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Pag 



e Four 



THE I. A. A. RECORD 



I li Li I N OIS 



CrLTVRAL ASSOCIA 



RECORO 



To adoancm the pwtrpoam for which thm farm bureau woaa organized, 

 namely to promote, protect and represent the bu*ine*$, economic, 

 eoeial and educational intereata of the farmera of Illinoia and the nation, 

 mnd to develop agriculture. 



Published onoe a month at 404 North Wealey Ave., Mount MorriB, Illinois, 

 by the Illinois Acricultural Association. Edited by Department of Information, 

 E. G. Thiem, Director, 808 South Dearborn Street, Chicago, Illinois. Entered 

 em second-clasa matter October 20, 1925, at the post ofiBce at Mount Morris, 

 Illinois, under the Act of March 3, 1879. Acceptance for mailing at special rate of 

 postage provided for in Section 412, Act of February 28, 1925, authori«ed 

 October 27, 1925. The individual membership fee of the Illinois Agricultura 1 

 AaMoiation is five dollars a year. The fee includes payment of fifty cents for 

 •ubaeription to the Illinois Aoricultubal, Association Rxcord. Postmaster: 

 In returning an uncalled for or missent copy, please indicate key number on 

 Address as is required by law. 



OFFICERS 



President, Earl C. Smith Detroit 



^^tee-President, Frank D. Barton Cornell 



TVCksurer, R. A. Cowles Bloomington 



. , : EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 



(By Consressional Districts) 



laC to 11th H. C. Vial, Downers Grove 



12th G, F. Tullock, Rockford 



13th C E. Baxnborough, Polo 



14Ch W. H. Moody, Port Byron 



15th A. M. Skinner, Yates City 



16th A. R. Wright, Varna 



17th Geo. J. Stoll, Chestnut 



18th R. F. Karr, Iroquois 



19th J. L. Whisnand, Charleston 



20th Charles Borgelt, Havana 



21st Samuel Sorrells, Raymond 



JXt%d Frank Oezner, Waterloo 



23rd W. L. Cope, Salem 



24ih Ch«rles Marshall, Belknap 



2fth Fred Dietz, De Soto 



DIRECTORS OF DEPARTMENTS 



Business Service Geo. R. Wicker 



Dairy Marketing y A. D. Lynch 



Farm Supply J. R- Bent 



Flitance R. A. Cowles 



Fruit and Vegetable Marketing A. B. Leeper 



General Office J. H. Kelker 



Information E. G. Thiem 



Auto Insurance J. P. Gibson 



Legal Counsel Donald Kirkpatrick 



Lire Stock Marketing Ray E. Miller 



OlVanixation G. E. Metzger 



Field Service V. Vaniman 



PoNsltry and Egg Marketing F. A. Gougler 



Tiifation and Statistics J. C. Watson 



Transportation L. J. Quasey 



A' 



, A Parallel In Scotland \ 



N ARTICLE in The Scottish Farmer for October 8 

 says: 



"Nobody cares a straw for the farmer. Those 

 who are in a position to help will not. The govern- 

 ment tells him to work harder. The public advises 

 him to spend less. Well-wishers tell him to have 

 patience and everything will come all right sooner 

 or later. But this is all talk and nothing else. The 

 time has come, however, when more than words 

 are necessary. Whether the farmer has been wise 

 or foolish makes no difference. The point is — agri- 

 culture needs assistance. No one cares a snuff 

 about individual farmers who fail, but the Nation 

 must and does care a good deal whether agriculture 

 as an industry fails. The Nation and the Govern- 

 ment will not believe the farmer when he says he 

 is down and out. The fact is — ^the Government 

 does not understand, and the public does not care. 

 They do not know the facts and conditions, and 

 they have no desire to learn the truth. We sug- 

 gest, therefore, that the only way to make such 

 people learn the truth is for farmers to go bank- 

 rupt en bloc. If this is the only way, they should 

 take it. It is an extreme step, but it takes a dras- 

 tic step to meet a drastic situation. Someone must 

 move, because if we do nothing the powers that be 

 will follow suit, and if we do something drastic so 

 will they." 



Strangely enough, the words of the canny Scot who 

 wrote this analysis of conditions in Scotland, might well 

 be applied to American agriculture. We differ, however, 

 in the proposed remedy. Wholesale bankruptcies merely 

 destroy. They ruin the morale and faith of jthose engaged 

 in the industry. They promote land tenancy and the con- 

 centration of land ownership in the hands of the few. 

 The inevitable result of such a policy would be peasantry. 

 The American farmer will help himself if given equal op- 

 portunity and protection. 



I 



S' 



The Hired Man 



INCE 1920, this country has been going through a 

 period of deflation, and farmers have been working 

 for the cities at very small pay," says Dr. G. F. Warren, 

 agricultural economist at Cornell University. 



He points to the fact that in 1926 values of farm lands 

 in the United States averaged 24 per cent above pre-war 

 values or at 124 per cent, whereas industrial stocks were 

 149 per cent above pre-war, or at 249 per cent. 



The farmer has been working in the role of the hired 

 man. But a most unusual hired man he is. He supplies 

 the capital for his business. He assumes the business risks 

 ordinarily borne by the employer. He plans, initiates, and 

 executes all his work without direction. He doesn't put 

 in eight hours a day. He labors 12 to 15 hours daily 

 through a large portion of the year. He provides his own 

 shop or office for which he must pay rent, or interest and 

 taxes. He supplies all his own tools and equipment. He 

 calls on his family daily for help, or hires a helper, or 

 both. 



And in return what does he receive? His yearly pay 

 check may be large enough to pay the rent or taxes and 

 buy groceries. If he is fortunate it may do slightly more 

 than this. If otherwise he may go in the hole. A most 

 unusual hired man. 



Our Great Job 



I- 



"T HAVE great faith in the American body politic 

 X when it is informed. But the public is not informed 

 on this question. Business men particularly do not under- 

 stand the farmers' problem nor the solution they offer to 

 remedy it." 



Col. Clarence Ousley of Texas, former assistant secre- 

 tary of agriculture, made this sig^iificant statement before 

 the recent St. Louis conference. By doing so, he revealed 

 the greatest stumbling block to the American farmers' de- 

 mands for a raise. 



Where there is ignorance and lack of information there 

 is likely to be prejudice. When a man isn't up on a thing, 

 he is usually down on it. 



Agriculture has had difficulty in getting across its story 

 in a big way. Business and industry is wedded to the 

 psychologfy of optimism. The influence of the counting- 

 house is used to suppress truth through the press when 

 the truth seems unfavorable to business. The metropoli- 

 tan papers devoted page upon page to the President's veto 

 message on the McNary-Haugen bill. The reply to the 

 veto message, a much more ably written document, was 

 obscured in the Congressional Record. 



An organized publicity campaign, ostensibly backed, by 

 eastern industrialists and unlimited capital, has been 

 waged to discredit the surplus-control movement. Agri- 

 culture has not the capital nor the organization to counter- 

 act this propaganda. Telling our story and getting it 

 across to the public in our towns and cities is our biggest 

 job. It will be so for years to come. 



