Page Ten 



THE I. A-A-A. RECORD 



PRODUCE 



TING 



By Frank Gougler 



RICHLAND, COUNtY producers 

 were the pioneers in co-operative 

 produce marketing in Southern Illinois. 

 June 1, this county renewed its cbn- 

 tract with Tip-Top Creamery, Vin- 

 cennes, Indiana, for the fourth con- 

 secutive year. Three stations are in- 

 cluded in this contract and their com- 

 bined output of over 150,000 pounds 

 of butterfat will be sold. 



* * • 



Scott County Women 



Sponsor F. B. Dinner 



Two hundred seventy-five men and 

 women attended a dinner spon- 

 sored by the women's committee of the 

 Scott County Farm Bureau, on Friday, 

 May 31. The Scott County Farm 

 Bureau orchestra and the official Farm 

 Bureau song leader had a prominent 

 part in the entertainment. 



Mrs. W. C. Simmons, chairman of 

 the women's committee, was toast- 

 master. Secretary Geo. E. Metzger 

 represented the Illinois Agricultural 

 Association and Mrs. Chas. W. Sewell, 



the American Farm Bureau Federation. 



Every Farm Bureau member and his 

 wife was invited to attend. 



"The principal idea back of the 

 meeting," said Sec'y. Metzger, "was 

 to convey to the non-members first- 

 hand Information concerning the Farm 

 Bureau, the Illinois Agricultural Asso- 

 ciation, and the American Farm Bu- 

 reau Federation. This type of meet- 

 ing is new to many sections of Illinois 

 and I believe has a great deal of merit. 

 Everyone who attended declared the 

 meeting a great success." 



Adjoining counties seeing the value 

 of this kind of marketing are now or- 

 ganizing similar associations. During 

 April two units were started in Craw- 

 ford County, one at Robinson, and the 

 other at Oblong. This cream goes to 

 the Schlosser Brothers Creamery at 



, Indianapolis. In a recent letter Farm 

 Adviser Frazier writes: "May 20 and 

 21 have been definitely set for cream 

 improvement meetings at Oblong and 

 Robinson and Schlosser Bros, will fur- 



. nish refreshments. Stations are now 

 handling a nice volume of cream." 

 * * * 



The organization most recently es- 

 tablished in Southern Illinois is located 

 at Albion in Edwards County. Farm 

 ^ Adviser H. N. Myers reports that the 

 following producers were elected direc- 



; tors for the first year: Harry Perkins, 

 president; Allen Crome, vice-president; 

 Geo. Works, sec'y-treas. ; Smith Bunt- 

 ing and Ira Smith. The manager is 



1 Albert Michels. During years past 

 Albion has had the lowest market for 



i produce in that part of the state. Even 

 the nearby towns would pay from one 



'. to two cents more for butterfat. 



This condition has now changed as 



; illustrated by a recent letter received 



i from Farm Adviser C. W. Simpson of 

 White County, located just south of 

 Edwards. The White County Farm 

 Bureau is organizing a unit at Norris 

 City and on May 1, Simpson happened 



' to be at both points — Albion and Nor- 

 t . ris City, and he writes; "Today they 



. were paying 41c per pound for butter- 

 fat at Korris City while at Albion they 

 are paying 44 cents." This is typical 

 of what happens when a co-operative 



' unit is established. 



High Court Upholds 



Farmers' Co-operative 



Old Line Dle-Hards Found Guilty 

 of Unfair Practice 



''pHE Supreme Court of the United 

 -*- States in the decision handed 

 down on May 20 sustained the order 

 of the Secretary of Agriculture in the 

 so-called Oklahoma boycott case 

 against old-line market agencies and 

 live stock dealers operating on the 

 Oklahoma National Stock Yards. The 

 case, which dates back more than three 

 years, has attracted large public in- 

 terest by reason of the boycott by 

 various market agencies of the Pro- 

 •ducers' Commission Association. 



In an order of March 31, 1926, the 

 Secretary directed the market agencies 

 and dealers operating at the Oklahoma 

 National Stockyards to cease from en- 

 graging in and using any unfair or dis- 

 criminatory practices in connection 

 with the purchase and sale of livestock 

 by failing or refusing to buy livestock 

 from or sell to the Producers' Com- 

 mission Association, while at the same 

 time carrying on business among 

 themselves. The order also prohibited 

 the respondents from agreeing among 

 themselves to refrain from dealing 

 with the Producers' Commission Asso- 

 ciation. 



Grant Injunction 



A District Court of three judges 

 granted an injunction against the en- 

 forcement of this order, whereupon 

 the Government appealed the case to 

 the Supreme Court of the United 

 States. The market agencies and deal- 

 ers urged that there was nothing to 

 prevent their dealing and refusing to 

 deal with whom they chose. With re- 

 spect to this claim the Supreme Court 

 said, "But we think it does not need 

 argument to show that a boycott of a 

 dealer in a stockyard may be an unfair 

 practice under the act as it is found 

 t'j have been in this case." 



The Producers' Commission Associa- 

 tion was a cooperative organization 

 formed under an Oklahoma statute 

 which forbade the handling by such 

 associations of the agricultural and 

 horticultural products of nonmembers, 

 except for storage. The market agen- 

 cies and dealers contended that it did 

 not appear at the hearing before the 

 Secretary of Agriculture, that the 

 Commission Association confined its 

 handling of livestock to the products 

 of its members and that, for this rea- 



son, the enforc , t of the Secre- 

 tary's order sho ■' '«■ enjoined. The 

 District Court agreed with this view 

 and held that it was incumbent upon 

 the Government to show that the live- 

 stock handled by the Producers' Com- 

 mission Association belonged to mem- 

 bers only. 



Boycott Was General 

 The Government claimed that it 

 would be absurd to suppose that a 

 cooperative association organized for 

 the special purpose of aiding its mem- 

 bers should confine its business to the 

 illegal sale of the products of nonmem- 

 bers. With this contention of the 

 Government the Supreme Court 

 agreed. That court said, "If not all, 

 we must assume that some, at least, of 

 its business was legitimate and that to 

 some extent it might sell livestock that 

 its members produced. But the boy- 

 cott was general, intended it would 

 seem to drive the Producers' Commis- 

 sion Association out of business. The 

 association was a competitor of the ap- 

 pellees and the suggestion that it was 

 acting ultra vires (beyond its power) 

 sounds like an after-thought and can 

 not be supposed to have been the mo- 

 tive for the act. . . . But whatever 

 the motive, nothing is shown or sug- 

 gested by the evidence to justify the 

 general boycott that the Secretary's 

 order forbade." 



Clarifies Act 



The order of the Secretary was is- 

 sued under the packers and stockyards 

 act and the favorable decision of the 

 Supreme Court is considered by offi- 

 cials of the Bureau of Animal Indus- 

 try, which administers the act, to have 

 an important bearing on the future 

 marketing of livestock at public stock- 

 yards. The policy of the bureau is to 

 test in the highest tribunal all cases 

 in which the orders of the department 

 are questioned, thereby clarifying the 

 various provisions of the act and de- 

 fining the scope of Federal authority. 



Production Exceeds 



Population Growth 



FARM production in the United 

 States has increased a half more 

 than population since the world war. 

 This increase in production has been 

 more rapid than at any time since 

 1900 and probably more rapid than at 

 any time since 1890. Moreover, it 

 has been accomplished despite a de- 

 crease in the number of farms and 

 farm population, a decrease in the 

 number of farm animals, and a slight 

 decrease in crop acreage. Incomplete 

 data for the years 1927 and 1928 indi- 

 cate that agricultural production is 

 still increasing at a more rapid rate 

 than the rate of increase in our popu- 

 lation. 



These facts are cited by Dr. O. E. 

 Baker, economist in the United States 

 Department of Agriculture, in support 

 of his belief that the welfare of agri- 

 culture necessitates careful considera- 

 tion of any proposals involving an in- 

 crease in crop acreage. 



