Jim Signs His 70th 

 Member 



And Challenges the State to Beat Jamaica 

 Township's Record 



JAMES HART (RIGHT), VETERAN VERMILION COUNTY 

 Spesard, 7(Hh member from Jamaica Township. 



FARMER. SIGNING FOSTER 



"He gets his fighting spirit from loatching the fighters." 



HERE'S a challenge that's going to 

 be mighty hard to beat! 

 James "Jim" Hart, wheel-horse 

 of the Vermilion County Farm Bu- 

 reau, challenges any other township 

 director in the state to show a higher 

 percentage of membership strength 

 than Jim has in Jamaica Township, 

 Vermilion county. 



Two years ago when Jim was re- 

 elected to the board after an absence 

 of four years, Jamaica Township had 

 nine members. Last week Jim went 

 out and signed Member No. 70. 



Seventy members may not be so big 

 ^there are townships with many more 

 — but there are exactly 80 farmers in 

 Jamaica Township. There were 79 of 

 these in the corn-hog signup, only one 

 farmer refusing to join the movement. 



"We're not through yet," says this 

 veteran farmer. "I'm pretty sure of 

 getting three, and maybe four more 

 members in Jamaica Township. And, 

 when I get them, then I'm going to 



shoot for a 100 per cent membership!" 

 Mr. Hart is 64 years old. He was a 

 charter Farm Bureau member and 

 since the Farm Bureau was organized 

 has served most of the time on the 

 board of directors. 



He has two hobbies. First comes 

 Farm Bureau. Second is sports. He's 

 an enthusiastic fighter and baseball fan. 



He says he is fortunate in having a 

 daughter in Detroit. It's usually con- 

 venient for Jim to visit her whenever 

 there is a major sports event in the 

 auto city. For instance, he visited his 

 daughter during the World Series last 

 fall. He occupied a front row seat at 

 the Golden Gloves fights in Danville 

 recently — and his friends say he gets 

 his fighting spirit from watching the 

 fighters! 



Uncle Ab says it is worse to have 



other folks break up your leisure than 

 your work. 



Mathias Weber 

 "He Scratched His Head" 



THE age old human trait of want- 

 ing company or companionship 

 has been put to good use in Will 

 County, by none other than the gentle- 

 man you see pictured at the top of this 

 column, Mr. Mathias Weber, County 

 Organization Director. Mr. Weber, 

 when appointed to the position of ob- 

 taining new Farm Bureau members, 

 scratched his head for some way of 

 getting whole townships to join in one 

 fell swoop rather than just one mem- 

 ber at a time. He studied one plan 

 and then another. He heard of a plan 

 being used in JoDaviess county by 

 Mr. Davidson. It had worked when 

 used over there. Davidson called it the 

 ■'Pledge Plan." It looked good to 

 Weber. He'd try it. 



Weber made up a number of pledges, 

 called some Farm Bureau members in 

 one of the townships, and proceeded 

 to go down the road calling on the 

 neighbors. The gist of the "Pledge" 

 runs this way: "In order for the Farm 

 Bureau to truthfully represent the 

 farmers in a township and county, it 

 should have a membership totaling 60 

 per cent of the farmers. The number 

 of Farm Bureau members in this town- 

 ship is around 40 per cent of the possi- 

 ble. We need so many more to get the 

 needed 60 per cent and here's what we 

 want you to do. We merely ask you 

 to sign your name here along with 

 your neighbors, with this stipulation 

 that you will not be bound to it unless 

 we 'get the full quota in this township. 

 When we get the auota signed, your 

 signature automatically becomes your 

 pledge to join the Farm Bureau. In 

 this way, you wiU be going along with 

 your neighbors and not going it alone." 

 Now here's how it worked out. Only 

 four townships have been covered so 

 far, but every one has been brought 

 up to the 60 per cent figure. One town- 

 (Continued on page 21) 



12 



I. A. A. RECORD 



