THE I. A. A. RECORD 



Page Fifteen 



i i 



we 



I 



or raise prices artificially. They are 

 owned and controlled by the farmer as- 

 sociations that set them up. They are 

 in no sense agencies of the Government 

 or agencies of the Farm Board. They 

 are simply a machinery of the people 

 who produce a crop to market that 

 crop. Great care has been taken in 

 their organization to see that they are 

 set up on a sound financial basis so 

 that they will be in position, with ex- 

 perience and growth, to operate with- 

 out governmental advice or assistance. 

 So long as these agencies borrow Fed- 

 eral funds, the requirement is made 

 that their management shall be satis- 

 factory to the Farm Board. 



Farm Board Helps 



"In addition to helping co-operatives 

 establish the seven national co-opera- 

 tives sales agenc'is, the Farm Board is 

 assisting other co-operative groups in 

 the development of regional or central 

 marketing programs for the commodi- 

 ties they handle, such as dairy products, 

 rice, potatoes, apples, sour cherries and 

 various other fruits and vegetables. 

 Special mention perhaps should be made 

 of the co-operative program that has 

 been worked out by the California rai- 

 sin-grape industry with the assistance 

 of the Board. More than 85 per cent 

 of the growers have joined in the pro- 

 gram which provides for voluntary 

 contributions by them to remove the 

 surplus and convert as much as possi- 

 ble of that surplus into by-products for 

 which there is a market and thereby 

 prevent the surplus from unduly de- 

 pressing fresh grape and raisin prices. 



Time Not Arrived 

 ;'.": "From our experience of the past few 

 "months the Farm Board confidently be- 

 lieves that the principles of the Agri- 

 cultural Marketing Act not only are 

 sound but offer the best approach to 

 dealing with the farm problem. Vari- 

 ous suggestions have been made of 

 changing the law. Such action, in our 

 opinion, would be a serious mistake. 

 It may be that greater experience will 

 demonstrate the need for amendment, 

 but that time has not arrived. It is 

 our judgment that substantial progress 

 is being made in developing co-opera- 

 tive marketing and that much more 

 can be expected in the next year. 



"Tinkering with the law at this time 

 very likely would check the progress 

 that is being made by growers in or- 

 ganizing for collective action with the 

 result that those who are opposing co- 

 operative marketing, and not the farm- 

 er, would be benefited. Agriculture 

 cannot be made prosperous by legisla- 

 tion. That will come only when the 

 producers operate their industry on a 

 sound financial basis. The Agricultural 

 Marketing Act offers them a means of 



organizing to do this collectively. Suc- 

 cess of the program that is being de- 

 veloped under that law will dejjend 

 largely on the willingness of farmers to 

 take advantage of the opportunity be- 

 fore them. 



"In conclusion, I wish to emphasize 

 the fact that we do not want farmers 

 to think that the Farm Board believes 

 that co-operative marketing alone will 

 solve the agricultural problem. The 

 method of distribution and marketing 

 is vital, but, as we have shown, there 

 is a great deal more to be done by the 

 individual farmer himself than simply 

 joining a co-operative marketing or- 

 ganization, and in improving the distri- 

 bution and marketing of his products." 



Farmers' National 



Grain Corooration 



County Oil Company 



Managers Meet 



Two district meetings of county 

 supply company managers were held 

 at Chicago and Springfield on August 

 26 and August 29 respectively. 



A large number of managers, offi- 

 cers and directors of the oil companies 

 affiliated with the Illinois Farm Supply 

 Company attended the conference. The 

 discussion was devoted largely to busi- 

 ness routine including the establish- 

 ment of uniform prices on lubricating 

 oils and greases sold throughout the 

 state. Attention was called to the need 

 for more co-operation rather than com- 

 petition between the county companies. 



The following managers attended one 

 or the other of the two conferences: 



Wilmer Cornwell, Adams Service Company; 

 Lester A. Rahn, Carroll Service Company; J. 

 M. Winklcblack, Coles County Supply Com- 

 pany; W. E. Jones, Christian County Farmers' 

 Supply Company; Walker Thorp, DcWitt 

 County Service Company; H. W. Cotterman, 

 Edgar County Farm Bureau Supply Company; 

 Russell G. Stewart, Ford County Service Com- 

 pany; Ray A. Garber, Fulton Service Com- 

 pany; Roy T. Ferguson, Henry County Supply 

 Company; W. O. Wilson, Jersey County Farm 

 Supply Company; G. C. Warne, Kane County 

 Service ompany; F. A. Leach, Kendall Farm- 

 ers' Oil Company; R. H. Keeler, Knox County 

 Oil Company; M. H. Comisky, LaSalle County 

 Farm Supply; Fred R. Bybee, Lee County Ser- 

 vice Company; T. M. Livingston, Livingston 

 Service Company; F. J. Lanterman, Logan Farm 

 Supply Company; C. E. Jones, Macon County 

 Supply Company; D. R. Smith, Marshall-Put- 

 nam Oil Company; J. R. Taylor, McDonough 

 Service Company; George Curtiss, McLean 

 County Service Company; M. H. Colson, Men- 

 ard County Farmers' Supply Company; George 

 Henry, Montgomery County Farmers' Oil; 

 Lloyd Woolsey, Peoria County Service Com- 

 pany; Leslie Miles, Rich-Law Service Company; 

 L. B. Jones, Schuyler Service Company; Clyde 

 Woolsey, Tazewell Service Company; J. L. 

 Stormont, Tri-County Oil Company; J. D. 

 Bunting, Wabash Valley Service Company; Al- 

 fred Sutton, Will County Farm Supply Com- 

 pany; D. G. Bonar, Winnebago Service Com- 

 pany; G. G. Ludwig, Woodford County Ser- 

 vice Company; and C. L. Jewsbury, Morgan 

 Farmers' Oil Company. 



Owned by 26 Co-Opera tive Grain 

 Marketing Organizations, Han- 

 dles One- Third Wheat at 

 Kansas City 



FARMERS* National Grain Corpora- 

 tion is owned by twenty-six large- 

 scale co-operative grain marketing as- 

 sociations, their location in all grain 

 areas of the country making the ser- 

 vices and benefits of the national sales 

 agency available to every grain pro- 

 ducer. District and local offices for 

 the expeditious handling of the cor- 

 poration's business are maintained in St. 

 Paul, Minneapolis and Duluth, Minn.; 

 Great Falls, Mont.; Kansas City, Mo.; 

 Omaha, Neb.; Wichita, Kan.; Enid, 

 Okla.; St. Louis, Mo.; Indianafmlis, 

 Ind.; Denver, Colo.; Ogden, Utah; 

 Pendleton and Portland, Ore., and S(>o- 

 kane and Seattle, Wash. These offices 

 give Farmers' National representation 

 in practically every important grain 

 growing area. 



July Business 



During July, the first month of the 

 new crop season. Farmers' National 

 bought a total of 17,121,718 bushels 

 of grain, including wheat, corn, oats 

 and barley. Of the total receipts of 

 wheat at Kansas City during the month 

 32 per cent, or nearly one-third, was 

 handled by stockholders of the Farmers* 

 National. Branch offices at Omaha, 

 Neb.; Enid, Okla., and Wichita, Kan., 

 also handled a very large volume of 

 business, as did branch oflSces at St. 

 Louis and Indianapolis, in the soft 

 wheat territory. Purchases did not in- 

 clude large volumes of wheat stored by 

 members to be sold through the Fa,cm- 

 ers' National at such times as the)« de- 

 sire to place it on the market. On the 

 early crop movement in the Pacific 

 Northwest and the Intermountain ter- 

 ritory the corporation has handled a 

 very fair share of the wheat marketed, 

 while in the spring wheat area the dis- 

 trict office at St. Paul, with branches 

 at Minneapolis and Duluth, Minn., and 

 Great Falls, Mont., is taking care of 

 all the wheat members have for sale in 

 those markets. Export business has 

 been good, the corporation handling 

 wheat direct from member co-opera- 

 tives to millers and other buyers in 

 foreign countries. ^ ::.:, 



. , Booklets Available 



A booklet entitled "A Message and 

 a Challenge to the American Grain 

 Producer," describes the organization 

 plan of Farmers* National Grain Cor- 



