THE I. A. A. RECORD 



WIN WABASH VALLEY TELEPHONE CASE 



Canadian Co-ops 



< Do Big Business 





lOcal and Terminal Elevators 

 Co-ordinate 



C'AN'ADIAX farmers have gradually 

 * Idcvt'lopcd a g-roup of co-opcra- 

 tives which co-ordinate local and ter- 

 minal elevator fa- 

 cilities -^vith cen- 

 tralized fjellinp:, ac- 

 cording to a coni- 

 prehensi\ic bulle- 

 tin by J. F. Booth, 

 publishedj recently 



t TEAMWORK 4i by the United 

 > Depart nient of Agricolture. 

 e indepencjent local unit has dis- 

 appelared. Several large-scjlle co-op- 

 erative associations market niore than 

 one-talf of the grain croi) of western 

 Canajda. i 



This large volume of gr^in is at 

 presijnt handled by the Canadian Co- 

 operative Wh^at Producejs Ltd.. 

 i<noWn commonly as the Cenjtral Sell- 

 ing .|\gency. which handles the grain 

 of tie .Manitoba, Saskatche\j^an, and 

 .Alberta wheat jxxds. also th^t of the 

 I'nited Cuain Growers Ltdl.. which 

 combine.s the activities formjerly car- 

 ried iin by the Grain Growejrs Grain 

 Comtany Ltd. and the Alberta Farm- 

 ers Co-operative Elevator fcompanv 



Ltd. \ r ■ 



-landled 41,000,000 Bushels 



Thi' United Grain Growers Ltd. has 

 ."55,001) farmer shareholders. ! It oper- 

 ates inore than 400 country elevators 

 and : everal large terminal elevators. 

 In 19 2(5 it handl^'d ■41.000.000 bushels. 

 Throigh the parent organization and 

 sever; il subsidiaries the com|)any also 

 handles livestock, farm supplies, and 

 insui;ince. A faym journal with a cir- 

 culati )n e.xceedi>ig 100,000 is pub- 

 lished The comj)any follows 

 eral principles olf operation 



the gen- 

 followed 

 farmers 

 It pays 

 pool re- 



by the trade. Itbuy.s from 

 or haidles on consignment, 

 currer t prices aijid does not 

 turns. Grain is handled for both mem- 

 bers and non-menibers. The dompany 

 is strcng tinanciailly with reserves ag- 

 gregating nearly .?4, 000, 000. 



140,000 In Pools 



The western Canadian wheat jiools 

 were <4rganized iri 192;> and 10:i4 and 

 combiiled to forip their cential sell- 

 ing agt'ncy in I'xZi. Their toUil mem- 

 bership is 140,000 and the volume of 

 grain handled exceeds 200,000,p00 bu- 

 shels E nnually. The members are all 

 signed on five-yeair contracts. 



The Province pf Ontario ilecently 

 organised a grairv^pool which r|ow has 

 over l>,000 members. The Ontario 

 pool, likewise, will soil through the 

 central selling agency 



The 



country elevators and terminal 



Operate 900 Elevator* 



pools operate more thin 



900 

 eleva- 



tors with capacity exceeding 20.000,- 

 000 bushels. The grain is .M)ld direct 

 to domestic and foreign mills and 

 I'ther users of grain both at home and 

 abroad. They have branch otlices in 

 Canada and in Euiope, with agency 

 connections in most importing coun- 

 tries. Returns fiom grain sales are 

 pooled among growers on the basis of 

 grades of grain each member delivers".' 

 Deduct 2 Cents Bushel 



The pools are permitte<I, under their 

 contracts, to deduct two cents per' 

 bushel for an elevator reserve and up 

 to one per cent of the gross sales value 

 for commercial reserves. These de- 

 ductions run into millions of dollars. 



The bulletin cites the ditTi'rences in 

 co-operative methods of selling grain 

 in the United States and Canada and 

 the reasons for the greater success of 

 ccntrali7.e<l efforts in the Dominion. 



Lee County Farmers 



In Telephone Case 



LEE County farmers who subscribed' 

 to the service of the Farmers Tele- 

 phone Company of Franklin Grove 

 were represented by their Farm 

 Buieau and the Transportation Depart- 

 iTient of the Illinois Agricultural As- 

 sociation in a hearing l>ef)re the Illi- 

 nois Commerce Commission a short 

 time ago. 



The Company is seeking to eliminate 

 free toll service. It opeiates five ex- 

 changes at Franklin (irove, Amboy, 

 Sublette, .Ashton, and Lee Center. The 

 Compan.v alleges that neighboring 

 companies are bringing |)ressure to 

 bear on it to charge toll to adjacent 

 communities now .securing free toll 

 .i^ervice. Some comjianies are recipro- 

 cating with the Farmers Telephone 

 Comi)any in giving long distance serv- 

 ice without additional charge while 

 others are not. 



Subscribers take the position that 

 the inter-relationship of communities 

 is such that to abolish free toll sei'vice 

 to nearby towns and communities 

 would .seriously diminish the value of 

 the telephone service. 



The Green River Faimers Club 

 Itassed a resolution declaring that 

 such charges as are proposed by the 

 Company are uncalled for and against 

 the i)ractice of the last 2.5 years. It 

 is contended that the farmers built 

 their own lines to Amboy with the 

 understanding that no toll charges 

 would be added for connections with 

 other points within the county. This 

 case is still pending. 



L. J. Quasey 



No, Xo, Maudie — It is not necessary 

 to use soft water for .soft boiled eggs 

 or hard water for the hard boiled ones. 

 X libeity bond is not a divorce decree. 



♦ * * 



Hard-Luck Harry Says — "If life was 

 a bed of roses, I'd be picking thorns 

 out of myself all day." 



Commerce Commission Order Sup- 

 ports I. A. A. Rates to Edgar 

 County Subscribers Re- 

 main at $24 



I.^"'DG.\R County farmers represented 

 -^ by the Transportation Department 

 of the Illinois .Agricultural .Association 

 and their Farm Bureau, won a signal 

 victory when the Illinois Commerce 

 Commission upheld the contention of 

 over 500 rural subscribers that $24 a 

 year is a high enough charge for 10- 

 party line rural telephone service. The 

 "ommission's finding 

 was recently trans- 

 mitted to the Wa- 

 bash Valley Tele- 

 phone Co. at Paris. 



The Company had 

 originally i)etitioned 

 fpr an increa.se from 

 the present rate of 

 §24 per year to $.']:3 

 a year for 10-i)arty 

 —rural service with 

 p r o p o r tionate or 

 even larger increases to subscribers in 

 I the city of Paris, seat of Edgar county. 



The valuations, dejireciation require- 

 ments, oiieiating revenue and expense 

 statements submitted to the Commerce 

 Commission by the Company were 

 checked by the Commission's engineer- 

 ing staff. It was found that the Com- 

 lumy had set up an excessive amount 

 for depreciation reserve; that the plant 

 and equipment \Vas in slightly less than 

 90 |)er cent condition while the present 

 reserve on the books of the company is 

 between ,10 per cent and 40 per cent, 

 showing a substantial margin for up- 

 keep, repairs, etc. 



I. A. A. Files Brief 



In the brief and argument filed with 

 the Commission by L. J. Quasey, di- 

 rector of transjiorlation for the I. A. 

 A., it was pointed out that "the item 

 of .?47.5(!5 for going value is improper 

 because it is a mere duplication of the 

 items jjreviously mentioned" . . . : 



The brief stated further that "the 

 company has pet aside during the past 

 .\ear some §29,980 annual dei)reciation 

 loi' the entire company and allocated 

 to the Palis exchange, on the above 

 basis, amounts to about SI 9.000. The 

 fact that the Company has accrued a 

 very substantial depreciation reserve 

 by allowing about $19,000 annually 

 for the Paris exchange, shows that it 

 is not now entitled to any more. We 

 contend that the depreciation could 

 properly be less and still be sufficient 

 to enable the company to perpetuate 



its proiierty 



Deny the Advance 



".Should your honorable Commis- 

 sion," continued the brief, "consider 

 that leaving the rural rate as it is 

 would disturb the relationship of the 

 rural residence rate to other classes of 

 service it could reduce the compromise 

 basis on all classes by $.3, which would 



(Continued on page 11, column 3) 



