successor to the late Jane Addams, and 

 Mrs. W. L. McFarland. Miss Carr was 

 in charge of settlement work among the 

 poor people of New York City for many 

 years. 



"I noticed that you could use more 

 paint and repairs on your buildings, also 

 some modern, sanitary plumbing," he 

 said. "I'm not running for any office. I 

 have plenty to do to keep the enemy at 

 bay in my own little town." (The mayor 

 ran as a good government candidate 

 against the Tammany Hall political or- 

 ganization.) 



"The constitution is simple," he con- 

 tinued. "Only lawyers make it difficult. 

 The AAA was named wrong. If it had 

 been called the NDA — National De- 

 fense Act it would have been all right. 

 The court would reason this wayl In 

 time of war soldiers must eat, but they 

 can't eat unless there is food. If the 

 farmer doesn't get a fair price he can't 

 produce. Presto, it's Constitutional. 

 Worth Saving 



"There is nothing more constitutional 

 than the lives of the American people. 

 There is nothing more important than 

 the health and well being of the Amer- 

 ican people. This country is entitled to 

 something better than 11 million people 

 unemployed and on relief. Our country 

 is worth saving and must be saved. We 

 can and must have a greater spread of 

 employment, better working and living 

 conditions, and fair prices for farm prod- 

 ucts. We have all the resources we need, 

 all the necessities we need to get it a'one 

 and live in peace." 



Mayor LaGuardia's acceptance of the 

 invitation to address the convention was 

 not received by President Smith until the 

 eleventh hour. Early Wednesday after- 

 noon the news came by telephone and 

 arrangements were hastily made to put 

 LaGuardia on Thursday night and Sen- 

 ator George McGill of Kansas on the 

 Friday morning program. The senator 

 was detained in Washington Thursday. 

 He arrived in Chicago from Washing 

 ton Friday A.M. too late to make connec- 

 tions with the train for Springfield and 

 so returned to Washington without at- 

 tending the convention. 



4,000 At Convention 



(Continued from page 4) 



The meetings of the associated com- 

 panies on Tuesday night and Wednesday 

 were well attended. With more favor- 

 able roads and weather it is doubtful if 

 the available assembly rooms would have 

 held the crowds. As it was, all available 

 hotel rooms were filled and some were 

 quartered in private homes. 



Excerpts from the scholarly address 

 and report of President Earl C. Smith at 



EDWARD A. O'NEAL 

 "A good speaker, he." said a stage hand. 



the ojjening session Thursday A.M. will 

 be found elsewhere. 



The conferences held Thursday after- 

 noon were well attended. 



R. W. Blackburn, new secretary of the 

 American Farm Bureau Federation spoke 

 to the marketing conference. Blackburn, 

 an able and effective speaker, made the 

 point that cooperative associations in 

 themselves cannot greatly influence farm 

 price levels but that they need, and 

 should cooperate with, the general farm 

 organizations toward securing parity 

 prices and parity income for agriculture. 



Prof. Clyde Linsley of the University 

 of Illinois discussed the value of lime- 

 stone and phosphate at the soil improve- 

 ment conference. W. P. Sanford, editor 

 of a daily newspaper at Pontiac and 

 formerly head of the department of 

 speech at the University of Illinois, han- 

 dled the subject, "Practical Business 

 Sp>eaking" in the Organization Confer- 

 ence. A more detailed report of the Pub- 

 lic Relations Conference appears else- 

 where in this issue. 



THE PAWNEE FOUR 

 They put words to rhyme and music. 



In his militant address Friday morn- 

 ing. President Edward A. O'Neal of the 

 American Farm Bureau Federation stated 

 that the farm bill likely to emerge from 

 the conference committee in Congress 

 will not insure economic parity for the 

 farmer but that it should be a substantial 

 improvement over the present soil con- 

 servation act. 



The job of restoring the farmer to 

 parity position, O'Neal said, could be 

 done with $250,000,000 more than is 

 available under the soil conservation act, 

 but that much money is not in sight 

 without imposing processing taxes on 

 cotton, and possibly wheat. 



Dr. Louis H. Bean had an excellent pa- 

 per showing the influence of consumer 

 income and employment on farm prices. 

 His talk ■ is reviewed briefly elsewhere. 

 There were numerous requests for copies 

 of his address. 



Twenty-five Farm Bureau leaders and 

 their state president, C. J. Thompson 

 from Nebraska were interested spectators 

 during the convention. President Smith 

 presented the Nebraska delegation to the 

 audience in the Armory Thursday night 

 along with other guests who sat on the 

 platform. Dr. O. O. Wolfe, president 

 of the Kansas Farm Bureau Federation, 

 was another visitor. i 



Secretaries Report 

 In his annual report the corporate sec- 

 retary, Paul E. Mathias, outlined the ac- 

 complishments of the various depart- 

 ments during 1937 not otherwise re- 

 ported and Field Secretary George E. 

 Metzger reviewed organization and mar- 

 keting achievements. Treasurer Robert 

 A. Cowles presented the Association's 

 financial report which showed income 

 from membership dues of $330,804.81, 

 other income $28,642.60, a total of 

 $359,437.41. Excess of income over ex- 

 pense was $82,825.61. At the close of 

 the year the Association had current as- 

 sets of $536,183.48, total assets $664,- 

 475.79. 



At the final business session Friday 

 afternoon, delegates gave their blanket 

 okeh to the report submitted by Chair- 

 man Talmage DeFrees of the Resolutions 

 Committee. They debated the policy 

 resolutions briefly and cleaned up the 

 business at hand in short order. 



Enthusiasm bubbled over both within 

 and outside of convention halls as dele- 

 gates vied for honors in impromptu hog 

 calling contests. H. B. Austin and his 

 Pawnee Four livened up the main lAA 

 Sessions with poetic comment on the 

 subject matter of speeches put to ryhmc 

 and music. A substantial attendance of 

 women indicated their grown interest in 

 public policy and business matters affect- 

 ing agriculture. This is a good sign. 



L A. A. RECORD 



a^ ' 



