f^tiyt E'lyht 



THE I. A. A. RECORD 



OUR READER'S FORUM 



Editor. I. A. A. Record. 



'TTIHE State farmers' elevator 



J. meeting at Peoria last 

 week was one of the most in- 

 teresting demonstrations of how 

 farmers run their business, or 

 rather don't run it, that 1 have 

 ever seen. It seems that the 

 conference was dominated by 

 more elevator managers than 

 farmers. 1 presume a great many 

 elevators have sent their man- 

 agers instead of going themselves, as they 

 should have done. 



"The board of trade was represented. I 

 noticed that a good many managers went 

 to their rooms with commission men. They 

 went to meals with them, they went to 

 shows with them, and when it came time 

 to vote, they voted with them. It seems 

 rather peculiar that the directors of a good 

 many farmers' elevators are going to let 

 their managers vote for them and represent 

 fliem in this great business of the state 

 4irhich means hundreds of thousands of 

 dollars. On election day we don't send 

 our hired men to vote for us at the polls, 

 but in our business dealings, especially as 

 far as our elevators are concerned, we seem 

 content to let our hired men determine 

 policies for us. 



We Are To Blame 

 "I think this situation is partly due to 

 the fact that in some of our co-ops the 

 members meet, elect, and vote on directors 

 and then go home and forget all about it. 

 The board of directors have a meeting, elect 

 a manager and then they go home and for- 

 get all about it. Under this sort of system 

 the manager soon feels, with some justifica- 

 tion, that he runs the whole show. If we 

 let him do it, we have nobody to blame but 

 ourselves. 



"But to get back to the Peoria meeting. 

 They had a good program the first and 

 second days, with some very interesting and 

 instructive speakers. The business session 

 and election of officers have always been 

 left until the third day. The farmers are 

 all supposed to go home on the evening 

 of the second day. This time they didn't. 

 We had a hot election on the third day, but 

 the board of trade with the aid of our 

 managers beat us. At previous meetings 

 everybody has voted. There hasn't been 

 very much question as to any delegate's 

 right to vote. This time, however, a cre- 

 dentials committee was arranged and every 

 voting delegate was supposed to have his 

 credentials properly approved. 



Votes Six Times 

 "\rhen it came time to vote it seemed 

 that we farmers couldn't manufacture cre- 

 dentials fast enough. I saw one manager 

 vote six times representing, I suppose, six 



/F YOU read anything in the RECORD or 

 elsewhere that stimulates your thought 

 write your comments or observations for this 

 page. Members of the I, A. A. we believe 

 comprise the bulk of the thinking farmers 

 of the state. 



The officers, directors, and fellow members 

 of your organization will appreciate having 

 your ideas. Send your letters to the "Reader's 

 Forum" Illinois Agricultural Association REC- 

 ORD, 608 So. Dearborn St., Chicago. 



different elevators. In other iMfw^-l our 

 managers had been, apparently,'<,pietiously 

 informed that there was to be a.^ght on, 

 and had seen to it that they had collected 

 proxies enough to swing the election. The 

 vote was 75 to 70 in favor of the grain 

 trade and their managers. The farmers 

 held the little end of the score. Well, it 

 was a little tough to get licked, but perhaps 

 it was a good thing in the long run because 

 it was an Interesting demonstration of how 

 we farmers have been running a pretty big 

 part of our business. After this little show, 

 perhaps we will be more interested In seeing 

 that things are done properly." 



Earl Ericson, 

 Knox County, 111. 



A Masterpiece 



THE writer read the recent address of 

 Hon. Arthur M. Hyde at Springfield. 

 It Is a most comprehensive yet analytical 

 exposition of present agricultural condi- 

 tions. 



Comprehensive, because world competi- 

 tion is broi'ght face to face with the 

 , American farmer in a clear and conclusive 

 manner. 



Analytical, because the whole problem is 

 treated in a practical way without savour- 

 ing of an unworkable and theoretical Utopia. 

 It is the finest production thus far "from 

 one who knows" to those who are needy 

 and eager to learn, and should be pro- 

 claimed a masterpiece and read by every 

 pupil as well as every farmer, Am pleased 

 to voice this little expression of apprecia- 

 tion. 



Omar P. Wagner, 

 Livingston Coimty, 111. 



Liked Hyde's Speech 



I WAS present at the annual luncheon of 

 the Illinois Agricultural Association in 

 Springfield, and heard the address of the 

 Hon. Arthur M. Hyde. The same speech 

 has been read again and again in the Illi- 

 nois Agricultural Association Record. 

 I shall read the treatise many times. 



It is so comprehensive in its treatment 

 of the causes, present status and necessary 

 remedial measures of the agricultural situa- 

 tion. 



The positive, courageous statements in 

 the address of the secretary of agriculture 

 make me to believe that surely Hon. Arthur 



M. Hyde will prove t< be the 

 great emancipator of American 

 agriculture. 



G. H. Iftner, 

 Effiingham Coimty, 111. 



A Few Observations 



YOU invite commenu on Sec- 

 retary Hyde's address at 

 Springfield, and I should like to 

 respond with a few observations on 

 what I regard as the two ^ost 

 significant points he brought out 

 in his discussion of the agricultural situation. 

 "One of these has to do with crop acreage 

 reduction. Secretary Hyde went no farther 

 than to advocate the withdrawal from produc- 

 tion of all marginal farming lands, and to re- 

 forest these under state and federal auspices. 

 Certainly there can be no objection to such a 

 program. However, when the Farm Board ad- 

 vocates acreage reduction it has in mind some- 

 thing much more direct than that. It is now 

 urging reduction in the cotton and spring wheat 

 acreages, pointing out that if this is not done it 

 will not be responsible for the course of the 

 markets in these two commodities. While acre- 

 age reduction offers the most effective remedy 

 ever proposed for reducing surpluses, it is doubt- 

 less the most complex and difficult of all to 

 administer positively and fairly. 



Acreage Reduction 



"Those of us who for years have kept a fair 

 proportion of our farms in legumes would wel- 

 come a program of acreage reduction in grain 

 crops, the acres going to legumes or forest. 

 But this method requires time. It cannot be 

 given effect over night, or in a single season, 

 as the Farm Board wants done. The sort of 

 reduction insisted upon just now will result 

 either in acres lying idle, or in being planted 

 to some other cash crop. To leave good farm 

 land entirely out of production while still sub- 

 ject to taxation and other cosu, seems scarcely 

 worthy of discussion. To put it to some other 

 crop coming under the paternalism of the Farm 

 Board would merely be "robbing Peter to pay 

 Paul.' 



"A short time ago in discussing the condition 

 in the South with a friend who is familiar 

 with conditions there, he made the statement 

 that he believed the South would reduce its 

 cotton acreage materially in 1930. I immedi- 

 ately asked if the released acres would not go 

 into corn, and he said, 'Yes.' 



"Now, there we have the whole situation. 

 If the spring wheat belt could grow cotton and 

 thereby replace a part of the wheat acreage, I 

 suppose we would then have reductions in both 

 cotton and wheat! Next summer we will hear 

 a lot about reducing the acreage of fall wheat, 

 and doubtless with some result. Except in the 

 drier parts of the wheat country, corn will be 

 substituted. But in the meantime, we of the 

 corn belt will be hearing of how stupid we are 

 for producing so much corn. ... 



"And because of just this condition, I venture 

 to predict that if the Farm Board continues 

 to stress acreage reduction along the present 

 lines, the farmer will be in for a lot of abuse 

 from those who are unable or unwilling to 

 comprehend the situation; and in the mean- 

 time the Farm Board will have safely 'passed 

 the buck.' 



Save Home Market 

 "Another point of importance which the 

 Secretary brought out is that of the tariff. If 

 agriculture the world over is in trouble, as 

 seems true; if there is over-production in the 

 foreign markets as well as in the home market. 



