Glasgow Believes in Organization 



I 



We'd All Be Headed for the 

 Poor House Withouf Sur- 

 plus Control, He Says 



WHEN a man has lived on and op- 

 erated a farm all the 74 years of 

 his life — and has done a good 

 job of it too — his advice and comments 

 are usually worth heeding. 



Such a man is E. S. Glasgow, a life- 

 long member of the Peoria County 

 Farm Bureau, who calls his fertile 260- 

 acres ''West View Farm." 



Mr. and Mrs. Glasgow have arrived 

 at that point in life where their per- 

 spective clarifies judgment and assists 

 in putting things in their proper pro- 

 portion. They have reared their fam- 

 ily — four daughters and a son, all of 

 whom are out in the world on their 

 own — and are now operating their farm 

 on shares. 



To the question "What do you think 

 of the corn-hog adjustment plan?" Mr. 

 Glasgow answered, "We'd all be headed 

 for the poorhouse without it had we a 

 normal crop last year. Without the 

 AAA the drouth would have given us 

 considerable relief from price depress- 

 ing surpluses anyway, but crop adjust- 

 ment is a sound program." 



Mr. Glasgow, one of the first farm- 

 ers in the state to use limestone and 

 rock phosphate and to join his County 

 Farm Bureau, believes it is all right 

 when conditions justify to import agri- 

 cultural products, especially feed 

 grains. 



"There has been a real shortage 

 of feed grains in this country due to 

 the drouth," he said. "Also we must 

 remember that prices can get too high. 

 Consumers must be considered. It's not 

 good for farmers when prices get so 

 high as to prevent a normal consump- 

 tion of food and fibre." 



West View farm produces principally 

 grain and livestock. All the cultivated 

 fields have been limed — even the blue 

 grass pasture. The major rotation is 

 corn, oats and sweet clover or al- 

 falfa. This year 35 acres are in al- 

 falfa. Alfalfa was a money-maker in 

 1934 when a substantial amount of hay 

 was sold at a good price. Last year 

 when corn was a failure or near fail- 

 ure on many farms, Mr. Glasgow pro- 

 duced about 45 bushels to the acre and 

 this year prospects are for a yield of 

 60 bushels or more. 



All the tillable land has had from 



i>Ms 



'r\ ^^,t. 



MR. AND MRS. E. S. GLASGOW IN THER FLOWER GARDEN. 



one to 11/2 tons of rock phosphate. Most 

 of this was bought back in 1908 to 1910 

 when the price was $6 to $7 a ton laid 

 down — before the big increase in freight 

 rates. Glasgow was one of the earliest 

 disciples of the permanent system of 

 soil fertility advocated by Dr. Hopkins, 

 Frank Mann and others. Soil improve- 

 ment has paid well on West View 

 farm. Ev.en last year oats made 35 to 

 40 bushels in spite of the drouth and 

 chinch bugs. Normal yields run much 

 higher than this — up to 75 and 85 

 bushels an acre. 



Mr. Glasgow can remember back in 

 the war years when he had to pay an 

 income tax. "And I was glad to pay it 

 too," he said. "One year my tax was 

 $900, and in three years my income 

 taxes totaled $1,800. It all came off 

 the farm. But prices in those days got 

 too high," he continued. "If farmers 

 will organize thoroughly and continue 

 the AAA program or some other sur- 

 plus control plan we may be able to 

 work back to a reasonable income 

 again." 



Hogs and cattle are the mainstay 

 for farm income. Mr. Glasgow has 

 raised as many as 250 pigs a year. In 

 the corn-hog program he has an al- 

 lotment of 154 pigs this year. Feeding 

 cattle, purchased in the fall when they 

 weighed around 500 pounds, are win- 

 tered on alfalfa hay. Later they get a 

 balanced grain ration. They are fed 

 ground corn and oats without any con- 

 centrate when on sweet clover and 

 blue grass pasture. The pigs farrow in 

 May. He uses gilts altogether for far- 

 rowing the litters which go to market 

 the following February or March. West 



View Farm follows the swine sani- 

 tation system. Pigs are kept out on 

 clean pasture. Small moveable houses 

 are used for shelter and a rough 

 shed open on the sides provides 

 shade. 



Mr. Glasgow is a firm believer in 

 the value of organization. He is con- 

 vinced that had farmers not been or- 

 ganized and made a fight for effective 

 legislation, very little, if anything, 

 would have been done to bring agri- 

 culture within the protective system. 

 He feels that farmers must hold on to 

 the Crop adjustment program or some- 

 thing similar to maln'ain rea<ronable 

 prices for farm products. H? believes 

 that farmers are doing more construc- 

 tive thinking today than any time in 

 liis^ory and have a better grasp of eco- 

 nomic principles. He is of the opinion 

 that until foreign trade is resumed and 

 normal outlets for farm products 

 opened that American farmers must 

 continue keeping their production in 

 balance with domestic demand and 

 such foreign trade as they can secure 

 at a profit. 



Unlimited production, regardless of 

 price, does not appeal to him any more 

 than it does to any thinking farmer. 

 Mr. Glasgow has thought deeply about 

 the economic principles involved in 

 the question of farm, income. He reads 

 and studies. He believes that President 

 Roosevelt and Secretary Wallace Jiave 

 the agricultural situation sized up right 

 and he has confidence that a sound, 

 permanent policy for agriculture will 

 be evolved if farmers will stand to- 

 gether through organization and insist 

 on economic equality. 



OCTOBER, 1935 



