^6 



;ensed 



with 

 egard 

 itracts 

 nend- 



r with 

 s now 

 e past 

 Deal- 

 e Na- 

 socia- 

 , par- 

 Trade, 

 T or- 

 effec- 

 ceting 



itions, 



right) 



which in the beginning were organized 

 by and in the interest of farmers, have 

 become tools of the grain trade. They 

 are not working in the farmer's interest. 

 Their big objective has been and still i.s 

 the defeat of the Commodity Exchange 

 Bill and effective legislation to secure 

 fair prices for farm products. The han- 

 dlers of farm products and the Grain Ex- 

 changes in particular are primarily in- 

 terested in the farmer for what they 

 can get out of him. They want a large 

 volume from which to collect commis- 

 sions which are the same when farm 

 prices are low as when they are high. 



-:.'•_.,.. Should Be Informed ■- ^:-.• 



"No one can object if these so-called 

 farmer.s grain dealers elect to cast their 

 lot with the private commission men and 

 the Exchanges. But certainly farmers 

 should be informed about what is going 

 on and act accordingly." 



Manager Harri.son Fahrnkopf reported 

 that in spite of the terrific drop in grain 

 production due to the 1934 drouth, the 

 organization handled last year 10,310,680 

 bushels of grain or 6,640 carloads. More 

 than 90 per cent came from members 

 and about 10 per cent from non-mem- 

 bers. Nearly half of the bushelage was 

 com, the balance oats, wheat, .soybeans 

 and small quantities of other grains. 



River Business Cut 



River operations of the Farmers Na- 

 tional were reduced during the year, 

 Fahrnkopf said. Outlets in southern 

 states and coastal points in many in- 

 stances were supplied by importations 

 of grain, particularly Argentine com. 

 During the year Illinois Grain Corpora- 

 tion added 24 new elevator members with 

 total annual handlings of 5,800,000 

 bushels. The present membership of 200 

 represents a combined normal annual 

 handling of nearly 40,000,000 bushels of 

 grain. 



C. E. Huff, president of Farmers Na- 

 tional Grain Corporation, the principal 

 speaker, paid a splendid tribute to the 

 work being done in Washington by Ed- 

 ward A. O'Neal and Earl C. Smith in 

 behalf of an effective national policy for 

 agriculture. "We are not going to give up 

 our goal of fair prices for farm prod- 

 ucts," said Huff. "We are going to let 

 the Supreme Court pass on some more 

 legislation. Let's find out if agriculture 

 is a national public interest and has 

 something to do with national welfare." 



Mr. Huff criticized the inconsistency of 

 allowing domestic markets to be taken 

 by Argentine corn and other foreign 

 agricultural products while a program 

 of crop adjustment is under way to se- 

 cure fair prices for farmers. "The Com- 

 modity Exchange Bill which passed the 



$4 Minimum^ Rate Goes 

 Into Effect in No. Illinois 



A program calling for the invest- 

 ment of approximately $200,000 in 1936 

 to provide electric service for at least 

 600 farms in the northwestern part of 

 the state, is announced by officials of the 

 Illinois Northern Utilities Company 

 following approval by the Illinois Com- 

 merce Commission of a new schedule of 

 lower rural rates for application in the 

 Company's territory. 



The new rate schedule is as follows: 

 6 cents net per kilowatt-hour for first 50 

 kw.; 4 cents net per kilowatt-hour for 

 next 50 kw.; 3 cents net per kilowatt- 

 hour for next 100 kw.; 2 cents net per 

 kilowatt-hour for all over 200 kw. used 

 in the month. 



All rural customers now on the f6 

 per month minimum will obtain adjust- 

 ments on their subsequent light bills. 

 Because of the extra work necessary to 

 adjust these bills for old customers, they 

 may not obtain the new rate the first 

 month or so, but adjustments will be 

 based from the effective date of the new 

 schedule, February 22. 



The 1936 program will require the 

 Company to build approximately 200 

 miles of line. In addition to the invest- 

 ment to be made by the Company, it is 

 estimated that farmers will spend ap- 

 proximately $180,000 for wiring and 

 equipment. 



The new rural rates of the Company 

 as approved by the Illinois Commerce 

 Commission, make it possible for farm- 



ers of low incomes and for those living 

 ill more remote are^s to obtain electric 

 service. The minimum monthly bill of 

 the rural customer is based upon 1/60 

 of the investment made by the Company 

 to serve him. The "Sixty-Months Plan" 

 makes it possible for the Company to 

 extend its lines any distance to serve 

 a farm. It also enables a group of farm- 

 ers to obtain service by agreeing among 

 themselves as to their respective month- 

 ly minimum bills, the Company being 

 largely concerned only with the ag- 

 gregate monthly revenue necessary to 

 ju.stify the extension of lines and the 

 installation of needed equipment. The 

 lowest minimum monthly bill which any 

 farmer can elect to pay is $4.00, but this 

 is $2.00 less than the lowest minimum 

 formerly required. After a customer 

 has had service for sixty months his 

 minimum bill will be adjusted. The aver- 

 age customer's minimum bill would be 

 automatically reduced to $4.00 under 

 this feature of the plan. 



For his $4.00 monthly bill the fanner 

 receives 75 kilowatt-hours, and addi- 

 tional kilowatt-hours can be used under 

 the new rates which range from 4c per 

 kilowatt-hour to 2c per kilowatt-hour for 

 such additional use. In 1935, the average 

 farmer served by the Illinois Northern 

 Utilities Company used about 107 kilo- 

 watt-hours per month, for which he paid 

 $6.21. Under the new rates this service 

 would cost only $5.21, a decrease of 16%. 



House is now on the Senate calendar. 

 President Roosevelt has given it his ap- 

 proval. We believe it will be enacted at 

 the present session," he said. 



J. O. McCIintock, manager of the Chi- 

 cago branch office of Farmers National, 

 said that Argentine would probably pro- 

 duce its largest corn crop in history this 

 year. Argentine corn during the past 

 year put a ceiling on our corn market, 

 he said. The new Argentine crop which 

 will start moving to market in April is 

 estimated as high as 700,000,000 bushels 

 which compares with the large crop of 

 500,000,000 bushels produced last year. 



The meeting later went on record 

 urging that the officers and directors 

 take whatever steps seem advisable 

 looking toward the restriction of corn 

 imports in the coming year. 



George E. Metzger, field secretary of 

 the lAA; Charles P. Cummings, man- 

 ager, Peoria branch of Farmers Na- 

 tional; and D. M. Hardy, president of 



the St. Louis Bank for Co-operatives, 

 were dther speakers. 



Resolutions reported by E. D. Law- 

 rence, chairman of the Resolutions Com- 

 mittee, urged that steps be taken to 

 make available to grain producers 

 throughout Illinois the advantages of 

 the state and national co-operative grain 

 marketing system; urged enactment of 

 the Commodity Exchange Bill; pledged 

 unqualified support to the new soil con- 

 servation program; urged legislation to 

 recover processing taxes due and unpaid 

 up to January 6, 1936; commended Sec- 

 retary Wallace and Administrator Davis 

 for their earnest, intelligent and un- 

 biased efforts to a solution of the farm 

 surplus problem; and opposed the adop- 

 tion of Eastern Standard Time by the 

 City of Chicago. 



Only one change was made in the 

 board of directors. Arthur Burwash of 

 Champaign was elected to succeed War- 

 ren Wat.son of Ludlow. 



ORD 



MARCH, 1936 



M 



