Page Eight 



THE I. A. A. RECORD 





Girl Wins Essay Contest 



John F. Case, editor of the Missouri 

 Ruralist addressed the St. Louis Opti- 

 mist's club a short time ago. Among 

 other things, he comments on his meet- 

 ing there with Branch Rickey, manager 

 of the St. Louis Cardinals. His state- 

 ment which follows should be of inter- 

 est to our evergrowing army of Farm 

 Bureau baseball players and fans: 



"Among the active members of the 

 Optimist's Club. I met Branch Rickey, 

 vice-president and general manager of 

 the St. Louis National League Baseball 

 Club. Rickey, a man in his forties, is 

 a dynamic personality. Born on an 

 Ohio farm where he lived until 16 years 

 of age, this remarkable man worked his 

 way through Ohio Wesleyan University 

 where he studied law. A star catcher 

 on the college team, Rickey was signed 

 by the New York American League 

 team management and has been in 

 baseball ever since. Yet true to family 

 tradition and environment Rickey never 

 would play ball on Sunday. Even when 

 manager of the St. Louis team he took 

 the day off to attend church and teach 

 a Sunday school class of boys. Burt 

 Shotton, his 'Sunday manager,' now 

 directs the Philadelphia team. 



"Blanch Rickey still is a 'farmer.' 

 He it was who originated the idea of 

 purchase and control of a number of 

 minor league baseball teams where 

 promising recruits, many of them farm 

 lads, are developed into baseball stars. 

 Rickey is partial to the sinewy, toil- 

 hardened youth from the farm with a 

 heritage of faith and courage whose 

 health has not been undermined by 

 dissipation. It is said that he keeps 

 a fatherly eye on these lads on his 

 'baseball farms' and woe be unto the 

 man who leads them into temptation. 

 Never able to develop a winning big 

 league team as manager because it is 

 said that he is too idealistic and 'soft- 

 boiled,' Branch Rickey still is admit- 

 tedly the directing force behind the 

 Cardinal team which in three years has 

 won two championships and one world's 

 championship. It is generally conceded 

 that he has done more to place profes- 

 sional baseball upon a high plane than 

 any other man." 



COMMENTING ON THE FACT 

 (that some shareholders) blindly in- 

 jure their own organization in selling 

 to their competitor, one man at an 

 elevator meeting Remarked that "when 

 he saw his grocer or butcher crossing 

 the street to his competitors place of 

 business to buy his provisions for din- 

 ner, then he would try to see some 

 merit in a stockholder of a farmers' 

 elevator selling his grain to the other 

 fellow." — Grain M*rketing. 



Wilma I. Birdzell 



WILMA I. BIRDZELL of Cumber- 

 land county won the $50 watch 

 awarded by the Illinois Agricultural 

 Association for the best essay on the 

 subject "Why Club Members Should 

 Market Their Livestock Co-opera- 

 tively." 



In the contest the state was divided 

 into three districts. The winners in 

 the various districts were as follows: 



Northern District — Herman B. Rupp, Leiand 

 (DeKalb Co.) $26 Gold Watch — l8t priie. 

 Clara Haun, HcNabb (Putnam Co.) $10 — 

 2nd prize. 



Central District — Wilma I. Birdzell, Jewett 

 (Cumberland Co.) l8t prize and State prize 

 winner, $50 Gold Watch. Georgia Jones, 

 CathaKe (Hancock Co.) $10 — 2nd prize. 



Southern District — Martain Garbe, (Effincham 

 Co.) $26 Gold Watch — Ist prize. 



The essays were judged by J. D. 

 Harper, editor of the National Live- 

 stock Producers; Frank Ridgway, agri- 

 cultural editor of the Chicago Trib- 

 une; and E. G. Thiem, director of in- 

 formation, Illinois Agricultural Asso- 

 ciation. 



On receiving the news of her vic- 

 tory, the winner wrote Ray E. Miller, 

 director of livestock marketing who 

 conducted the contest, as follows: 



"I certainly was glad to learn that 

 I had won first place in the contest. 



"I have no picture at present, but 

 will send one in a few days. I am 13 

 years old, in first year high school, 

 live on a farm, have had one year in 

 club work — first year sewing project 

 — and won the county championship. 

 Sincerely yours, 



Wilma L Birdzell." 



Twenty counties submitted the win- 

 ning essays in their county contests 

 to the state committee for final judg- 

 ment. The winners in the county con- 

 tests were as follows: 



Kcrmit Kline, Blandinsville (HcDonough Co.) 

 Central Dist. 



Orval Stiegrman, Thawville (Iroquois Co.) 

 Northern Dist. 



Edith Wolf, Canton (Fulton Co.) Central Dist. 



Clara Haun, McNabb ( Marshall- I>utnam) 

 Northern Dist. 



Wilma I. Birdzell, Jewett (Cumberland Co.) 

 Central Dist. 



Merle L. Hall, Princeville (Peoria Co.) Nor- 

 thern Dist. 



James W. Wallace, Assumption (Christian 

 Co.) Central Dist. 



John R. Spear, Mason City, Route No. 4, (Ma- 

 son Co.) Centra] Dist. 



Morrill Fraley, Naperville, Route No. 1, (Du- 

 Page Co.) Northern Dist. 



Scott County — Central Dist. 



Iva Mitchell, Greenfield, (Macoupin Co.) Cen- 

 tral Dist. 



Herman B. Rupp, Leiand (DeKalb Co.) Nor- 

 thern Dist. 



Mildred V. Crouse, Farmersville (Montgom- 

 ery Co.) Central Dist. 



Martin Garbe (Effingham Co.) Southern Dist. 



Clifford Wertsch (Tazewell Co.) Central Dist. 



William F. Whiteman, Biggsville (Hender- 

 son Co.) Northern Dist. 



Fay M. Sims, Adams (Adams Co.) Central 

 Dist. 



Hobert Canady (Clark Co.) Central Dist. 



Georgia Jones, Carthage (Hancock Co.) Cen- 

 tral Dist. 



Homer Mendenhall (Sangamon Co.) Central 

 Dist. 



Knox County Wins Cup 



in Publicity Contest 



IT^NOX county won the Farm Bureau 

 -■^ Publicity Contest and the Sam 

 Thompson Trophy for the second time 

 when county publicity exhibits were re- 

 viewed by a committee of judges on 

 March 1. The exhibits which consisted 

 of clippings from newspapers and jour- 

 nals, copies of releases forwarded to the 

 press, Farm Bureau oflScial organs, let- 

 ters, posters, etc., were judged for ef- 

 fectiveness, originality, volume of pub- 

 licity secured, completeness, variety, 

 and results in building a strong Farm 

 Bureau membership. The Knox county 

 entry was complete in every detail and 

 attractively presented. 



The Vermilion county entry of farm 

 adviser Otis Kercher placed second. 

 Kercher has one of the best official 

 Farm Bureau publications in the state, 

 and during the past year the organiza- 

 tion secured splendid support from the 

 Danville Commercial-News and other 

 county newspapers. 



Exhibits from Marshall-Putnam, 

 Sangamon, and Boone counties received 

 special mention. County Adviser R. 

 J. Laible in Marshall-Putnam is carry- 

 ing on very creditably the effective 

 publicity project initiated by former 

 adviser F. E. Fuller. A weekly release 

 is forwarded to all the newspapers in 

 the county regularly, and letters, cards, 

 and posters are used to keep the mem- 

 bers in touch with Farm Bureau ac- 

 tivities. The Farm Bureau in Sanga- 

 mon county, Edwin Bay, adviser, has 

 received splendid support from Spring- 

 field's two leading dailies and the 

 strength of the organization there is 

 due in no small part to the attention 

 given publicity. 



Farm adviser Foley in Boone county 

 uses the Rockford dailies as well as 

 local newspapers and a mimeographed 

 letter to tell about the Farm Bureau 

 and its work. He is doing effective 

 work in building a strong organiza- 

 tion in that county. 



Among other excellent exhibits were 

 those from Shelby, Madison and Wood- 

 ford counties. 



Judges were as follows: C. V. 

 Gregory, editor, Prairie Farmer, H. B. 

 Clemmons, Illinois Press Association, 

 C. H. Keltner, Illinois Farm Advisers 

 Association, D. C. Waterman, associ- 

 ate editor, Illinois Farmer, F. J. Keil- 

 holz, extension editor, Dlinois College 

 of Agriculture, and E. G. Thiem, Illi- 

 nois Agricultural Association. 



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