Achieve New High Records 

 In Organized Buying 



A COMBINATION of improved farm 

 bujdng p>ower and more intensive 

 sales efforts led Illinois Farm Sup- 

 ply Company and 60 associated County 

 Service Companies to new high ground 

 m volume of sales, business turn-over 

 and dividends during the past fiscal 

 year. 



Anyone who has followed the steady 

 progress of centralized purchasing by 

 Farm Bureau members in Illinois is ac- 

 customed to seeing new records hung 

 up each year. But it would have taken 

 an optimist indeed to forecast the 

 amazing growth of this enterprise 

 eight years ago when a handful of 

 County Service Companies centralized 

 their buying and with the aid of the 

 LAA set up Illinois Farm Supply Com- 

 pany. That the enterprise has been 

 highly successful from the beginning 

 indicates the wide-open opportunity 

 that existed for organized farmers to 

 move in and with good management 

 make a showing. 



At the annual meeting on October 16 

 at Peoria, the chart reproduced here- 

 with was used by Manager L. R. Mar- 

 chant to visualize the increase in busi- 

 ness handled from year to year. The 

 new high record of $8,400,000 in retail 

 sales, exclusive of taxes, by the 60 

 county companies speaks for itself. 

 More than 85,000 patrons were served 

 by the 484 tank trucks operating from 

 163 warehouses and bulk plants. The 

 60 companies now have 54 retail serv- 

 ice stations and supply products to 588 

 additional dealer agencies. 



The farmer's investment m these 

 companies, the management report 

 shows, approximates one million dol- 

 lars, to be exact $995,381.20. The bulk 

 -of this amount, or $850,000, represents 

 investment in fixed assets, $103,100 the 

 capital stock holdings of the county 

 companies in the State Company. The 

 balance of the investment serves as 

 working capital. 



Total cash returns on the investment 

 to date in preferred and patronage div- 

 idends are more than 300 per cent or 

 $3,025,000, not including 1935 returns. 



Let every member mark this state- 

 ment. During the fiscal year 1934 the 

 average patronage dividend was $22.50 

 per member, total patronage dividends 

 $660,000. After the payment of $64,- 

 893.50 capital stock dividends, patron- 

 age dividends of $660,000 and federal 

 income tax of $41,185.93, the total sur- 

 plus was $1,131,414.54. The surplus is 



cent, leading all other products. Cham- 

 paign County Service Company, re- 

 peating its performance of 1934, won 

 the state championship with 46,258 

 gallons or an average of 4,205 gallons 



•aMOOOO 



' #YEARS GROWTH 



( ANNUAL SALES 



MANAGER L. R. MARCHANT OF ILLINOIS FARM SUPPLY COMPANY ILLUSTRATES 

 amazing growth of eentralizad purchasing by illinoii Farmon. . 



equivalent to 113.7 per cent of the far- 

 mer's capital stock investment. 



For three consecutive years cash div- 

 idends paid back to Farm Bureau 

 members have been substantially above 

 the half miUion dollar mark. A total 

 of 8,192 carload shipments of petro- 

 leum products during the past fiscal 

 year contrast ^vith 945 carload ship- 

 ments in 1927. the first year of the 

 company. 



The gain in gallonage is 31.8 per 

 cent over 1934. They rank as follows: 

 Gasoline 5,167 cars, kerosene 1,491, dis- 

 tillate 937, motor oil 561, grease 36. 

 Expressed in gallons the figure runs up 

 around 63,000,000, in addition to nearly 

 a million pounds of grease. 



Here is an interesting fact. Not all 

 county companies have enjoyed the 

 same increase in business. Twelve led 

 the way with a gain of 58.75 per cent in 

 volume of gasoline, 49.6 per cent in 

 kerosene, 72.4 per cent in motor oil, etc. 

 Thus, we see that the individual man- 

 agement and sales effort bulk large in 

 the record of progress. 



The motor oil contest during which 

 the state was divided into four divi- 

 aons, shot the gain in sales to 40.3 per 



per salesman. The increase in gallon- 

 age sold by this county over its pre- 

 vious record is more than the entire 

 quantity delivered by each of the 34 

 low ranking companies in the contest. 



Shipments of Soyoil paint again 

 reached new high levels with a grand 

 total of 144,740 gallons, an increase of 

 more than 65 per cent over last year. 

 It is estimated that at least 30,000 rural 

 people have used Soyoil paint and one 

 out of every 10 farmers in the state 

 has one or more buildings painted with 

 Soyoil. 



Similar gains were made in sales of 

 tires and tubes, fly spray, insecticides, 

 fertilizers and other products. The 

 Fruit Exchange Supply Company, a 

 subsidiary of Illinois Fruit Growers 

 Exchange, is now a stock holder in 

 Illinois Farm Supply. The tonnage of 

 fertilizers and spray materials bandied 

 during the year was substantially in- 

 creased. . 



The official audit shows the net worth 

 of the company represented by a capital 

 stock investment of $105,664, a surplu 

 of $130,942.40, which with the addition 

 of reserves for dividends, totals $423,- 

 (Continued on pa^e 10) 



-NOVEMBER. 1935 



