last year, and that more than 2,000,000 

 acres of additional land was seeded to 

 grass and clover. 



"The present program," Mr. Gentry 

 said, "does not give sufficient control 

 to soil depleting crops. About 50 per 

 cent of the farms in the state co-operated 

 in the 1937 program. If the ever-normal 

 granary can level off peaks and valleys in 

 production, supply and price, farmers 

 want it. Farmers want crop control, but 

 they also want to retain the soil conserva- 

 tion program." 



Sam Russell of Adams county ap- 

 peared as president of the State Farm 

 Advisers' Association. Fred Winterroth 

 of Chebanse represented the Farmers' 

 Union, which, he said, has close to 10,- 

 000 members. He asserted that his or- 

 ganization wants a minimum fixed price; 

 that it is not satisfied with parity, but 

 wants cost of production. He stated 

 that it costs around 90 cents a bushel to 

 produce com and from |1.45 to $1.50 to 

 grow wheat. S. Fred Cummings of 

 Grundy county talked about the food 

 gamblers driving prices down, about 

 foreign imports, said the government 

 ought to close up the Chicago Board of 

 Trade. 



Wants Parity Prices 



Harry Gehring of Knox county proved 

 an excellent witness. He declared for a 

 farm program with parity prices and 

 parity buying power for its aim — for 

 legislation with sufficient teeth in it to 

 prevent non-cooperators from capitalizing 

 on the efforts of the cooperators. 



Ralph Allen of Tazewell county sup- 

 ported production control. A. B. Scho- 

 field of Ford county said: "A corn loan 

 should have been worked out earlier in 

 the season," at which Senator Ellender 

 countered by asking why the need for a 

 corn loan had not been brought to the 

 attention of Congress before it adjourned. 

 This statement gave President Earl Smith 

 an opportunity to come back a little later. 



""rTie proceedings of the Senate Com- 

 mittee hearings last spring," Smith said, 

 "are full of testimony warning of the 

 serious condition that would follow a 

 heavy corn crop. We attempted to amend 

 the deficiency appropriation bill to pro- 

 vide for a corn loan, but Chairman 

 Jesse Jones of the Reconstruction Finance 

 Corpxjration said there was no need for 

 it; that the RFC had plenty of money. 

 Twenty-three Illinois congressmen signed 

 a petition and asked for action on our 

 bill before adjournment." 



Senator Thomas commented: "Why 

 the corn loan has not been made before 

 now, I cannot understand. 



D. H. Stephenson of Hancock county 

 testified that he held his corn as a result 

 of the 1933 corn loan and got 83 cents 

 a bushel for part of it — had enough 



Ask for Surplus Control Law and 60c 

 Com Loan to Stave Off Depression 



feed through the 1934 drouth. "Farmers 

 are making progress when they get an 

 opportunity to get their case before a 

 committee of the U. S. Senate," he said. 



Royal Oakes of Scott county asserted 

 that corn should be about 90 cents a 

 bushel and wheat at least |1.25. George 

 Lesch, dairyman of Iroquois county, said: 

 "If it had not been for the corn loan 

 three years ago, two-thirds of the crop 

 would have had to go on the market at 

 around 35 cents." He was for crop con- 

 trol because "with cheap grain thousands 

 of farmers would go into dairying and 

 eventually wfeck prices as they did in 

 1933." 



Matt Grennan of Whiteside county 

 said corn at 40 cents will eventually 

 drop hogs down to |5 a hundred. He 

 testified that farm purchasing power was 

 already down and it had contributed to 

 laying oft over 1,000 men in the wire 

 mill at Sterling. 



George Chapman of White county said 

 White county farmers got more cash 

 from nubbins last year than they will 

 get from their better crop this year. 



Robert Spencer of White county, pres- 

 ident of the Indiana Farmers' Union, 

 was against production control. He 

 wound up by saying "anybody who will 

 stay with a red calf long enough will 

 get rich." 



Robert Endicott of Pulaski county said 

 the Pope-McGill bill is good legislation 

 and should be passed. 



Cliff Davis, Morgan county, said: "60 

 cents to 70 cents per bushel for corn one 

 year with another is a satisfactory price." 



"Should Control Production" 



Burt Hoan, Mercer county said: "A 

 com loan would help me because it 

 would keep the in-and-outer out of the 

 cattle feeding business. We needed the 

 corn loan 60 days ago." he said. "Many 

 have already sold. Agriculture should 

 control production the same as industry." 



George Witte, Sangamon county, said: 

 "We need stabilization of farm prices. 

 We need a loan on corn large enough 

 to insure a return on our investment. " 



At this point Sen. Thomas took time 

 to give his views on the money question, 

 which were warmly applaudea. Sen. 

 Ellender got a hand with this statement: 

 "We'll go back to Washington, take 

 off our coats and help you fellows." 



Arthur Burwash, Champaign county, 

 made a logical and able presentation of 

 recent conditions and the need for sur- 

 plus control. "This year," said Burwash, 

 "our 75 bushel com crop will bring 

 about $30 an acre. Last year our 45 



bushel corn crop at $1.00 a bushel 

 brought $45 an acre. Well get in Cham- 

 paign county $563,000 less for a big 

 crop this year than we got for a mudi 

 smaller crop last year." He put the cost 

 of growing com at 38 to 72 cents a 

 bushel on good farms, depending on 

 yield. 



C. J. Elliott, Streator, said: "We need 

 production control." 



G. C. Johnstone, Bioomington, intro- 

 duced a resolution at the night session 

 calling for a 60 cent loan on corn. It 

 was approved by 290 out of 300 present. 

 Sen. Thomas said he would telegraph 

 the resolution to Washington. 



W. S. Miles, Sangamon county, said: 

 "60 days ago our elevator was paying 

 $1.43 for com — yesterday only 43 

 cents. No farmer can carry on a success- 

 ful business that way. It should be com- 

 pulsory to go along on surplus control. 

 The government ought to make us keep 

 up the fertility of our soil." 



Everett Kems, Douglas county, spoke 

 for the Pope-McGill bill. 



"Surplus Okeh — but . . ." 



James O. Mathewson, DeKalb county, 

 said: "Under present conditions we 

 ought to have about 90 cents a bushel for 

 corn. I am for the Pope-McGill bill. 

 Good prices for livestock will not last 

 with the present low price of com. A 

 surplus is a good thing, but it should 

 not be allowed to drive down prices." 



Justin Becker, Lee county, sp>oke for a 

 crop control program. He said: "Ac- 

 counts receivable in our Lee county grain 

 co-operative are much higher than they 

 were a year ago." 



L. B. Eidman, St. Clair county, said: 

 "Com should bring about 65 cents a 

 bushel, wheat $1.15 to $1.20. There is 

 not much chance today for a tenant to 

 buy a farm and pay for it at present 

 prices." 



Irvin H. Phillips, Bureau county, said: 

 "I am for the {sending bill. Surplus 

 control must be made compulsory or it 

 won't work." 



A. C. Helleman, Tazewell county 

 Farmer Unionite, called attention to 

 Argentine and African com going into 

 the processing plants in the Peoria ter- 

 ritory. Helleman got all tangled up in 

 his testimony, but he finally admitted 

 that he wanted the kind of legislation 

 that would control surpluses and stabilize 

 farm prices at profitable levels. 



Mr. Goodwin, Crawford county, said: 

 "The farm problem is a price problem." 

 He quoted the late Alexander Legge as 



DECEMBER, 1937 



