r 



u 



EDWARD A. O'NEAL 



"Organ i z e d 

 farmers have 

 got to hit 

 straight and hit 

 hard. We must 

 keep our minds 

 on fundamen- 

 tals." 



21st Annual Convention 



(Continued from page 5) 



carried out through the co-operation 

 of the federal government and the 

 states by amending the Soil Conserva- 

 tion Act of 1935. 



The address of President Earl C. 

 Smith Thursday morning opened with 

 a thorough-going review of farm prog- 

 reas since the bottom of the depression 

 in 1932. After commenting on the 

 state of the Association which almost 

 without exception reached new heights 

 in service, volume of business and fi- 

 nancial strength, last year, he met 

 squarely the leading issues facing Illi- 

 nois fanners and aggressively outlined 

 his views as to the Association's fu- 

 ture course of action. These comments 

 and recommendations are presented in 

 greater detail on page six. 



In the conference Thursday after- 

 noon the state employment relief is- 

 sue and the proposed drivers' license 

 law were discussed briefly by Presi- 

 dent Smith, Donald Kirkpatrick, gen- 

 eral counsel, and Paul Mathias, corpo- 

 rate secretary. The delegates later en- 

 dorsed a strong resolution setting forth 

 the determination of the Association to 

 fight for uniform responsibility and 

 taxation by all communities, including 

 Chicago, in caring for their destitute 

 people. Another resolution left the way 

 open for Association officials to sup- 

 port a drivers' license measure free 

 from the objections of similar bills in- 

 tro<iuced in former sessions. . , 



The absence of the annual banquet 

 Thursday night expedited the evening 

 program. After the introduction of 

 guests by President Smiith, Chester 

 Davis spoke extemporaneously, re- 

 viewing the various plans oflered to 

 replace the AAA and pointing out the 

 objections to them. He called the 

 processing tax funds returned to the 

 processors "hot money," and substan- 

 tiated his statement by reading from 

 the record of the hearing before the 

 House Agricultural Committee last 

 year when the question of continuing 

 the corn -hog program through 1936 

 and 1937 was considered. In that hear- 

 ing George E. Putnam of the Institute 

 of American Meat Packers made the 

 statement that the processing tax au- 

 tomatically reduced the price of hogs 

 to the farmer by the amount of the 

 tax. Davis answered the propaganda 

 about increased agricultural imports as 

 ;i result of AAA by showing that im- 

 ports during the past year were the 

 lowest of any physical year since 1912 

 except for the three years immediately 

 preceding 1932-'33-'34 when foreign 

 trade was relatively at a standstill. The 

 heart of Mr. Davis' talk was embodied 

 in the carefully prepared statement 

 which was broadcast on the Columbia 

 chain. This statement is reproduced 

 elsewhere in this issue. 



Congressman Marvin Jones delighted 

 his audience with stories and a flow 



of oratory typical of southern de- 

 mocracy. He was applauded enthusias- 

 tically when he said: "There are other 

 methods of recovering the processing 

 taxes turned over to the processor. Do 

 you want them found? 



■'The farm f)roblem is a non-partisan 

 one," he continued, "and we welcome 

 help from anyone regardless of party 

 whose heart is fair, honest and just. 

 Support of the farm program at Wash- 

 ington has been non-partisan," he said, 

 ■'so also is the opposition. You are to 

 be congratulated in Illinois that 24 out 

 of 28 of your congressmen voted 

 for the agricultural adjustment pro- 

 gram in 1933. You have a wonderful 

 record in this state on farm legislation. 

 Despite the Supreme Court decision, 

 the farm program for parity prices is 

 going forward just the same. Interest 

 rates on farm mortgages during the 

 past few years have been the lowest 

 in history of this or any other nation," 

 he said. 



The brief lapse into p>artisan politics 

 by Democrat Jones of Texas brought a 

 good-natured and witty retort from 

 Republican Harold F. VanOrman of 

 Indiana who followed him. This rep- 

 artee brought the suggestion that 

 steps be taken to bar partisan charges 

 and discussion at future lAA meetings. 



During the brief business session 

 over which former President Sam H. 

 Thompson of Adams county presided. 

 President Smith an(J Vice-President 

 DeFrees were re-elected by acclama- 

 tion. There were no other nominations. 

 Only one change was made in the board 

 of directors. Herman W. Danforth of 

 Iroquois county, first president of the 

 lAA and one of its founders in 1916, 

 was chosen to represent the 18th dis- 

 trict, in place of Mont Fox of Vermil- 

 ion county. 



Directors re-elected for two years 

 were E. E. Houghtby, 12th district; 

 Otto Steffey, 14th district; Albert 

 Hayes. 16th district: K. T. Smith, 20th 

 district; A. O. Eckert, 22nd district; 

 and Charles Marshall, 24th district. 



Gen. Robert E. Wood, president of 

 Sears, Roebuck & Co., who spoke Fri- 

 day morning, delivered much the same 

 address given at the AFBF conven- 

 tion in Chicago last December. The 

 only significant change in the manu- 

 script which was published in the Jan- 

 uary RECORD was his statement that 

 in his opinion the reasoning of the 

 three Supreme Court Justices who sub- 

 scribed to the minority report was 

 more logical than that of the majority. 



Gen. Wood emphasized that in his 

 opinion farmers and the country would 

 be better off with greater production 

 and moderate prices than with greatly 

 restricted production and higher prices. 



1« 



I. A. A. RECORD 



