V 





William Randolph Hearst, the chain- 

 newspaper and magazine publisher who 

 rates his annual income in millions, is 

 having a good deal to say in his metro- 

 politan dailies against the crop adjust- 

 ment program and about the price of 

 food. He is the same man who wants to 

 abolish the income tax which is based 

 on ability to pay, and substitute for it a 

 federal manufacturers sales tax which 

 would be borne largely by farmers and 

 small wage earners. 



Are food prices out of line with the 

 prices of non-ag^ricultural commodities? 

 A look at the record discloses that on 

 Sept. 15 this year prices received by 

 farmers averaged 107 per cent of the 

 1909-1914 level whereas the prices of 

 commodities bought by farmers averaged 

 125 per cent. So if any group should 

 complain about prices it is agricultural 

 producers who considered together are 

 still at a disadvantage. 



It is true that costs of distribution 

 have advanced since the pre-war period. 

 This has widened the spread between 

 the price received by the farmer and 

 that paid by the consumer. And Mr. 

 Hearst and his publications have done 

 and are doing their bit to maintain pre- 

 depression price spreads. During the 

 years 1929-1932 when agriculture was 

 largely maintaining its production farm 

 prices slumped 60 per cent. But Mr. 

 Hearst held his display advertising rates 

 in the Chicago Evening American at 75c 

 a line. The data book discloses that cir- 

 culation of this paper dropped from 

 559,705 in March 1929 to 422,958 in Oc- 

 tober 1935 yet the 75c rate was main- 

 tained. 



Similarly, Good Housekeeping, one of 

 Mr. Hearst's magazines, jumped its rate 

 about one-sixth from 1929 to 1935, from 

 $12.25 a line to $14.25 a line. There was 

 a like percentage increase in circula- 

 tion. Food advertisers thus have found 

 no relief from high advertising rates. 

 Mr. Hearst sets the price and "adjusts" 

 the production and thickness of his 

 papers and magazines to conform to the 

 pages of advertising he can sell at that 

 price. 



Farmers with the help of enabling leg- 

 islation are trying to do likewise. They 

 are attempting to get a fair price 

 (parity) for their products. They aim 

 to produce as much as they can sell at 

 that price. This is what Mr. Hearst prac- 



NOVEMBER, 19SS 



tices in bis business but condemns as 

 "unsound" and "socialistic" when ap- 

 plied to agriculture. So the Hearst press 

 continues its campaign to inflame con- 

 sumers against the crop adjustment pro- 

 gram while nothing is said or done about 

 investigating the "markup" after the 

 product leaves the farm. 



The metropolitan newspapers could 

 really do something constructive about 

 the price of food if they would dig into 

 and show who gets the consumer's dol- 

 lar. Bert Leeper says that if farmers 

 gave their apples away in Western Illi- 

 nois and shipped and marketed them 

 through the regular channels of trade 

 they would cost the housewife in Chi- 

 cago $1 a bushel or more. The cost of 

 distribution is what it is because a lot 

 of people a'ong the route to the con- 

 sumer fix the price for their services. — 

 F. G. T. 



International Livestock 



Show Opens Nov. 30th 



A bigger and better International 

 Live Stock Exposition with another new 

 building to be connected to the main 

 Amphitheatre is promised by Manager 

 B. H. Heide this year. The show opens 

 Nov. 30 and continues through the fol- 

 lowing week. 



Individual entries in the purebred 

 classes as well as in competition for 

 single steers, barrows and wethers will 

 be accepted until November 1. Closing 

 date for entries in the Grain and Hay 

 Show is November 10. 



The number of head in a carload of 

 feeder cattle has been reduced from 25 

 to 20. 



A total of 1,183 cash awards will be 

 offerd to exhibitors of grain, hay and 

 seeds. A special class again will be 

 opened for utility type com. 



The twelfth annual meeting of Farm 



Bureau Supply Company of Hancock 

 county was held at Carthage, Illinois, 

 Friday, September 20. More than $6,000 

 was returned to farm bureau members 

 in good standing. Chester H. Becker of 

 Illinois Farm Supply Company was a 

 speaker on the program. R. W. Booz of 

 Niota is president of this company and 

 Everett Dorothy is manager. 



R. C. McReynoIds of Montgomery 



county, Illinois, won first prize of $200 

 in the dairy derby at the National Dairy 

 Show, St. Louis. 



McReynoIds' Guernsey cow produced in 

 four days 246.6 pounds of milk with an 

 average test of 5.01 per cent — 3.16 

 pounds butterfat per day. 



Must Hold on to Crop 



Adjustment Program 



Frank H. Schafer, president of the 

 Port Bsrron State bank, president of 

 Quality Milk Association, a director of 

 the Rock Island County Farm Bureau 

 and operator of a 304-aere farm near 

 Port Byron, believes anyone who doei' 

 not think that farm conditions are bet- 

 ter this year than for several years pre- 

 vious, is "foolish." The banker-farmer 

 maintains that the farm situation is the 

 index to business conditions. 



'To let go of the agricultural rmprove- 

 ments now existing," he declared in an 

 interview published in the Rock Island 

 Argus, "would be a serious mistake. 

 Farmers should not let any kind of agi- 

 tation cause them to become lukewarm 

 and lose what they've gained. 



"While the farmer generally has some- 

 thing to complain about, his situation 

 this year certainly shows improvement. 

 He is leading industrial recovery — look 

 at your shops in Rock Island and thp 

 remainder of the tri-city area. 



"If it weren't that farm conditions had 

 improved, a lot more men would still be 

 on relief. And we have the various gov- 

 ernmental acts and agencies to thank for 

 the improved farm conditions." 



Mr. Schafer expressed the opinion that 

 12-cent hogs are perhaps a little too 

 high for the consumer, and that many 

 farmers would be satisfied with 10-{;en1 

 prices. "However," he said, "the 12- 

 cent price evens up for the 19S2 and 

 1933, 3-cent hog prices." 



Big lAA Annual Meeting 

 Ahead Reserve Room Now 



Reports of an unprecedented demand 

 for hotel and room reservations for the 

 1936 lAA annual meeting are coming 

 from Decatur where the convention will 

 be held the last three days of January. 



Lack of a hall large enough to care 

 for the annual banquet led the lAA 

 board of directors at its recent monthly 

 meeting to consider calling off the ban- 

 quet. An evening speaking program, 

 however, is contemplated. 



Reservations are being handled by 

 Royal McClelland, Junior Association 

 of Commerce, Decatur Club Building, 

 Decatur. County Farm Bureaus sh«uld 

 make reservations for their delegations 

 with Mr. McClelland. 



October 31 is the deadline for accept- 

 ance of 1935 corn-hog adjustment con- 

 tracts by State Boards of Review. Only 

 six-tenths of one per cent of 19S6 con- 

 tracts have been temporarily suspended 

 for irregularities as compared with near- 

 ly ZM p«r cemt in 19S4. 



