''Balance" Is Big 

 Need Today — Smith 



500 Agents and Guests Hold Peppy Annual Insurance Roundup 



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"Balanced thinking and balanced ac- 

 tion are needed in the world today," 

 Earl C. Smith, president of the Illinois 

 Agricultural Association, told more than 

 500 Country Life Insurance Company 

 agents, their wives and friends at the an- 

 nual Insurance Round-Up, Abraham Lin- 

 coln Hotel, Springfield, February 22-23. 



"Business needs balanced thinking and 

 action. Farmers need it in adjusting 

 their production to market requirements. 

 We need a balance in government, also 

 in selling insurance — not overselling 

 — not underselling — but just honest, 

 thorough selling," he said. 



"We have always tried to maintain a 

 balance in Farm Bureau activities. That 

 is, the activities of the Farm Bureau are 

 like a gigantic wheel, with each spoke 

 balanced with the rest. No one depart- 

 ment and no one activity should get 

 more attention than the rest. If the 

 ethics are sound, the program is sound." 



Charles Homann of Edgar County 

 took office as president of the General 

 Agents Club for 1937 at the banquet on 

 Washington's Birthday. William C. Lin- 

 ker of Whiteside County was president 

 last year. 



The Round Up began at 9:30 Mon- 

 day morning, February 22, with Russell 

 Graham, field man, chairman of the 

 morning session. L. A. Williams, man- 

 ager of Country Life Insurance Company, 

 made the opening address and was fol- 

 lowed by Dr. John E. Boland, Medical 

 Director for Country Life. Talks by 

 Howard Reeder, Actuary; Dave C. Mie- 

 her, field man, and C. C Ramler, field 

 man, all of Country Life, closed the 

 opening meeting. 



After Mieher, chairman of the after- 

 noon session, got things to rolling that 

 afternoon, A. E. Richardson, manager of 

 Illinois Agricultural Mutual Insurance 

 Company, spoke to the salesmen. Lawr- 

 ence W. Rogers of New York City was 

 the main speaker of the afternoon, sub- 

 ject "Qualifications for a Successful Sales- 

 man." Mr. Roger's talk was followed by 

 a roundtable discussion on salesmanship. 

 J. H. Kelker, manager of Farmers' Mu- 

 tual Reinsurance Company, later ad- 

 dressed the meeting. The afternoon ses- 

 sion was brought to a close after John 

 Weaver, office manager for Country Life, 



and Charles Masching, field man, had 

 addressed the agents. ' : ,' 



H. N. Tolles of Sheldon School topped 

 the bill Tuesday morning with his talk 

 on "Building the Man." Five-minute 

 talks were given by ten general agents 

 including J. E. Stine, White County; J. 

 C. Barrow, Jackson; Lawrence Wurster, 

 JoDaviess; Bertram Abney, Lake; Kelsye 

 Baylor, Stephenson; Lawrence Oxley, 

 Morgan; Ben Jones, Macon; B. E. 

 Mosier, Champaign; Arthur Bryant, Ver- 

 milion, and Merton Austin, Rock Island. 

 Special agents who spoke Tuesday in- 

 cluded Oakley Esmond, LaSalle; Carl 

 McComb, McLean ; Jerome Rund, Edgar ; 

 Merritt Acklund, Bureau, and Elmer 

 Anderson, Knox. 



Ben A. Roth, general agent of McLean 

 County headed the speakers on the pro- 

 gram Tuesday afternoon. George E. 

 Met2ger, Field Secretary of the Illinois 

 Agricultural Association, spoke on "Let's 

 All Work Together." Leslie Drake, 

 claim's department of Illinois Agricul- 

 tural Mutual, Russell Graham, Dave Mie- 

 her, and C. C. Ramler, field men, Anne 

 Miller of Will County, and D. P. Robin- 

 son of Henry County, General Agents, 

 were other speakers. 



Ransom 



Elevator 



Is 33 Years Old 



The Farmers Elevator Company of Ransom 

 was host to 125 young men at a banquet 

 meeting held in Ransom Monday evening, 

 Feb. 22. 



Jovial Elgy Birtwell, president, kept every- 

 one in high spirits throughout the evening. 

 The program had been planned especially 

 for the young farmers of the community. A 

 banquet topped off with fruit salad and angel 

 food cake hit the spot. Tap dancers and 

 mountain music by the Wooter's trio of 

 Ottawa pleased all. Short talks by board 

 members and Manager Wellman told the story 

 of the Farmers Elevator. 



Reported Mr. Stevenson: "When our co-op. 

 was organized in 1904 corn was selling for 

 25 cents per bushel. Our first shipment netted 

 40 cents per bushel. It paid to organize." 



Mr. Gahm said: "Long trips to Chicago by 

 team and wagon to market grain was not 

 uncommon before the railroads brought the 

 markets closer home. The big grain men 

 organized elevators along the railroads, sent 



ct lue 



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Readers are invited to contribute to 

 this column. Address letters to Edi- 

 tor, Room 1200, 608 So. Dearborn 

 St., Chicago. 



I wish the mailing address could be put 

 on the RECORD someplace besides on the 

 front picture. I have looked forward for 

 a month to getting the February issue be- 

 cause I wanted the front picture only to find 

 it marred by the address slip. 



I couldn't save two of the pictures recent- 

 ly that I very much wanted because of that. 

 Mrs. H. M. Blout, 

 Ford cotinty. 



'We were able to get into our Farm 

 Bureau office February 18 for the first 

 time since the flood. Everything is in a 

 mess. Our loss and damage to furniture and 

 fixtures will probably amount to $400 to 

 $500. 



All rail and roads are now open as far 

 south as Mounds. Trains are coming into 

 Cairo, but route 37 on the east side is still 

 blocked to traffic." 



L. E. Lingenfelter, president 

 Pulaski-Alexander Farm Bureau. 



"I wish to thank you in behalf of the 

 women of Jersey County Home Bureau for the 

 co-operation you have shown through the 

 pages of the lAA RECORD." 



Mrs. William M. Moore 

 Jersey County 



one bid out for grain regardless of quality 

 and farmers could take it or leave it. The 

 farmers had to organize to protect themselves." 



Frank Gingrich, director of young people's 

 activities for the Illinois Agricultural Asso- 

 ciation, pointed out that this co-op. elevator 

 is a going concern in the community and 

 deserves the support of all farmers. Some 

 facts relating to the business of the elevator 

 were given which revealed that $65,877 had 

 been paid in dividends to patrons during the 

 past 15 years. Ransom ele\'ator was the first 

 in the state to meet all qualifications of mem- 

 bership in Illinois Grain Corporation. 



Officers, manager and directors are: C. W. 

 Wellman, manager who has been on the job 

 14 years; directors - — Elg\' Birtwell, president, 

 board member for 25 years; A. J. Gahm. 

 board member }3 years; E. E. Stevenson, 

 secretary 28 years, board member 33 years; 

 Ed Strobel, treasurer and board member 33 

 years; Art Ryan, board member 20 years and 

 has attended 32 of their 33 annual meetings; 

 Mark Widman, board member one year. 



Also present were: Mr. Dye, president of 

 Streator National Bank ; Mr. Brown of Union 

 National Bank. Streator; and Robert Hughes, 

 assistant farm adviser, LaSalle count>'. Ransom 

 Farmers Elevator was organized in 1904. 



MARCH. 1937 



31 



