THE I. A. A. RECORD 



Page Nine 



stances they are enabling the farmer to buy more 

 necessities for less cash and so leave something 

 for comforts or perhaps luxuries on the farm. 

 We do call attention, however, to the justice of 

 giving the country its rightful share of philan- 

 thropies in the form of schools, libraries, hospitals, 

 roads, monuments, museums and the like. 



There is no reason why we as farmers should 

 not request that a portion of such distributions 

 be invested in projects for our edification and 

 welfare. Very little has been done in this direc- 

 tion. The fault may be largely our own for not 

 going after the money. 



tt 



Muster Day** Program 



^^BSER VANCE of a Muster Day program by 

 the Farm Bureaus in every rural community 

 in America is advocated by the American Farm 

 Bureau Federation in a special "Muster Day Proc- 

 lamation" issued recently by President Sam H. 

 Thompson. -V - i> : /:^: •/ . ^ 



The proclamation signed by Mr. Thompson and 

 Secretary Winder sets forth that: 



WHEREAS, the farm people of the United 

 States have formed a mighty organization — 

 the Farm Bureau — designed to improve the 

 economic position of agriculture and to ad- 

 vance the social conditions of rural America, 

 and 

 '' WHEREAS, agriculture is the basic indus- 

 try of this country upon which, to a large 

 extent, rests national prosperity, and 



WHEREAS, the far-flung units of this 

 mighty army of organized agriculture are to- 

 day engaged in dealing with the specific phases 

 of the farm problems that are locally empha- 

 sized. However, the strength and power of 

 the organization lies in its breadth and scope, 

 in the fact that dairymen in New England, 

 cattle feeders in Iowa, cotton planters in Ala- 

 bama, join with orange growers in California 

 in the common cause of defending the welfare 

 of agriculture, ^ -: /; 



IT IS. THEREFORE, proper that there be' 

 opportunity to take stock of the strength of 

 the entire organization; it is well that occasion 

 be found for mustering the entire force of 

 the Farm Bureau — for each member to the 

 man "to toe the mark" so that from coast to 

 coast organized agriculture may present its 

 unbroken phalanx of men and women pledged 

 to secure and to maintain through orderly or- 

 ganized effort the well being of the farm and 

 the farm home. 



THEREFORE, it is urgently recommended 



that State Farm Bureau Federations and 

 County Farm Bureaus join in organizing and 

 holding during the month of . September a 

 Muster Day program in each rural community 

 within each county. .i*- ;- .\... . Ct-. . - 



FURTHER, it is urgently recommended 

 that the community Muster Day program. Us 

 outlined by the American Farm Bureau Fed- 

 eration, he followed as closely as local condi- 

 tions will permit. 



In conducting a Muster Day program the 

 organized farmers of 1930 will be following a 

 practice common to Colonial days in America. 

 In those early times, each year one day was set 

 aside for Muster Day. On that day all men — 

 farmers — of military age gathered at an assem- 

 bly point to discuss problems of common de- 

 fense and to receive military instructions that 

 would enable them to defend from Indians 

 and enemy their farms and their farm homes. 



One phase of Colonial Muster Day was the 

 enrolling of the young men who had reached 

 the military age during the twelve months 

 just passed. ; ^ ::p . %. ..!.. 



Following this same idea it is proposed that 

 the farm men and women of the Farm Bureau 

 shall set aside one day in September of this year 

 and on that day they shall assemble in com- 

 munity groups to carry out the Muster Day 

 program, to take stock of the organization's 

 strength, and to reaffirm faith and loyalty in 

 Farm Bureau, and 



IT IS FURTHER purposed, that each Mus- 

 ter Day exercise shall present opportunity to 

 permit non-members to enroll in this great 

 effort and promote the well-being of the 

 farm people. 



All officers, state and county, community 

 leaders and members are urged to support and 

 sponsor to the limit of their ability the Muster 

 Day program to the end that this September 

 Farm Bureau demonstration may build mem- 

 bership, increase loyalty and impress the 

 nation. 



The Cover '' 



Our artist, Fred Good, presents on the front cover a 

 sketch of the Indian Head which nature has carved in the 

 limestone bluffs about three miles north of Savanna along 

 the Mississippi in Carroll county, Illinois. 



The Indian Head trail up the Mississippi to St. Paul and 

 Minneapolis got its name from this natural curiosity. The 

 trail is being paved and before long tourists may travel the 

 entire length of the state on smooth roads bordering the 

 father of waters. The editor will welcome pictures or 

 letters telling about other imusual points of interest in Illi- 

 nois, historical or otherwise, that might be suitable for 

 similar sketches. -. , .,i ..,., , 



