Page Eight 



THE I. A. A. RECORD 



December, 19)0 



^ ^ I L« Li I IM O I S _^ 



CCLTURAL ASSOCIAlflL 



RE COm^O— ^' 



To advance the 'lurpose for which the F-rm Bureau was organized, 

 ti'tn.ty, to promote, protect and represent ,je business, economic, political, 

 cni- ed-'-ational interests of the farmers Oj Illinois and the nation, 

 end to develop agriculture, 



Editur, George Thiem 



PuMishec -nee 3 month by tne Illinois Ajrricnltural Association, 

 at I '■ So. Fii'h St., Marshall, III. Ailrcss all commuMcations (or publi- 

 cafi'H tc Editoria. Ofi'ice, 60S So. Dearborn St., Chicago, 1!!. Entered as 

 secc- d-dass matter June 16. 1930, at the post office at Marshall, 111., 

 JU''"- the Alt of Marcii 3, 1879. Accepted ior mailinij at special rate of 

 ooMage jiovijed for in Section 412, Act of Feb. 28, 1925, authorized 

 ^C . 27, 1925. The individual membership fee of the Illinois .Agricultural 

 Association is five dcdlars a year. The fee includes payment of tifty cents 

 ."»! subscrriition to t-ie Illinois Agricultural Association Record. Post* 

 :-'ister: In reluming an uncilled for missent copy please indicate key 

 nttuiber on address as is required bv l.-.w. 



OFFICERS 



President. Earl C. Smith Detroit 



Vice-President, A. R. Wright.— Varna 



Secretary, Geo. E. Metzger Chicago 



Treasurer, R. A. Cowles Bloomington 



BOARD OF DIRECTORS 

 (By Congressional District) 



Ist to ll'h H. C. Vial, Downers Grove 



12th......... _ G. F. Tullock. Rockford 



13th , „ C. E. .Bamborough. Polo 



14th _ _ M. G. Lambert. Ferris 



15th „ A N. Skinner. Yates City 



»6th _ Geo. B. Muller, Washington 



17th. - _ .Geo. J. Stoll, Chestnut 



18th.._ „ „ W. A. Dennis. Paris 



I9th C. J. Gross. Atwood 



2Qth.._ _ _ Charles S. Black. Jacksonville 



Zlst... _ _ Samuel Sorrells, Raymond 



'""..o.....^ _ -Frank Oexner, Waterloo 



13t'\ _ _ _ W. L. Cope. Salem 



J4th _ „. Charles Marshall 



,stn. Fred Dietz, De Soto 



DEPARTMENT DIRECTORS 



Comptroller J. H. Kelker 



Finance R. A. Cowles 



Fruit and Vegetable Marketing _ A. B. Leeper 



Grain Marketing ;„ _ Harrison Fahrnkopf 



Information _ _ _ George Thiem 



Insurance Service _ V. Vaniman 



Legal Counsel _ Donald Kirkpatrick 



Limestone-Phosphate J. R. Bent 



Live Stock Marketing... _ Ray E. Miller 



Office _ C. E. Johnston 



Organization _ _ G. E. Metzger 



■produce Marketing F. A. Gougler 



Taxation and Statistics „ J. C. Watson 



Transportation L. J. Quasey 



ASSOCIATED ORGANIZATIONS 



Country Life Insurance Co _ L. A. Williams, Mgr, 



Farmers Mu'ii.-' Reinsurance Co J. H. Kelker, Mgr. 



Illinois Agricultural Co-operatives Ass'n F. E. Ringham, Mgr. 



.Illinois Agricultural »!uti:al Insurance Co A. E. Richardson. Mgr. 



Illinois Farm Supply C • L. R Marchant, Mgr. 



Illinois Grain Corp Harrison Fahrnkopf, Mgr. 



Midwest Grain Corp Chas. P. Cumming.?, Gcn'l. Mgr 



Soybean Marketing A«sn... '. H. Lloyd, Mgr. 



The Furmer and His Job 



'"'"HE f.irmcr must help himself. The government can't 

 J- do much for him. 



This h the doctrine pre.iched by many a man wherever 

 .ind whenever the farm problem comes up for discussion. 

 Nearly everyone takes a kindly interest in the farmer and his 

 troubles, althou.i^h for the momr.u attention has been di- 

 verted to the centers of population \\here the armies of un- 

 employed are rightfully receiving most of the sympathy. 



The farmer has come to believe that he must help himself, 

 although he insists that so long as the government extends 

 privileges to various groups by means of the protective 

 tariff, immigration law, federal reserve act, etc., that agri- 

 culture be given a seat at the table of privilege. 



There arc a host of people who have sympathized with 

 farmers over their difficulties and who even admit the justice 

 of and need for "equality for agriculture." Yet when the 

 farmer starts to follow the advice of his well wishers by 

 helping himself in his own way these same people change 

 their attitude. When farmers seek to eliminate some of the 

 waste in distribution, for example, by developing co-opera- 

 tive marketing, certain middlemen and their allies leave no 



.:to. ." •"turned to head off any progress in that direction. 

 This corditio.i >as clearly pointed out by President Smith 

 in I. is adiress before the recent annual Farm I'^ireau conven- 

 tion at Boston, 



to lower 

 such as 

 I e less 



■.abl.ihed 



When the farmer through organizat' :i so-"'-, 

 his costs by providing certain services for hirn;. 

 insurance and co-operative buying, he was n-- 

 criticized for his activity. Those who had alread) 

 these services immediately felt and claimed, directly oi in- 

 directly, that they had an exclusive and God-givei' right to 

 n;nder the given service at their own prices and on theii 

 own terms. 



The farmer has no business doing this nor d i;..< hat, they 

 said, "i.et him stick to marketing," says the insurance man; 

 "that's where he can make the best showing." 



"The present system of marketing is perfect and cannot 

 be improved upon," says the commission man. "Let the 

 farmer develop his insurance and oil business where the op- 

 portunities are greater." And so it goes. 



W'hen the Farm Bureau was young and weak, and con- 

 fined its activities to preaching the "two-blades-of-grass'" 

 doctrine, it was lauded to the skies and patronized by many 

 a commissioi man, merchant and tr.ider. But when it put 

 on lofig pants and directed its attention to larger problems 

 influencing the farm income and outgo, it lost favor with 

 some of its old allies. 



Everyone loves the farmer as a customer, but when he 

 stops being a customer, he loses some of his friends. ' '.)« 

 can blame him, then, for believing that many ot his busi- 

 ness friendships have the dollar sign tied to them; for oc 

 coming painfully aware of the selfishness of humanity; tor 

 judging many of his critics with these things in mind. 



The farmer has come to assume a philosophic attitude to 

 ward life and his fellow man, determined to do the best he 

 knows how to help himself and his industry, recognizing the 

 necessity for hewing away at the job letting the chips fall 

 where they may. 



Lessons from the Official Vote 



THE official vote on the proposed revenue amendment in 

 the last election reveals that less than half the voters 

 expressed themselves on this important question. 



The total number of votes cast in the election was 2,332,- 

 696. Of this number 513,661 voted against the amendn ent. 

 371,812 voted for it. To have passed the amendment would 

 have required a majority of all votes cast or 1,166,349. 

 Thus it was overwhelmingl)- defeated. 



Four years ago when the Illinois Agricultural Association 

 supported the ta.K amendment proposed then, the vote was 

 651,768 for it, and 476,455 against. It is reasonably safe 

 to assume that the position of organized farmers against 

 the measure submitted in the last election was largely re- 

 sponsible for an overturn of nearly 280,000 votes. 



The fact that the proposal appeared on the main ballot 

 this year instead of on a separate ballot did not seem to help 

 it any. V^'hile 1,128.223 voted on the measure in 1926, 

 only 885,473 voted on the proposal this year. 



Both the recent vote and that of four years ago indicate 

 the extreme difficulty of passing any kind of an amendment, 

 because of the large number who invariably fail to express 

 themselves on important questions of public policy. This 

 fact is all the more reason why strenuous efforts must be 

 made in the coming General Assembly to establish a more 

 equitable taxing system under our present constitution. 



