THE ILLINOIS AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIATION RECORD 



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To advance the purpose for which the Farm Bureau was organized 



namely, to promote, protect and represent the business, economic, political SEPTEMBER 193fi 



and educational interests of the farmers of Illinois and the nation, and ' 



to develop agriculture. VOL 14 NO. 9 



Illinois Agricultural Association 



Greatest State Farm Organization in America 



:"^ '' OFFICERS 



President. Earl C. Smith Detroit 



Vice-President, Talmage DeFrees Smithboro 



Corporate Secretary, Paul E. Mathias Qiicago 



Field Secretary. Geo. E. Metzger Chicago 



Treasurer, R. A. CowLES Bloomington 



Ass't Treasurer, A. R. Wright Varna 



- BOARD OF DIRECTORS 



• ■■' (By Congressional District) ' ■ 



1st to 11th E. Harris, Grayslake 



12th E. E. Houghtby, Shabbona 



13th C. E. Bamborough, Polo 



I4th Otto Steffey, Stronghurst 



15th _ M. Ray Ihrig, Golden 



I6th Albert Hayes, Chillicothe 



17th E. D. Lawrence, Bloomington 



18th Herman W. Danforth, Danforth 



19th _ Eugene Curtis, Champaign 



20th K. T. Smith, Greenfield 



21st Aimuel Sorrells, Raymond 



22nd A. O. Eckert, Belleville 



23rd Chester McCord, Newton 



24th Charles Marshall, Belknap 



25th R. B. Endicott, Villa Ridge 



DEPARTMENT DIRECTORS 



Comptroller R. G. Ely 



Dairy Marketing Wilfred Shaw 



Finance R. A. Cowles 



Fruit and Vegetable Marketing H. W. Day 



Legal and General Counsel Donald Kirkpatrick 



Live Stock Marketing Ray E. Miller 



Office C. E. Johnston 



Organization G. E. Metzger 



Produce Marketing F. A. Gougler 



Publicity George Thiem 



Safety C. M. Seagraves 



Taxation and Statistics J. C. Watson 



Transportation-Claims Division .G. W. Baxter 



Young Peoples Activities Frank Gingrich 



ASSOCIATED ORGANIZATIONS 



Country Life Insurance Co L. A. Williams, Mgr. 



Farmers' Mutual Reinsurance Co...J. H. Kelker, Mgr. 



Illinois Agr. Auditing Ass'n F. E. Ringham, Mgr. 



Illinois Agr. Mutual Ins. Co..-A. E. Richardson, Mgr. 



Illinois Agr. Service Co Donald Kirkpatrick, Secy. 



111. Farm Bureau Serum Ass'n Ray E. Miller, Mgr. 



Illinois Farm Supply Co L. R. Marchant, Mgr. 



Illinois Fruit Growers' Exchange....H. W. Day, Mgr. 

 Illinois Grain Corporation.-Harrison Fahrnkopf, Mgr. 

 Illinois Livestock Marketing Ass'n. ..Ray Miller, Mgr. 



Illinois Milk Producers' Ass'n Wilfred Shaw, Mgr. 



Illinois Producers' Creameries. ...F. A. Gougler, Mgr. 

 J. B. Countiss, Sales Mgr. 



On the editorial and advertising staff ; George Thiem. 

 John Tracy. Howard Hill. 



Published monthly by the Illinois Agricultural Asso- 

 ciation at 1501 West Washington Road. Mendota, III. 

 Editorial Offices, 608 So. Dearborn St., Chicago, III. 

 Entered as second class matter at post office. Spencer. Ind. 

 Transfer to Mendota, 111., pending. Acceptance for mailing 

 at special rate of postage provided in Section 412. Act of 

 Feb. 28, 1925. authorized Oct. 27, 1925. Address all 

 communications for publication to Editorial Offices, Illinois 

 Agricultural Association RECORD. 608 So. Dearborn St., 

 Chicago. The individual membership fee of the Illinois 

 Agricultural Association is five dollars a year. The fee 

 includes payment of fifty cents for subscription to the 

 Illinois Agricultural Association RECORD. Postmaster: 

 Send notices on Form 3578 and undeliverable copies 

 returned undei Form 3579 to editorial offices, 608 S. 

 Dearborn St., Chicago. 111. 



GEORGE THIEM, Editor 



JOHN TRACY, Asst. Editor 



themselves, their flocks and herds. 



AFTER THE RAIN IN 

 OGLE COUNTY 



v^S THERE a more glorious 

 iJI sight after prolonged drouth 

 ^__^ than a heavy downpour of 

 life-giving rain? 



Too late came early August show- 

 ers to salvage the corn crop in the 

 worst of the stricken area. But by 

 mid- August the widespread drouth 

 was broken in many sections. Again 

 Illinois will fare better than her less 

 fortunate sister states to the west. 

 Hardest hit are southern Illinois 

 counties south of Effingham and west 

 central Illinois counties. 



What started to be a 2,250,000,- 

 000 bu. U. S. crop has dwindled to 

 as estimate of around 1,300,000,000. 

 That isn't enough for normal needs. 

 Yet this small crop of 1,300,000,000 

 bushels at 90c (December corn is 

 higher at this writing) adds up to 

 $1,170,000,000. That's more money 

 than a 2,250,000,000 bu. crop at 40c 

 would bring and considerably more 

 than the 2,500,000,000 crop of 1932 

 brought to American farmers. 



The worst feature of a drouth year 

 is not the total income farmers get. 

 Short crops usually bring more 

 money than bumper crops barring 

 war years. The unfortunate thing 

 is that this income is unevenly dis- 

 tributed. Some farmers reap a har- 

 vest of dollars. Others not only 

 harvest nothing but must borrow or 

 dig into their reserve, if any, to feed 



So the government is placed in the 

 difficult position of deciding how 

 high it will let corn and other feeds 

 go before letting in imports. Farm- 

 ers on the buying side want more 

 imports and cheajjer feed. Many 

 with corn to sell oppose imports at 

 any price.'' Suppose you were um- 

 pire. What would be your decision? 



Short yields mean a reduced ton- 

 nage of grain and livestock, lower 

 rail handlings, fewer bushels and 

 pounds to swell the receipts of com- 

 mission men and processors. This 

 year there was no reduction in crop 

 acreage below the level consistent 

 with a good rotation system. Yet 

 some are blaming the short crop on 

 the soil conservation program, prat- 

 ing about agricultural imports which 

 means merely that prices are high. 

 Farmers who have something to sell 

 are getting the benefit of the tariff. 



Drouth and abnormally small 

 crops are not good for the country. 

 No one disputes that. But we have 

 seen that big crops and 10c corn, 35c 

 wheat, and |3 hogs are just as bad 

 if not worse. Thinking farmers will 

 not get excited about the advice of 

 the boys who are using the present 

 situation to advocate a production- 

 run-wild policy. All that farmers 

 will reap from following such ad- 

 vice is a harvest of low prices like 

 we had in 1932-33. 



When a workable plan is evolved 

 to spare American agriculture from 

 the effects of recurring crop sur- 

 pluses farmers will be ready to con- 

 sider abandonment of reasonable 

 acreage adjustment. It has yet to be 

 demonstrated that surplus crop stor- 

 age or dumping with no check on 

 acreage is a wise policy that will 

 guarantee parity prices for farm 

 products. Probably a combination of 

 surplus storage coupled with soil 

 conservation is the plan that will 

 finally be agreed upon. — E.G.T. 



SEPTEMBER, 1936 



