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Illinois A^cultural Association 



RECOI^D 



Publlihed monthly by the Illinoli Aicrlculturtl Assiviatinn at 124 So. Fifth St., Marshall, 111.; Editorial omces. U08 So. Dearborn 8t., ChluEo. Ill Enierrd » Kcond- 

 class matter at post-office at Marshall, III., June 16, 1930. under the Act of March .t. 1879. Acceptance for maiUnE at ipeclal rate of postage provided In Kectloo 411, 



Act of Feb. 28. r.*2o, authorized Oct. 27. 1925. Address all communications for publicatinn to BiUtorlal Offices, lllino's .\KrirulturaI Asso.iatii>n Record, HOS So. Dcarlwrn St., t'hicaltn. 



Number 10 



October, 1930 



Volume 8 



WLS to Become Real 



Co-Operative Station 



Farm Organizations, Farm Press, 

 and Farm Co-Operatives Incor- 

 porate Agricultural Radio 

 . Association 



ORGANIZATION of the Agricul- 

 tural Radio Association by repre- 

 sentative general farm organizations, 

 farm co-operatives, and farm publica- 

 tions in the cornbelt states to control 

 and have the option of purchase of Sta- 

 tion WLS, Chicago, was announced at 

 a hearing before the Federal Radio 

 Commission in Washington recently. 



This move which has great signifi- 

 cance and import in the field of radio 

 broadcasting was taken to insure that 

 Middle West agriculture will have at 

 least one prominent wave length over 

 which the viewpoint of American 

 farmers can be presented without re- 

 striction. 



Private Control 



All the other prominent wave lengths 

 at Chicago, and most other cities, in 

 fact, have been turned over to private 

 interests which include newspapers, 

 public utility companies, and the like. 

 In some instances farmers have been 

 prevented from broadcasting their side 

 of controversial issues, and Illinois 

 farmers still recall that the I. A. A. 

 was summarily dismissed from Station 

 WGN presumably because it advocated 

 a state income tax. 



Plans to be announced later contem- 

 plate making Station WLS a real voice 

 of agriculture, owned and controlled 

 co-operatively by the people who make 

 up the rural population of the Middle 

 West. 



Official Statement 



The official statement announcing 

 the new project prepared for the Radio 

 Commission by officials of the A. R. A. 

 and presented at Washington by W. C. 

 McQueen, president of the Pure Milk 

 Association, follows: 



"Recognizing the many changing conditions 

 in radio development and particularly the grad- 

 ual, but very definite, control of wave lengths 



^THO PAYS THE BILL? 

 pONSTRIJCTIVE action of (arm- 

 em In or(ranir.tnK to market 

 their on'n products is belns met 

 n-itii bitter oppoKition by thone 

 nho have a nelllsh IntereHt in 

 impeding co-operative HaoresK. 

 FamierH are JuHtifled in asking; 

 "^Vbo Pays the Bills"? for the 

 flood of propaf^anda against the 

 Farm Board and co-operative 

 grain marketing now being spread 

 throaghoat Illinois. 



being acquired by other than agricultural in- 

 terests; and further recognizing that the farm- 

 ers of the central west are surely entitled to 

 the ownership and control of one prominent 

 wave length, certain agricultural leaders of the 

 mid-west states held a conference early in Feb- 

 ruary of this year to consider ways and means 

 where the proper interests of agriculture might 

 be served in this respect. Negotiations have 

 continued throughout the past several months, 

 resulting in the recent incorporation of the 

 Agricultural Radio Association. The primary 

 purpose of the Agricultural Radio Association 

 will be directed toward preserving the rightful 

 interests of agriculture, especially insuring the 

 future privilege and opportunity for freedom 

 of expression by farmers on all matters affect- 

 ing the economic welfare of their industry, 



"Incorporators and the original Board of 

 Directors of the Agricultural Radio Association 

 are as follows: 



Earl C. Smith, President, Illinois Agricultural 



Association. 

 W, C. McQueen, President, Pure Milk Assn, 

 C. V. Gregory, Editor-in-Chief, Prairie 



Farmer. 

 M. S. Winder, Executive Secretary, American 



Farm Bureau Federation, 

 Chas. E. Hearst, President, Iowa Farm Bu- 

 reau Federation, 

 'Wm. H. Settle, President, Indiana Farm Bu- 

 reau Federation, 

 M. L, Noon, President, Michigan Farm Bu- 

 reau Federation. 

 H. C. Hemingway, President, Wisconsin Farm 



Bureau Federation, 

 Henry H, Parke, President, Chicago Produc- 

 ers' Commission Ass<x:iation. 

 J. R, Fulkerson, President, Producers' Live 

 Stock Commission Assn,, East St. Louis, 111, 

 S. R. McKelvie, Publisher, Nebraska Farmer. 



Entered Contract 



"The Agrictslturil Radio Commission has en- 

 tered into a contract with the Agricultural 

 Broadcasting Company, owner of Radio Station 

 WLS, wherein the policies of this station will 

 in the future be determined, controlled and di- 

 rected by the said Agricultural Radio Associa- 

 tion. Along with this contract, the Agricul- 

 tural Broadcasting Company has executed an 

 option for purchase of Station WLS covering 

 a period of several months, thereby offering the 

 opportunity for the farmers of the mid-west 

 (Continued on page 4, column 3) 



C. H. Bonnell's Letter 



Repudiates Propaganda 



Show^s How Attitude of Farmers 



Grain Dealers Association Is 



Being Misrepresented 



A REPUDIATION of an announce- 

 ment widely circulated among 

 Illinois elevators and newspapers to the 

 effect that the Illinois Farmers Grain 

 Dealers' Association had attacked the 

 Federal Farm Board and the Farmers 

 National Grain Corporation was con- 

 tained in a letter received by an official 

 of the Farmers National from C. H. 

 Bonnell, president of the Farmers Grain 

 Dealers Association of Illinois on Oct. 7. 



"Our association (Farmers Grain 

 Dealers Association of Illinois) has 

 never authorized nor endorsed any let- 

 ter or statement criticizing the mem- 

 bers or the policies of the Federal Farm 

 Board, and we earnestly desire that its 

 aims may be realized," stated Mr. Bon- 

 nell's letter. 



The propaganda referred to above 

 was circulated by one R. B. Orndorff 

 who without any authority to do so 

 has acted as chief spokesman for the 

 farmers' elevator association using his 

 recently acquired connection as vice- 

 president of the organization to give an 

 air of authenticity to the misstatements. 



Farm Board Fights 



Orndorff has not only embarrassed 

 the farmers' elevator association, but he 

 has imposed upon newspapers by mis- 

 representing facts. Only one Chicago 

 newspaper, the Journal of Commerce, 

 which champions the anti-co-operative 

 school of thought, published the state- 

 ment. All the others after learning the 

 true situation threw it in the waste 

 basket. 



The malicious propaganda being cir- 

 culated in Illinois against the Federal 

 Farm Board and co-operative marketing 

 is apparently part of a nationwide pro- 

 gram to hinder farmers from giving co- 

 operative marketing of grain under 

 their own control a fair trial in the 

 terminal markets. 



