Pafie Fourteen 



THE I. A. A. RECORD 



SEEK 75,000 MEMBERS BY JAN. 31, 1931 



.1 



C. E. Bamborough 



Publicity Important 



In Farm Bureau Work 



75,000 Members in 1930 Is Goal of 

 I. A. A. Organization Department 



A GOOD publicity program for the 

 county Farm Bureau; relationship be- 

 tween publicity and size of membership, 

 and the importance of co-operation with 

 local newspapers were the opening subjects 

 for , discussion at the Organization-Infor- 



mation conference 



attended by some 

 400 delegates, farm 

 advisers, and visitors 

 on January 30 in the 

 Leland hotel, Spring- 

 field. C. E. Bambor- 

 ough presided. 



George Thiem, di- 

 rector of informa- 

 tion, opened the dis- 

 cussion by showing 

 that without excep- 

 tion the county 

 Farm Bureaus having large memberships 

 give careful attention to publicity and have 

 the support of the local newspapers. 



Give It Time 

 "Make publicity a definite project," he 

 advised, "give the local reporters the right 

 of way, cultivate the newspaper editors, ex- 

 plain the Farm Bureau and its work to - 

 them. Send out a release every week con- 

 taining well-written stories with local inter- 

 est. Influence the editor not to print live 

 news under heads such as 'Farm Bureau 

 Notes.' Print a large number of short 

 items in the official organ. Publish as little 

 canned stuff as possible. Fill the Farm 

 Bureau news bulletin with items about Farm 

 Bureau activities and membership. Take 

 time to write original stuff. Remember 

 you are reaching all the members with the 

 county bulletin. Therefore time spent in 

 making it readable and informative is well 

 spent." 



Danforth Cites Experiences 



Farm Adviser H. K. Danforth of Henry 

 county stated that he considered their pub- 

 licity work most effective in maintaining 

 a strong organization. Mr. Danforth sends 

 out a release every week to all the news- 

 papers. The local editor at Cambridge said 

 that the reason he gave the Farm Bureau 

 so much publicity is that the news was sent 

 to him regularly — he wasn't expected to 

 come after it. "We find short, colorful 

 news stories most acceptable," said Dan- 

 forth. Attractive headlines are written 

 above each story to save the time of the 

 busy editor. Thus the news is not hidden 

 under stereotyped heads. 



Plan Carefully 

 The publicity program should be care- 

 fully planned, suggested C. E. Gates of La- 



jSalle county. "The fact that LaSalle county 

 signed approximately 900 members in one 

 day during its last drive was seen as the re- 

 sult of effective publicity following a con- 

 structive and helpful program of service." 

 R. V. Watson of McLean county told 

 how the Farm Bureau cooperated with the 

 Bloomington Pantagraph, the chief news- 

 paper of the county. "We give the editors 

 a break," he said, "take them into our 

 confidence and try to keep them informed 

 on what's going on. We frequently invite 

 Mr. Bill to accompany us to meetings and 

 demonstrations over the county." 



SEVENTY-FIVE THOUSAND 

 members by the end of 1930 is 

 the goal toward Vnich the organiza- 

 tion department will strive this year. 

 Fifteen counties accepted Champaign 

 county's challenge to have »he high- 

 est percentage of farmers of any 

 county in the Farm Bureau. An ef- 

 fective publicity program in every 

 county will help snrpass the 75,000 

 mark. 



Collection Help 



■Robert Cowles, treasurer, outlined the 

 new collection plan, explaining how the 

 I. A. A. would co-operate in mailing out 

 letters to delinquent members. All coun- 

 ties are requested to get in touch with the 

 treasurer's office for further information re- 

 garding this plan. 



"Let's establish as our goal 75,000 mem- 

 bers by the end of 1930," Secretary George 

 Metzger said in opening the discussion on 

 organization. He told why a larger mem- 

 bership would be beneficial in the need for 

 rendering greater service to Illinois agri- 

 culture. He discussed Champaign county's 

 challenge to build a larger membership by 

 1931 than that of any county in the state. 

 Fifteen other counties accepted the chal- 

 lenge on a percentage basis, that is they will 

 sign up a higher percentage of farmers in 

 the county by next January than Cham- 

 paign. These counties are as follows: La- 

 Salle, Stark, Scott, McLean, Marshall-Put- 

 nam, DuPage, Kane, Jersey, Knox, Logan, 

 DeWitt, Tazewell, DeKalb, McDonough, 

 Woodford. There was much enthusiasm 

 expressed by the delegates regarding 1930 

 membership plans. 



Who a Member? 

 The question of who should be a Farm 

 Bureau member was brought up. One man 

 offered the following as his suggestion: 



1. Land owner operating a farm. 



2. Tenant fanner with farm owner — 

 joint membership. 



3. A tenant alone where the owner will 

 not co-operate. 



(Continued on page IS) 



Ceo. C. Jewett 



Annual Audit Most 



Necessary — Jew^ett 



Organize to Control Production as 

 Well as to Sell Crop, He Says 



"T'TtT'E HEAR much about co-operative 

 f V marketing but very little about one 

 element or one requirement which I look 

 upon as extremely important. I refer to the 

 requirement that an adequate set of records 

 be maintained at all 

 times and that the 

 affairs of each co- 

 operative's Association 

 be properly audited 

 at least once each 

 year," George C. 

 Jewett, president of 

 the Transportation 

 Bank of Chicago 

 told delegates and 

 visitors at the Illi- 

 nois Agricultural Co- 

 operatives' Association 



annual meeting in Springfield on Jan. 29. 

 "I do not know of any line of business 

 that possesses a greater necessity for a 

 proper auditing and an adequate auditor's 

 report than co-operative institutions," said 

 Jewett. "In addition to the records of or- 

 dinary industry you must maintain figures 

 to use as a basis for the payment of patron- 

 age dividends. While the books of co- 

 operatives are more complicated than those 

 of a bank, yet I have found many a co-' 

 operative attempting to get along with 

 inadequate records and I dare say the ma- 

 jority still do not avail themselves of an 

 annual audit. Many failures can be blamed 

 to inadequate and improper bookkeeping. 



A Forward Step 



"It was an important forward step when 

 co-operative groups, working through their 

 state Farm Bureau organization, arranged 

 for an auditing service of their own. I 

 happen to know that the I. A. C. A. audit- 

 ing service is most excellent and compares 

 favorably with that offered by the best 

 auditors in the city of Chicago. They not 

 only audit your books but they give you 

 with the audit sound advice bearing on 

 your operations. 



"If you have ever tried to borrow money, 

 you know and appreciate the importance 

 of good books and adequate audits. Speak- 

 ing from the banker's viewpoint, I would 

 not care to loan money to anyone who is 

 not in a position to make a proper financial 

 statement and whose books cannot be 

 checked at any time or all times. We are 

 always pleased when an auditor's statement 

 is furnished and many times find it neces- 

 sary to require that one be furnished." 



In his closing remarks, Mr. Jewett re- 

 ferred to a Chicago Tribune editorial on 

 the surplus crop situation urging farmers 

 (Continued on page 16) 



I 



., V. 



V 



*4 



( 



r 



