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 

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

 to develop agriculture. 



SEPTEMBER, 1937 

 VOL 15 NO. 9 



Published monthly by the Illinois Agricultural Asso- 

 ciation at noi West Washington Road. Mcndota, III. 

 Editorial Offices, 608 So. Dearborn St., ChicaRo, 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 35''9 to editorial offices. 608 S. 

 Dearborn St., Chicago, III. 



Editor and Advertising Director, E. G. Thiem ; Assistant 

 Director and Ass't. Editor, Lawrence A. Potter. 



Illinois Agricultural Association 



Greatest State Farm Organization in America 



OFFICERS 



President. Earl C. Smith Detroit 



Vice-President, Talmace 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 



13th Leo M. Knox, Morrison 



I4th _ Otto Steffey. Stronghurst 



15th _ .M. Ray Ihrig, Golden 



I6th Albert Hayes, Chillicothe 



17th..._ C. M. Smith, Eureka 



18th Herman W. Danforth, Danforth 



19th Eugene Curtis, Champaign 



20th K. T. Smith, Greenfield 



21st Dwight Hart, Sharpsburg 



22nd A. O. Eckert, Belleville 



23rd Chester McCord, Newton 



24th Charles Marshall, Belknap 



25th August G. Eggerding, Red Bud 



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 Dave Mieher, Sales 



Manager; Howard Reeder, Home Office 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, Secy. 



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. 



SEPTEMBER, 1937 



GEORGE THIEM, Editor 



^^V HRIFTY pigs eating out of 

 ^*~Y^ * self-feeder on clean 

 ^J worm-free clover or alfalfa 

 pasture is a common sight today. 

 Smart hog growers now follow such 

 practices year after year, putting their 

 shoats on the market at from six to 

 seven months old. Yet in the early 

 twenties, less than 15 years ago, the 

 socalled McLean system of swine 

 sanitation was unknown. Self-feed- 

 ers were not in general use, little or 

 nothing was known about worm eggs 

 that infest old hog lots, hog cholera 

 control and vaccination were just 

 coming in, and the lowly hog led a 

 precarious existence. 



The amazing progress of Illinois 

 agriculture in all its ramifications 

 during the past 25 years will be on 

 parade Friday night, Sept. 3 before 

 Memorial Staduim at the University 

 of Illinois. The historical narration 

 will be a feature of the two-day 

 Sports Festival. It will bring to- 

 gether many of the pioneer leaders 

 in agricultural extension, Farm Bu- 

 reau, and the I. A. A. Committees 

 have spent many hours and sleepless 

 nights digging into records, survey- 

 ing the march of events and writing 

 the script of happenings since the 

 first Farm Bureaus were organized 

 in DeKalb and Kankakee counties in 

 1912. Obviously much of import- 

 ance had to be left out. 



An astonishing .change has come 

 over rural Illinois during this period. 

 Most of us are so-elose to it that we 

 fail to grasp just what has been 

 achieved. The gospel of limestone, 

 rock phosphate and legumes has 

 been carried to every corner of the 

 state, inspiwd by the early teachings 

 of Dr. Cyril G. Hopkins. The Coun- 

 ty Farm Bureaus and county advisers 

 working hand in hand with the ex- 

 tension service, deserve chief credit 

 for the widespread adoption of soil 

 and crop improvement methods. 



There were few fields of alfalfa 

 in the state before 1912, the soybean 

 was relatively unknown, the man 

 who spread limestone on his land 

 was considered crazy, rock phosphate 

 was something that Dr. Hopkins 

 talked about at farmers institutes, 

 hogs died like flies from cholera, 

 bovine tuberculosis eradication was- 

 n't thought of, treatment of oats for 

 smut was just coming in, and hybrid 

 corn hadn't arrived. 



No less spectacular have been the 

 achievements of Illinois farmers in 

 developing co-operative marketing 

 and service organizations. Before 

 the coming of the lAA there were 

 no state-wide co-op)erativc associa- 

 tions actually doing business on a 

 state- wide.' basis. There were local 

 co-operative fire and windstorm in- 

 surance groups, creameries, and grain 

 elevators, but the farmer was a 

 stranger in the terminal markets. 



Contrast such a picture with devel- 

 opments today. Illinois farmers own 

 and control three big state-wide in- 

 surance companies, a state-wide cen- 

 tralized purchasing service with great 

 bargaining power; they largely own 

 and control five producer co-opera- 

 tive livestock commission companies, 

 own a terminal grain marketing co- 

 operative, a fruit and vegetable ex- 

 change, have built a chain of co-op- 

 erative centralized creameries, market 

 three-fourths of their fluid milk, 

 nearly a fourth of their livestock, and 

 similar percentages of grain and 

 cream through their own co-opwra- 

 tive associations. — E.G.T. 



