Comments On Frazier- • 



Lemlce Act Decision 



The Now York Times coninientinf; edi- 

 torially on the Supreme Court <lecisioii 

 holdinjf the Krazier-Lemke farm hank- 

 ruptey act unconstitutional says: "Noth- 

 injr of value will be lost in eonse(iueiu-e of 

 this findinc hy 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 peneral improvement shown in the 

 farm mortpape 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 mortKape as it 

 did in VXV.i. The other is the substantial 

 aid jriven to the debtor farmer by the 

 Farm Credit .Administration. By coin- 

 cidence, it reported recently that it has 

 loaiied S.S.OOO.{tOO.O(IO to farmers in the 

 last two years, on terms resulting in an 

 annual savinjr of S:}5,0()0,000 in their 

 interest charges. Farm foreclosures have 

 decreased; farm land values are risinjr: 

 farm mortpaire debt, now estimated at 

 less than $8,000,000.06(1, is the smallest 

 in l.T years." 



The Farm Bureau movement led In sponsor- 

 ing the Adjustment Act and gold revaluation 

 which assisted in raising prices, and supported 

 the Farm Credit Act o< 1933 under »»hich 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' inctmie from 

 domestic and foreign sales is the 

 most important consideration. Tht 

 other school thinks that above all 

 el.se the cotton farmer should hanj: 

 (into his export market, even if he 

 has to irive 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 

 • pther is that he lives to produc 

 cotton. The second .school is pretty 

 closely allied with one of the most 

 vocal proups now attackinfr the 

 cotton program. Cottim exporters 

 depend for their profits on vol- 

 ume of poods handle<l. The more 

 bales of cotton pass throuph 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. 



Ohservmon 



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 Knglish .Agri- 

 cultural Labourer ISOO - 1!I2.'')" Montagu- 

 jind T. R. Fordham record how tenant 

 f;'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 pari.shes, 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 1002. an Act of Parliament. 

 the Klizabethan Poor Law, was passed. 

 This law put upon every i)arish 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 <lo 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 Bo.se, single man. taken va- 

 grant at Ingham, was openly whipped (as 

 the law directed) ami had 1.'? 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 2.5) 



Among The County 



Farm Bureau Presidents 



FRED HEHNDON 



One of the familiar faces you will 

 find at state and district meetings of 

 Illinois Agricultural Association and 

 County Farm Bureaus is Fred E. 

 Herndon 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 execut ve 

 committee. In 

 1929 he was 

 elected presi- 

 dent and has 

 since served 

 w'ith distinction 

 and credit to 

 him.self in that 

 capacity. Dur- 

 ing his six 

 years as presi- 

 dent he has ti perfect attendance rec- 

 ord at the monthly meetings of the 

 board of directors. Fred, as hs 

 neighbors know him. is actively in- 

 terested in all county and state Farm 

 Bureau project.s. ani takes pride in 

 the fact that he uses 1<W per cent 

 of the services of the McDonough 

 C-Junty Farm Bureau. 



Mr. Herndon 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. 

 Hs father kept income accounts be- 

 fore him and the combined records 

 show the sale price of al! crops and 

 livestock sold as far bark 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 ccntralzed purcha.sing of 

 farm supplies. 



Since 1931 Mr. Herndon has served 

 as director from his district on the 

 board of Illinois Farm Supply Com- 

 pany. He was elected presi tent 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 dur- 

 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 meet-ngs of county 

 service companies over the state. On 

 July 16 he will appear on tKe program 

 of the 11th annual session of the 

 American Institute of Co-operation, at 

 Ithaca. New York. 



Mr. Herndon 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 Herndon have a daughter. Mary 

 Ellen, age 6. and an adopted son. 21 

 years old. 



12 



L A. A. KPXOKI) 



I 



