Page Eight 



terial which comes into the midwest 

 pays the increased freight and this in 

 turn is taken up by the consumer. We 

 cannot return to pre-war railway rates 

 without ruin to the railways. There- 

 fore, I have long asserted that the real 

 hope of reducing charges upon our 

 bulk goods was through the moderni- 

 zations of our great interior water- 

 ways. By modernization, I mean in- 

 creasing depths to a point where we 

 can handle five or ten thousand tons 

 in a line of barges pulled by a tug. 

 This administration has authorized the 

 systematic undertaking of this modern- 

 ization. Within a few years we will 

 have completed the deepening of the 

 Ohio up to Pittsburgh, the Missouri up 

 to Kansas City, Omaha, and beyond, 

 the Mississippi to St. Paul and Minne- 

 apolis, the Illinois to Chicago. We al- 

 ready have experience with results, for 

 with only the main river from St. Louis 

 to New Orleans as yet working prop- 

 erly, the rates for transportation of 

 bulk agricultural products through 

 that section are near pre-war railway 

 rates. We will not have the advantage 

 of full results until the entire Mis- 

 sissippi and its tributaries are in one 

 connected transportation system. 



Modernization of Waterways 



"We have another great opportunity 

 of relief in the building of a shipway 

 from the Great Lakes to the sea. Our 

 engineers have recommended the St. 

 Lawrence route as the preferable out- 

 let. The administration has under- 

 taken negotiations with Canada upon 

 the subject. If these negotiations fail 

 we must consider alternative routes. 

 In any event, the completion of this 

 great system of barge lines on the riv- 

 ers and connecting the lakes with the 

 gulf, of opening a shipway from 

 the lakes to the sea, will make 

 an effective transportation system 

 12,000 miles in length penetrating 

 20 midwest states. It will connect 

 these states with seaboard at the gulf 

 on one hand and with the North At- 

 lantic on the other. And this means 

 more than the mere saving upon the 

 actual goods shipped over these routes. 

 If part of your crops can move to mar- 

 ket at a seven-to-ten-cent saving per 

 bushel, the buyers' competitive bidding 

 for this portion of the crop will force 

 upward the price of the whole crop." 



THE I. A. A. RECORD 



Horses and mules, which in 1926 

 were worth relatively less than any 

 time in the past 40 years, are advanc- 

 ing in price, says the United States 

 Department of Agriculture. The num- 

 ber of horses and mules in certain 

 states has decreased steadily since 

 1900. In 1913 Illinois had 1,659,000 

 horses and mules compared with 1,- 

 045,000 this year. 



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SECRETARY HOOVER AT 



ELIZABETHTON, TENN., 



OCT. 6, 1928 



4</^ REAT expansion of agricultural 

 \j production in Canada and the 

 southern hemisphere combined with in- 

 creasing efficiency and larger produc- 

 t on by our own farmers have ren- 

 dered unstable those branches of our 

 agriculture which are dependent upon 

 )reign markets. These circumstances 

 have brought a long train of difficulties 

 t> the American farmer. With fewer 

 nen needed upon the farm and with 

 n ore needed in other lines of produc- 

 ton our great cities have, within this 

 1 1 years, a little less than doubled in 

 pjpulation, with resultant social prob- 

 lems. 



"We must continue our endeavor to 

 n istore economic equality to those farm 

 fi.milies who have lagged behind in the 

 n^arch of progress. 



Proposals For Relief 



"In the past seven and a half years 

 c< ngress has passed more than a score 

 o1 constructive acts in direct aid of the 

 fj rmer and the improvement of his 

 marketing system. They have con- 

 ti ibuted greatly to strengthen the agri- 

 ci Itural industry. Our party has un- 

 d(rtaken to go farther than this and 

 to still further reorganize farmers' 

 m irketing systems, placing it on a basis 

 ol greater stability and security. I 

 ni jy repeat these proposals. We stand 

 specifically pledged to create a federal 

 farm board of men sympathetic with 

 the problem, to be clothed with pow- 

 ers and resources with which not only 

 tc further aid farmers' co-operatives 

 ar d assist generally in solving the mul- 

 til ude of different farm problems which 

 arise from all quarters of our nation, 

 but in particular to build up with ini- 

 ti{ 1 advances of capital from the gov- 

 er iment, farmer-owned and farmer- 

 co itrolled stabilization corporations 

 wlich will protect the farmer from de- 

 pressions and the demoralization of 

 su nmer and periodic surpluses. Such 

 an instrumentality should be able to 

 de relop as years go on the constructive 



measures necessary to solve the new 

 farmers' problems that will inevitably 

 arise. It is no proposal of subsidy or 

 fee or tax upon the farmer. It is a 

 proposal to assist the farmer onto his 

 own feet into control of his own des- 

 tinies. This is not a theoretic formula. 

 It is a business proposition designed to 

 m.ake farming more pi-ofitable. No 

 such far-reaching and specific proposal 

 has ever been made by a political party 

 on behalf of any industry in our his- 

 tory. It marks our desire for estab- 

 lishment of farmers' stability and at 

 the same time maintains his independ- 

 ence and individuality." 



W. L. Cops 



Farmer-Business Men's Picnic 



"DETWEEN 500 and 600 business 

 -L* men, farmers, and their wives, of 

 Mt. Vernon, held a picnic at the Fair 

 grounds on Oc- 

 tober 2. The 

 Jefferson County 

 Farm Bureau 

 and the luncheon 

 and business 

 clubs of Mt. Ver- 

 n o n sponsored 

 the get-together. 

 S. J. Stanard, 

 director of the 

 State Depart- 

 ment of Agricul- 

 ture, was the 

 principal speak- 

 er. 



W. L. Cope of the Illinois Agricul- 

 tural Association Executive Commit- 

 tee represented the I. A. A. 



"We ought to hold more meetings 

 of this kind," declared Mr. Cope. 

 "Business and agriculture working to- 

 gether can accomplish g^eat things." 



The two groups joined in providing 

 food and entertainment for the picnic 

 dinner. It was voted to make the 

 picnic an annual affair. Farm Ad- 

 viser Lloyd Caldwell was largely re- 

 sponsible for the success of the meet- 

 ing. 



Visit Chicago Producers 



/^NE hundred and sixty-two people, 

 ^^ including the officers, directors, 

 and manager of the Varna Shipping 

 Association in Marshall county, at> 

 tended a tour to the Chicago live 

 stock market early in September. 



The Varna Shipping Association 

 has been sending 100 per cent of its 

 live stock to the Producers' since the 

 co-operative agency was organized in 

 Chicago in 1922. 



The party made the trip to Chicago 

 on a special train over the C & A 

 railroad, returning the same day. 

 Armour & Company served a free 

 luncheon after which the party was 

 conducted through the Armour & 

 Company packing plants. 



President Earl C. Smith was the 

 speaker of the day at the Wayne 

 County Farm Bureau picnic, Rich- 

 mond, Indiana, on September 15. 



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