THE I. A. A. RECORD 



Page Five 



Farm Board News 



RETURNING to Washington re- 

 cently from a trip through the 

 grain states, Chairman Alexander Legge 

 of the Farm Board summoned news- 

 paper men as reported by the Time 

 magazine, and declared that "The farm 

 board was created to assist the farmer 

 and not for politics. From now until 

 November politicians will be so busy 

 saving the farmer, it might be just as 

 well to take a vacation. . . . 



"I notice the Democratic National 

 Committee has adopted as a slogan 'the 

 failure of the Farm Board.' This seems 

 to be copied almost word for word 

 from the grain dealers and the Cham- 

 ber of Commerce of the United States. 



"Certain interests [he meant the 

 grain brokers] which seem to feel they 

 have a God-given right to handle the 

 products of the farmers, and who have 

 accumulated immense fortunes in doing 

 so . . . doubtless will be easy picking 

 for any politician of any party who is 

 willing to play their game. 



"However, farmers as a class . . . 

 seem to be aware that their present un- 

 happy condition is a result of long years 

 of unregulated production, while they 

 listened to gigantic schemes that high- 

 powered statesmen have had to offer. 



"Present and future orations . . to 

 broadcast the alleged failures of the 

 Farm Board are only more of the same 

 kind of political bunk. ..." 



"Pulmotor" 



Asked if the Farm Board would buy 

 more wheat now as senators from Kan- 

 sas, Nebraska, South Dakota and Okla- 

 homa were asking, Chairman Legge 

 replied "No, stabilization will work 

 admirably on seasonal surpluses but it 

 can't be made to work on permanent 

 cumulative surpluses. To buy 100,- 

 000,000 bu. of wheat would only en- 

 courage Kansas farmers to plant more 

 and make a bad situation worse. We 

 can apply a pulmotor and give tem- 

 porary aid, but we're looking for a more 

 permanent remedy." 



No Skirts for Legge 



Someone suggested that he ought to 

 report his findings to President Hoover. 

 Mr. Legge's eyes narrowed sharply as he 

 replied: "The Farm Board isn't going to 

 hide behind the President's skirts. If 

 he wants to see me he knows where to 

 find me. Business is going on as usual." 



Italy has a tall new tariff to keep 

 out wheat. Likewise France, where 

 wheat last week was seUing at $1.71 

 per bu. Advanced by idealists has been 

 the idea that the Farm Board donate 

 its heavy wheat holdings to famine- 

 stricken China, but practical-minded 



C. p. Cammingra 



Mr. Legge declares: "We've no au- 

 thority to give anything away, to China 

 or any other country. . . I've dis- 

 cussed these proposals with President 

 Hoover, but no solution has been 

 found." 



Whether Chairman Legge thought it 

 was "bunk" or not, the wheat surplus 

 last week continued to brew strong 

 politics. Republican senators criticized 

 the board for its "do-nothing" policy. 

 There was talk that Senator Borah of 

 Idaho who last week was ordered to 

 northern Maine for a month's rest by 

 his physician would take the stump this 

 autumn in the northwest against the 

 Farm Board and the administration's 

 farm relief program. 



The Board's Year 



In its first year (ended June 30) the 

 Farm Board advanced $195,000,000 of 

 the $2 50,000,000 appropriated by Con- 

 gress to co-operatives and stabilization 

 corporations. Of this sum $40,000,- 

 000 had been repaid up to last week. 



Six national co-operative selling 

 agencies, borrowing from the board, 

 have been established: 



1) Farmers National Grain Corp., of 

 Chicago; Clarence Elmer Huff, presi- 

 dent. F. N. G. C. sells wheat for 

 members or loans them 85% of the 

 spot price. Last week it said it was 

 handling one-third of all wheat through 

 Kansas City, predicted it would handle 

 half the U. S. crop next year, claimed 

 that in the foreign field it was already 

 the world's biggest factor. 



2) American Cotton Co-Operative 

 Association of New Orleans; Allen 

 Northington, president. Estimated 

 membership, 200,000 planters. 



3) National Wool Marketing Corp. 

 of Boston. This agency handled about 

 10% of the clipped wool last year, 

 plans to handle 30% this year. . 



4) National Bean Marketing Associa- 

 tion of Oxnard, Calif.; Ralph Logan 

 Churchill, president. 



5) National Live Stock Marketing 

 Association of Chicago; C. A. Ewing, 

 president. 



6) National Pecan Marketing Asso- 

 ciation of Brownwood, Tex.; Henry 

 Gaillard Lucas, president. 



Next week a seventh national co- 

 operative is exjjected to be formed when 

 beet sugar producers from 17 states 

 meet at Greeley, Col. 



Two stabilization corporations to buy 

 and sell commodities in the open mar- 

 ket now exist: 



1) Grain Stabilization Corp.; George 

 S. Milnor, general manager. This agen- 

 cy bought and now holds for the Farm 

 Board 69,000,000 bu. of wheat. 



2) Cotton Stabilization Corp.; E. 

 Fitzgerald Creekmore, general manager. 

 This agency at a heavy loss took over 

 1,000,000 bales of 1929 cotton from 

 the national co-operative. 



The live stock co-operative does its 

 own buying and selling. The wool as- 

 sociation trades through Draper & Co. 

 of Boston. The bean and pecan or- 

 ganizations are still developing their 

 marketing system. 



Though no national co-operatives 

 have yet been formed, for handling 

 dairy products, tobacco, potatoes, ap- 

 ples, rice, fruits and vegetables, honey, 

 pwultry and eggs, grapes and raisins, 

 sour cherries, the Farm Board has done 

 business with local marketing associa- 

 tions. 



Authorize Investment 



The purchase by the I. A. A. of 

 $10,000 worth of class A preferred 

 stock in the Illinois Grain Corporation 

 was authorized at the last meeting of 

 the board of directors on July 22 in 

 Chicago. Further action was taken au- 

 thorizing the officers to loan $15,000 

 of the organization's funds when se- 

 cured by collateral now held by or to 

 be acquired by the Illinois Grain Cor- 

 poration. Money so obtained will be 

 used by the new grain co-operative for 

 capital purposes. .«_ 



Marketing Tomatoes 



The surplus tomato crop about Ster- 

 ling in Whiteside county produced by 

 members of the Sterling Vegetable 

 Growers' Association, will be handled 

 by the Illinois Fruit Growers' Ex- 

 change during the current season, ac- 

 cording to a recent announcement by 

 Manager A. B. Leeper. 



This association recently affiliated 

 with the Fruit Growers' Exchange in 

 handling carlot shipments. 



