Comments On Frazler- 



Lemke Act Decision 



The New York Times commenting edi- 

 torially on the Supreme Court decision 

 holding the Frazier-Lemke farm bank- 

 ruptcy act unconstitutional says: "Noth- 

 ing of value will be lost in consequence of 

 this finding by the court. Comparative- 

 ly little use has been made of the bank- 

 ruptcy law since its enactment and it has 

 played no important part whatever in 

 the general improvement shown in the 

 farm mortgage situation. For this im- 

 provement two other factors plainly de- 

 serve credit. One is the marked rise in 

 the value of farm commodities; a bushel 

 of wheat now pays more than twice as 

 much interest on a farm mortgage as it 

 did in 1933. The other is the substantial 

 aid given to the debtor farmer by the 

 Farm Credit Administration. By coin- 

 cidence, it reported recently that it has 

 loaned $3,000,000,000 to farmers in the 

 last two years, on terms resulting in an 

 annual saving of $35,000,000 in their 

 interest charges. Farm foreclosures have 

 decreased; farm land values are rising; 

 farm mortgage debt, now estimated at 

 less than $8,000,000,090, is the smallest 

 in 15 years." 



The Farm Bureau movement ted in sponsor- 

 ing the Adjustment Act and gold revaluation 

 which assisted in raising prices, and supported 

 the Farm Credit Act ol 1933 under which a 

 more liberal credit policy and lower interest 

 rates were put into effect. — Editor. 



Two Schools of Thought 



There are two schools of thought 

 in cotton. One school believes that 

 the cotton farmers' income from 

 domestic and foreign sales is the 

 most important consideration. The 

 / other school thinks that above all 

 else the cotton farmer should hang 

 onto his export market, even if he 

 has to give his cotton away to do it. 

 One school makes income su- 

 preme; the other volume of produc- 

 tion supreme. One idea is that the 

 farmer produces cotton to live; the 

 other is that he lives to produce 

 cotton. The second school is pretty 

 closely allied with one of the most 

 vocal groups now attacking the 

 cotton program. Cotton exporters 

 depend for their profits on vol- 

 ume of goods handled. The more 

 bales of cotton pass through their 

 hands, the better off they are. I'm 

 not sure that they care very much 

 what the price is to the farmer 

 who produces the goods they han- 

 dle. — M. L. Wilson, Assistant Sec- 

 retary of Agriculture. 



The unemployment relief policy which 

 would require every able-bodied person 

 to work for his living when provided at 

 public expense seems to have ample 

 precedent in medieval history. 



In a book entitled "The English Agri- 

 cultural Labourer 1300 - 1925" Montaguo 

 and T. R. Fordham record how tenant 

 fp.rmers and workers back in the 16th 

 century lost their jobs as a result of 

 changes in land ownership and other 

 laws which brought about destruction 

 of villages and the break-up of mon- 

 asteries to which many workers were at- 

 tached. 



Laws were passed again and again to 

 deal with these poor people who were 

 now to be treated as vagabonds. The 

 poor, it was decided by the law, were to 

 go back to their own parishes, there to 

 be dealt with. Those who were caught 

 outside of their own parishes were pun- 

 ished in various ways. Sturdy beggars 

 found wandering were to be whipped or 

 branded. Every parish was ordered to 

 deal with its own poor, and to form a 

 fund for this purpose. At first this fund 

 had to be collected by the parsons and 

 church-wardens; those who did not sub- 

 scribe a fair share were, the law says, 

 to be "reasoned with by the bishop." 



Later, when this system broke down, 

 a poor rate was ordered to be levied. 

 Finally, in 1602, an Act of Parliament, 

 the Elizabethan Poor Law, was passed. 

 This law put upon every parish the duty 

 of giving relief to those parishioners who 

 were unable to work; of finding work 

 for those who were able-bodied, and of 

 punishing those who, though able to 

 work, would not do so. This law was 

 altered in various ways at different 

 times, and later on, the system of out- 

 door relief was introduced, but its main 

 provisions remained in force for more 

 than 200 years. 



Accounts of many of these poor 

 people appear in old parish documents. 

 The records of Ingham, in Suffolk, tell 

 how "John Bose, single man, taken va- 

 grant at Ingham, was openly whipped (as 

 the law directed) and had 13 days al- 

 lowed him to go from constable to con- 

 stable to Stockbridge in Hampshire 

 where he sayeth he last dwelt — at his 

 peril. The place is distant from our 

 town 80 miles as we are informed, which 

 made us grant him so many days." ' 



John Bose, having taken his flogging, 

 got, no doubt, a certificate from the par- 

 son stating that he had been duly 

 (Continued on page 25) 



FSES HESHDOM 



Among The County 

 Farm Bureau Presidents 



One of the familiar faces you will 

 find at state and district meetings of 

 Illinois Agricultural Association and 

 County Farm Bureaus is Fred E. 

 Hemdon of Macomb, president of the 

 McDonough County Farm Bureau. 



He is a char- 

 ter member of 

 his county or- 

 ganization and 

 since 1926 has 

 been a member 

 of its execufve 

 connmittee. In 

 1929 he was 

 elected presi- 

 dent and has 

 since served 

 with distinction 

 and credit to 

 himself in that 

 capacity. Dur- 

 > i n g his six 



years as presi- 

 dent he has a perfect attendance rec- 

 ord at the monthly meetings of the 

 .board of directors. Fred, as h's 

 neighbors know him. is actively in- 

 terested in all county and state Farm 

 Bureau projects, and takes pride in 

 the fact that he uses IflO per cent 

 of the services of the McDonough 

 County Farm Bureau. 



Mr. Hemdon purchased the farm 

 which he now operates in 1918. He 

 has kept accurate farm accounts ever 

 since this project was initiated by the 

 Farm Bureau, and he now has com- 

 plete records on his farm for 17 years. 

 H-s father kept income accounts be- 

 fore him and the combined records 

 show the sale price of all crops and 

 livestock sold as far back as 50 years. 

 Fred has been especially interested in 

 the soil fertility program, corn im- 

 provement, swine sanitation, farm ac- 

 counting, co-operative livestock mar- 

 keting and central'zed purchasing of 

 farm supplies. 



Since 1931 Mr. Hemdon has served 

 as director from his district on the 

 board of Illinois Farm Supply Com- 

 pany. He was elected president of 

 the company at the first meeting of 

 the board following his election as 

 director, and has been unanimously 

 re-elected each year since 1931. 



He has given freely of hs time diur- 

 ing the past nine years to promote 

 the best interests of farm people 

 through organization. After the mem- 

 bership campaign was completed in 

 his home county in 1929 he signed 83 

 Farm Bureau members. During re- 

 cent years he has given much time 

 to Illinois Farm Supply Company ad- 

 dressing annual meetings of county 

 service companies over the state. On 

 July 16 he will appear on the program 

 of the 11th annual session of the 

 American Institute of Co-operation, at 

 Ithaca, New York. 



Mr. Hemdon and his family are 

 members of the -United Brethren 

 Church of Adair where he has served 

 for a number of years as superinten- 

 dent of the Sunday School. Mr. and 

 Mrs. Hemdon have a daughter, Mary 

 Ellen, age 6, and an adopted son, 21 

 years old. 



12 



I. A. A. RECORD 



