark and Effingham counties 

 are now giving the wheat growers 

 in certain communities the oppor- 

 tunity of securing the advantages 

 of marketing their wheat through 

 their own agency. 



/. A. A. Treasurer Analyzes Situation 



of McNary Bill in Congress; Adverse j 

 Vote in House Does Ntd Mean Defeat 



Industrial East Voted Solidly Against Farm Relief; Illinois 

 Delegation in House, Excepting All But One of Congress- 

 men from Chicago, Voted Solid for Farmers' Bill. i 



(Note: R. A. Crowles, treasurer of the Illinou Agrieultural AtM- 

 ciation wa» in Wathinffton the week of May 17 to it in behalf of the 

 asBociation's intereet in the Haugen bill (MeNary bill in Senate) and 

 haa written this report to each member can know what has been hap- 

 pening, and something of what may be expected to happen tn the. near 

 future.— Editor.) \ 



By R. A. COWLES 



Drive Started to Get 

 Members for Poultry 

 and Egg Association 



Flora Poultry Producers As- 

 sociation Members Solicit- 

 ing Neighbors to Get Prod- 

 uct of 250,000 Hens in 

 Marketing Organizations. 



HIS report is offered in an attempt to acquaint the 

 members of the Illinois Agricultural Association and 

 their friends with the events that have 

 transpired in Washington during the past 

 week, with respect to the action in the House 

 on farm legislation, the status of legislation 

 now pending in the Senate dealing with dis- 

 posal of surplus, and to forecast within the 

 limitations of the writer and others, oppor- 

 tunity to secure the enactment of the farm 

 organizations' Federal Farm Board Bill in 

 this session of Congress. 



The "Haugen Bill" was voted down in the 

 House of Representatives by a vote of 212 to lfi7, with 51 

 Congressmen reported as not voting. Let the reader bear in 

 mind, however, that the bill voted down was a bill that was 



prepared by the Chairman of the 

 Committee on Agricultun of the 

 House, at the direction of hi" Com- 

 mittee, and that this bill embodied 

 in it, provisions and certain refer- 

 ences to the tariff that were omitted 

 from the bill earlier prepared by 

 the representatives of the united 

 farm organizations and supported 

 bv the Executive Committee of 

 22 of the CeTitral West Agricultural 

 Conference, as presented to the 

 House Committee on Agriculture 

 by those representatives, and em- 

 bodying the provisions that they 

 thought should be and might prop- 

 erly be incorporated in a bill. Ths 

 subject of tariff, for instance, was 

 very studiously avoided in the bill 

 prepared and drafted by the farm 

 organizations representatives aitore- 

 mentioncd. And the unfavorable 

 vote recorded in the House, is the 

 judgment of those who have been 

 closely associated with the legisla- 

 tive program in Washington, is at- 

 tributable in part at least to the 

 reference to the tariff and certain 

 declarations relating thereto, as ap- 

 pearing in the bill voted down. The 

 events that led up to the unfavor- 

 able vote on the bill will be recount- 

 ed later in this report. 



Roles Committee Unfriendly 

 While the Haugen bill has been 

 voted down in the House, and it 

 would be impossible at this time for 

 the friends of the farm organisa- 

 tions' Federal Farm Board BUI in 

 the House, to obtain from the ftulea 

 Committee a place on the House 

 calendar for the consideration of 

 their bill, substantially in the form 

 as originally presented to the com- 

 mittee, fortunately, there is now 

 pending in the Senate the farm or- 

 ganizations' Federal Farm Board 

 Bill, as an amendment, appended to 

 the administration's Co-operative 

 Marketing bill. This result came 

 about in this manner: The house 

 early in the session passed the Ad- 

 minstration's Co-operative Market- 

 ing Bill, which then went to the 

 Senate; and was by the Senate re- 

 ferred to its Committee on Agri- 

 culture and Forestry. Senator Nor- 

 ris* committee deferred action on 

 that bill until after the representa- 

 (Coatlaaad on pegs 4. aeL 4.) 



Owners of 3,450 hens signed th« 

 first membership agreements in the 

 Flora Poultry Producers Associa- 

 tion at an organization meeting at 

 Flora, Clay County, recently. These 

 men were: C. R. Richison, Cisne, 

 president; C. D. McCommons, 

 Flora; C. T. Hufford, Fairfield; Roy 

 D. Cunningham, Rinard; J. T. Mc- 

 Allister, Xenia; W. R. Fry, Louis- 

 ville; Orville Bryant, Xenia; J. M. 

 Schwantz, Clay City; F. W. Lo- 

 gan, Louisville; John W. Wilkins, 

 and Charles E. Dodd, Cisne. 



"This represents approximately 

 one seventieth of the goal of 250,- 

 000 hens that must be signed up to 

 make this marketing association a 

 realty," says Frank A. Gougler, di- 

 rector of poultry and egg marketing 

 of the I. A. A. 



Only a few farmers have had 

 time to solicit their neighbors to 

 join, but those who have been active 

 have been successful in getting 

 members. There is no charge to a 

 Farm Bureau member to join, but 

 non-members are required to pay 

 $5 for a share of common stock 

 and two per cent -is deducted from 

 non-members' gross sales for over- 

 head expense, and for service ren- 

 dered by the Farm Bureau. This 

 arrangement is bringing more farm- 

 ers into the Farm Bureau, Director! 

 Gougler finds. 



The Peoria County Farm Bureau and the 

 Peoria Association of Commerce extended an 

 invitation to the Illinois Agricultural As. 

 sociation to hold Its next annual meetins in 

 Peoria at the last executive committee 

 ing. 



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