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 OCTOBER 1936 



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



to develop agriculture. VOL. 14 NO. 10 



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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 -Chicago 



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 



15th 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 Samuel 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 



OflFice C. E. Johnston 



Organization _ _ G. E. Metzger 



Prwluce Marketing.- _ F. A. Gougler 



Publicity George Thiera 



Safety C. M. Seagraves 



Taxation and Statistics _..J. C. Watson 



Transportation-Claims Division. .G. W. Baxter 



Young Peoples Activities Jrank 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 Fahmkopf, 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. 

 Howard Hill. 



Published monthly by the. Illinois Agricultural Asso- 

 ciation at 1501 West Washington Road, MendoU, 111. 

 Editorial Oflices, 608 So. Dearborn St., Chicago, 111. 

 Entered as second class matter at post office, Mendota, 

 Illinois. September 11, 1936. Acceptance for mailing 

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

 Feb. 28, 1925, authorized Oct. 27, 1935. 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 under Form 3579 to editorial offices, 608 S. 

 Dearborn St., Chicago, 111. 



GEORGE THIEM, Editor 



Contented Whitefeees In 

 Carroll County 



\/^w HE long and short of the 

 / refinancing plan for Farm- 

 S^ ers National Grain Corpora- 

 tion is that if we grain producers 

 want a nation-wide co-operative mar- 

 keting agency to represent us in the 

 terminal markets we've got to invest 

 more of our own capital. The Fed- 

 eral Farm Board and Farm Credit 

 Administration t^s far have fur- 

 nished a large part of the money to 

 run the business. Grain producers are 

 asked to invest at least two million 

 dollars and preferably three million 

 dollars more of their own capital. 



This amount is to be accumulated 

 out of "retains" on all grain mar- 

 keted by member elevators, through 

 the regional and national agencies. 

 These retains begin the first year at 

 l/^c a bushel on all grain, advance 

 to y^^c two years from now, and on 

 June 30, 1940, increase to %c on 

 corn, barley, rye and soy beans, I/2C 

 on wheat. Oats remain at l^c. 

 The loans are to be made to the 

 regional stockholder members who 

 in turn will issue stock to their 

 country elevator members covering 

 the accumulated amounts. 



This method of financing co- 

 operatives is not new. It has been 

 successfuly employed by many farm- 

 er-owned marketing associations. It 

 is investing capital on the installment 

 plan by means of a small deduction 



from each unit of the commodity 

 marketed. That's the way privately 

 owned sales agencies have beien built. 

 But the farmer has not shared in the 

 ownership. 



The Farmers National, in common 

 with many big business enterprises 

 has had a succession of none too good 

 years. The company was geared up 

 to handle a much larger volume of 

 grain than materialized during the 

 past three years. Drought and other 

 conditions peculiar to the grain busi- 

 ness cut into expected profits. More- 

 over, Farmers National has consist- 

 ently supported the market, forced 

 other grain buyers to pay higher 

 prices. This latter role played by 

 most co-operatives does not show up 

 in the profits of the company or 

 dividends to stockholder or patron. 

 Sometimes farmers do not give due 

 credit for this service. 



The writer confidently believes 

 that grain farmers want a big termi- 

 nal marketing agency bad enough to 

 finance it out of the moderate "re- . 

 tains " established in the Farm Credit 

 Administration plan. We believe 

 that farmers are too smart not to , 

 perpetuate a central sales agency in 

 the terminal markets that works with 

 singleness of purpose for the grow- 

 ers best interests. The "retains" are 

 much less than the margins the grain • 

 trade will exact once it has disposed 

 of the co-operative. The co-op, some „ 

 think, bars the way to the return of 

 the good old days when the grain 

 business was full of gravy and the 

 grain handlers made the rules to suit 

 themselves without a terminal co- 

 operative or federal government " 

 around to ask questions. ; 



Existing grain marketing machin- 

 ery with its myriads of elevators, 

 warehouses, and what not has been 

 accumulated out of commissions and 

 profits taken from handling the farm- 

 ers grain, "retains" if you please. 

 Now if the farmer employs the same 

 system to build his own marketing 

 machinery which he will own and 

 control it looks like good horse sense. 



E.G.T. .;.. ■ ,. ;.. . ,. . 



OCTOBER. 1936 



