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THE I. A. A. RECORD 



Page Xine 



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I. A. A. Has Four Way 



Program Smith Shows 



Unorganized Farmers Hinder Ad- 

 . vancement He Says in Annual 

 Message to Members 



T^ HE program of the Illinois Agricultural 

 Association and County Farm Bureaus, 

 while covering a vast field, may properly 

 be classified in four major divisions. Presi- 

 dent Earl C. Smith said in his address open- 

 ing the recent IJth annual meeting at 

 Springfield on Jan. 30. These are as fol- 

 lows: 



(1) To encourage the organization of 

 farmers into cohesive community, county, 

 state and national bodies in which the prob- 

 lems of each may be studied and acted upon 

 in a united and constructive manner; 



(2) To assist farmers in putting into 

 operation the most efficient and economical 

 production methods; 



(3) Through collective efFort, to reduce 

 costs of commodities necessary in farm 

 operations; and 



(4) To regain for farmers their rightful 

 bargaining power in the sale of their prod- 

 ucts; or stating it in another way, to secure 

 and maintain price levels for American 

 farm products equal to the level of costs en- 

 tering into their production. 



Hinder Progress 



In carrying out the first phase of this 

 program, the Association provided a larger 

 budget in 1929 than in any of recent years. 

 Illinois farmers are leading the way in the 

 percentage of active farmers who have 

 joined forces to further their rightful in- 

 terests. Yet entirely too many farmers re- 

 main for one reason or another outside of 

 organized ranks. It is my opinion that the 

 unorganized farmers constitute the greatest 

 present obstacle hindering the advancement 

 of the farming industry. There could be 

 no more helpful or constructive effort made 

 in 1930 than to stimulate a revival of their 

 interest. 



Defending the efficiency of the American 

 farmer Smith showed that while in num- 

 bers, he is only one-twentieth of the world's 

 farmers, he produces two-thirds of the 

 world's corn, three-fifths of its cotton, one- 

 half of its tobacco, one-third of its hogs, 

 one-third of its poultry, one-fourth of its 

 oats, one-fifth of its wheat, one-seventh of 

 its cattle, and one-tenth of its sheep. His 

 other products, while comparatively small 

 in percentage of the world's totals, yet bulk 

 large in the feeding of the nation. 



Policy on Buying 

 "There is a wide difference of opinion 

 as to how far farmers should go in putting 

 forth collective effort to reduce the cost of 

 the many things they have to purchase. 

 The Illinois Agricultural Association, in 

 fact, a majority of the State Farm Bureaus, 

 believe that in the field of collective pur- 

 chasing, efforts should be confined to such 



commodities as enter directly into farm 

 production costs. 



Alluding to the I. A. A.'s policies on co- 

 operative marketing development Smith 

 said, "the Association has no desire to in- 

 crease its power or add to its responsibili- 

 ties in such matters. It has no other pleas- 

 ure, however, than to put itself in a posi- 

 tion where it can discharge its full respon- 

 sibility to the farmers who alone make 

 possible all such services. I predict that 

 1930 will witness the Association putting 

 forth greater effort in marketing activities 

 than at any time in its history." 



The I. A. C. A. 



Reviewing the service rendered by the 

 Illinois Agricultural Co-operatives Associa- 

 tion he said "only limited study is neces- 

 sary to convince one that a vast majority 

 of past failures of farm co-operative organ- 

 izations were directly due to improper or 

 delayed information as to business trends 

 reaching their boards of directors. 



■DEAD carefully the state- 

 ments and accomplish- 

 ments of the I. A. A. and its 

 associated companies set forth 

 on this page. They reveal the 

 broad program of service de- 

 veloped within a short period of 

 time by the organized farmers 

 of Illinois. Interest your neigh- 

 bor in the Farm Bureau if he is 

 not a member by telling him 

 what organized farmers accom- 

 plished by working together last 

 year. 



"It is interesting to note that since the 

 organization of this co-operative, only three 

 of its members have failed, and in each of 

 these cases, failure could have been avoided 

 had the advice of the audit service been 

 followed. 



"The only complaint of this service 

 reaching the management has been relative 

 to some excessive cost over that of some 

 available individual audit service. The 

 management has exerted and will continue 

 to put forth every effort to reduce charges 

 to a minimum, commensurate with ade- 

 quate and dependable service. 



"It should be recognized that the super- 

 vision given all audits by this company, the 

 institutional responsibility made possible 

 thereby, and the exhaustive character of 

 their uniform reports much more than off- 

 set any small additional cost for such serv- 

 ice." 



Large Growth Here 



The Farmers Mutual Insurance, it was 

 shown, had in force on Jan. 1, 1930, 

 $15,154,593 of fire insurance, $5,909,266 

 windstorm insurance, and $4,086,276 grow- 

 ing crop hail insurance, an increase of 

 $10,950,000 of insurance over the previous 

 year's record. 



(Continued on page 12) 



Accomplishments 



Of I. A. A. In Brief 



Secretary's Report to Members at 

 Springfield Convention Reveals 



1929 Results 

 (1) Saved approximately $227,500 on 



volume purchasing of agricultural limestone. 



(2) Saved approx- 

 imately $78,000 on 

 centralized buying of 

 rock phosphate. 

 Total savings on rock 

 phosphate and lime- 

 stone $305,500. 



( 3 ) Resisted in- 

 creases in western 

 livestock freight 

 rates which, if al- 

 lowed, will mean 



Geo. E. Metzrer $500,000 p e r y e a r 

 additional freight on Illinois livestock. 



(4) Represented farmers' interests in 

 many other freight rate questions. Secured 

 new classification of peaches from third to 

 fourth class resulting in saving of approxi- 

 mately $29 a car from typical southern 

 Illinois points to Chicago. 



(5) Collected 981 loss and damage 

 claims, 230 overcharge claims, and 56 gen- 

 eral loss and damage claims, making a grand 

 total of 1 ,267 claims with a total recovery 

 of $35,758.80. 



(6) Assisted many county Farm Bureaus 

 in rural electrification and power line route 

 cases. Assisted in a number of telephone 

 rate and service cases. Represented farm- 

 ers in 21 hearings before Illinois Commerce 

 and Interstate Commerce Commissions. 



(7) Department of Taxation tested land 

 valuations in seven counties, and analyzed 

 data in others. Result of previous reduc- 

 tions meant a saving of $4,700,000 in 1929 

 taxes if previous high valuations had re- 

 mained unchanged. 



(8) Carried on state-wide campaign to 

 change present unfair and unjust taxing sys- 

 tem so as to place taxation on ability to pay. 



(9) Represented Illinois farmers before 

 state legislature to protect their interests in 

 government. 



(10) Helped secure an increase of 925 

 carloads of livestock shipped to co-operative 

 Producer agencies at Chicago, St. Louis, 

 Indianapolis, and Chicago over 1928. During 

 1929 Illinois farmers contributed 49.27 per 

 cent of the livestock handled by the four 

 Producer agencies serving Illinois. Around 

 23 per cent of total livestock sold from 

 Illinois farms was marketed through these 

 farmer-owned co-operatives. 



(11) Through Illinois Farm Bureau 

 Serum Association saved 20 to 25 ceiits per 

 100 c. c. on centralized purchasing of 30,- 

 910,000 c. c. of anti-hog cholera serum and 

 virus for members in 67 counties. 



(12) Marketed 675 straight carloads of 

 fruits and vegetables through the Illinois 

 Fruit Growers Exchange. Marketed addi- 

 tional 90 cars in less tban carlot shipments 



(Continued on page 16) 



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