THE I. A. A. RECORD 



PaXf Scirn 



Facts for the Grain Producer 



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(Continued from page S) ... ,' 



posal of the ILLINOIS GRAIN COR- 

 PORATION the personnel of the Grain 

 Marketing Department, the Publicity 

 Department and Legal Department dur- 

 ing the early stages of organization; 

 furthermore, the Illinois Agricultural 

 Association has purchased a large block 

 of the preferred "A" stock. In addi- 

 tion, as stated above, class "B" stock is 

 not in control inasmuch as it can only 

 be voted in shares equal to the number 

 of shares of common stock. 



No. 5 — Directors. The fifteen di- 

 rectors enable the co-operative to have 

 representation fairly well distributed 

 over the entire grain territory. The 

 detailed executive work is in the hands 

 of an executive committee of five 

 men selected from this board of direc- 

 tors. This executive committee has 

 practically the same power as the board 

 of directors, but its action is subject 

 to the approval of the board. The by- 

 laws provide that all directors must 

 be grain producers. 



No. 6 — Grain Handling Facilities. 

 The ILLINOIS GRAIN CORPORA- 

 TION is a member of the FARMERS' 

 NATIONAL GRAIN CORPORA- 

 TION. Grain handling facilities, both 

 as to grain sales service and terminal 

 storage, will be provided directly by the 

 ILLINOIS GRAIN CORPORATION 

 or by and with the co-operation of the 

 FARMERS' NATIONAL GRAIN 

 CORPORATION. If the grain trade, 

 which spends so much time resolving 

 against the farmer, can make money in 

 mixing, processing and otherwise en- 

 hancing the value of the grain after it 

 leaves the producers' hands, the pro- 

 ducer himself can make money in the 

 same way, through his own organiza- 

 tions. 



Moving Conservatively 



Had the ILLINOIS GRAIN COR- 

 PORATION employed men with grain 

 sales training obligating itself to heavy 

 financial outlay before securing a suit- 

 able membership it would of course 

 have been criticised for providing a big 

 overhead and no grain to market. Now 

 that it has adopted the more conserva- 

 tive course of first building up a sub- 

 stantial membership and then provid- 

 ing the sales service, there are those who 

 point out that it has no facilities. Have 

 no fear but that the grain can be han- 

 dled effectively and efficiently when 

 once it is flowing through single sell- 

 ing agency hands. 



7. — Experience. The experience of a 

 co-operative is determined by the ex- 

 perience of its employees. When the 



producers, through their co-operatives, 

 support the ILLINOIS GRAIN COR- 

 PORATION with memberships, those 

 same producers can rest assured that 

 that same support will enable their offi- 

 cers and directors to employ outstand- 

 ing grain men with ability and experi- 

 ence. 



No. 8 — Financial Standing. The IL- 

 LINOIS GRAIN CORPORATION is 

 set up with capital stock background 

 to provide ample capital for a good 

 strong organization. A state-wide co- 

 operative is being built to serve the pro- 

 ducer through his local co-operative. 

 The ILLINOIS GRAIN CORPORA- 

 TION is more than a commission com- 

 pany. When the member elevators 

 send all of their grain, instead of ten 

 or fifteen per cent of it, through their 

 own terminal agency, these members 

 will be agreeably surprised at the finan- 

 cial rating of their organization. Fur- 

 thermore, we are going forward on the 

 contract or agreement basis. Govern- 

 ment funds will not be available to ad- 

 vance the interests of "voluntary mar- 

 keting" for when funds are used the 

 contract must be signed. 



Need Volume Concentration 



No. 9 — Territory. Fifteen per cent 

 (approximately one-seventh) of all the 

 grain which goes into market channels 

 in the United States originates in Illi- 

 nois. Ve believe that our farm or- 

 ganizations can best serve their mem- 

 bers by sparing no efforts to mobilize 

 this large volume of grain through 

 single selling agency hands. The IL- 

 LINOIS GRAIN CORPORATION is 

 confining its activities to Illinois. 



No. 10 — Membership. The first 

 twelve days after the membership ap- 

 plication was approved by the executive 

 committee, the boards of directors of 

 twelve farmer elevators representing 

 three million one hundred thousand 

 (3,100,000) bushels of grain, voted to 

 apply for membership in the ILLINOIS 

 GRAIN CORPORATION. The first 

 elevator to come in that was operating 

 on a basis that would enable it to qual- 

 ify under the Capper- Volstead Act was 

 the Farmers' Elevator Company of Ran- 

 som, in LaSalle County. This elevator 

 was then used with which to apply for 

 membership in the Farmers' National 

 Grain Corporation. After filing this 

 membership, a period of one month 

 elapsed before it was approved. 



For several weeks we have attempted 

 to work out a suitable agreement (con- 

 tract) to be used by our member ele- 

 vators. We felt that certain details of 

 this agreement depended upon require- 

 ments of the Farmers' National Grain 

 Corporation of the regional and these 

 were not forthcoming. Our own agree- 



ment will be ready in a few days and 

 we shall then lake up in earnest the 

 task of interviewing elevators in re- 

 gard to membership. 



A Sound Program T 



No. 11 — Contract Requirements. 

 The ILLINOIS GRAIN CORPORA- 

 TION is going forward on the con- 

 tract or agreement basis, as an improve- 

 ment over the voluntary system. The 

 voluntary system of marketing is ad- 

 vocated by those p>eople who apparently 

 object to improvement. The "satisfied- 

 with-things-as-they-are" spirit never 

 discovered America or electricity or 

 won our national independence. Today, 

 the contract is recognized in all lines 

 of business — both large and small. You 

 don't mind signing an agreement as an 

 evidence of good faith when you really 

 mean to keep your word. Furthermore, 

 the agreement method is an asset to 

 those elevators which contribute money 

 to the capital stock of the ILLINOIS 

 GRAIN CORPORATION. They have 

 the assurance that the organization in 

 which they are investing will have 

 grain to handle. They know that by 

 agreement all members will stand 

 hitched. It increases the soundness of 

 the investment to know that there is 

 an assured volume of grain. 



No. 12 — Amount Required to Join. 

 The "A" preferred stock purchase re- 

 quired is two shares for each twenty 

 thousand (20,000) bushels of grain 

 handled based on the average of the last 

 three years, which is approximately an 

 equivalent of one cent (Ic) per bushel. 

 Ten per cent of this amount is payable 

 in cash and the remainder is secured by 

 five equal notes, one due each year for 

 the next five years. This amounts to 

 approximately one-fifth (1 J ) of one 

 cent per bushel the next five years. Re- 

 member that this stock subscription is 

 for a seven per cent preferred stock. 

 In some cases this stock can be pur- 

 chased by the board of directors (dz- 

 p>ends upon the law under which the 

 elevator is organized) and in others a 

 majority vote approval of the members 

 is required. 



No. 13 — Connection uith Federal 

 Farm Board. The ILLINOIS GRAIN 

 CORPORATION is a member of the 

 Farmers' National Grain Corporation 

 holding fifty (50) shares of stock. 



Editor, 



I. A. A. RECORD 



"I think a lot of your set-up and infor- 

 mation in the last several issues of the 

 I. A. A. RECORD. They have been 

 attractive in every way and full of good 

 readable information. 



IROQUOIS COUNTY 

 FARM BUREAU, 

 C. E. Johnson, Farm Adviser.' 



