EDITORIAL 



The Immediate Problem 

 C^"^^ HE immediate problem in agriculture is to grow 

 ^^-^ a good crop in 1937. Prices are all right but 

 ^^ there isnt enough to sell. Corn cribs and gran- 

 eries are depleted on many farms. Much livestock, par- 

 ticularly hogs, is coming to market half fat. The born 

 livestodc man doesn't like it. He is happiest when there 

 is plenty of feed for all the stock he wants to fatten. So 

 interest in production control has waned for the moment. 

 I'arm representatives in Washington recently gave crop 

 insurance the cold shoulder according to press reports. 

 At this writing, it appears that soil conservation with some 

 needed ainendments, a surplus crop storage loan program, 

 and a farm tenancy bill will be among the major legislation 

 for farmers considered in the next Congress. 



V 



Wm Indicate Trend 



'S this is written, delegates from every iinport- 

 ant farm state are gathering for the annual 

 meeting of the American Farm Bureau Feder- 

 ation. Nowhere else in America is it possible to get as 

 good a cross section of what American farmers are think- 

 ing about as at this convention. The influence of the 

 Farm Bureau in national affairs is now well established. 

 •Therefore, its resolutions together with those adopted at 

 the annual meeting of the I. A. A. in January will indicate 

 largely the trend of legislation in the coming months. This 

 is as it should be. Farmers are best able to determine their 

 own needs. 



and higher wages go hand in hand with greater con- 

 sumption of farm products and higher farm income. 



Wonted — Dependability 



UR hats are off to the 321 farm boys and girls who 

 fed and showed calves in the Producers Baby 



Beef Show at the National Stock Yards Nov. 19. 



The show is probably the least important part of the 

 benefit and training these youngsters got out of it. It's 

 the work at home that counts. There is where the record 

 is made. Each boy and girl had a definite responsibility 

 — to feed and care for a calf. They had to learn how 

 to do it, of course. And that's important if learned well. 

 But more than that, they had to stick to an exacting rou- 

 tine, month in and month out, in which there is little glory 

 and plenty of work. 



It's the boys and girls who are dependable, who see 

 things through to the end that are going to get ahead. 

 The world still has plenty of room for young people who 

 can do things and who work just as hard when the boss 

 is away. 



Luella Padgett, age 16, of Adams county, won the 

 grand championship again with her Angus calf — a glor- 

 ious achievement. Yet every boy and girl who by his or 

 her own efforts brought out a good calf got more out of it 

 than a ribbon or a good price. The self-confidence and 

 self-reliance that comes from doing work well is worth 

 more than the immediate returns in cash or glory. 



the Amei 



More Jobs — Higher Wages 



ITH farm and business recovery well on the 



way toward profitable levels, that independence 



and self-reliance which has become a part of 



American tradition 



^ 



should and will re-assert it- 

 self. All that any citizen 

 ought to expect of the gov- 

 ernment is fair play. The 

 world owes no man a living 

 who doesn't make a sincere 

 effort to earn it. True, 

 there has been scant oppor- 

 tunity lately in some fields. 

 But that picture is changing. 

 Employers are again looking 

 for competent workers. Jobs 

 are opening for people who 

 can do tilings. Business 

 groups arejnaking advances 

 toward co-operating with 

 government in re-employing 

 workmen now on relief. 

 The greatest improvement 

 in the farmers' market will 

 come with increased domes- 

 tic consumption. More jobs 



RESERVE CHAMPION CALF AT PRODUCERS 

 With his owner, Howard Bradley, at 13th annual baby beef club show 

 and sale sponsored by St. Louis Producers. Bought by the Illinois 

 Agricultural Association tor 30c a lb., the calf was donated to 

 Blackburn College, Carlinville, III., where students earn their way 

 through. .■,•-- ''' •' ' ','\ ■ . ,■ ■ , 



20 Members Per Cotmty 



HE latest report on soil conservation work in 

 Illinois shows 62 county associations with 1198 

 -/ members. An average membership of less than 20 

 is not very impressive. Yet there is reason to believe that 



these few are comparable to 

 the first users of limestone, 

 the initial growers of alfalfa, 

 and the leaders in a host of 

 other better farm practices. 

 There are those who today 

 scoff at contour and strip 

 farming and terracing. With- 

 in a few years they will come 

 to it. It has happened be- 

 fore. They will presently 

 find their more foresighted 

 neighbors reaping the ben- 

 efits of soil conservation in 

 higher crop yields, better in- 

 comes, and more of the com- 

 forts of life. "I guess there's 

 something to it, after all," is 

 among the famous last lines. 

 You'll be hearing it presently 

 about the new-fangled soil 

 conservation practices. 



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L A. A. RECORD 



