Annual Livestock 



Marketing Meeting 



CN^ISSATISFIED with recent live- 

 ^~y 1 stock market trends and deter- 



- f y mined to end sweeping price 

 swings in the future, 200 Illinois farmers 

 braved a blizzard to attend the annual 

 meeting of the Illinois Livestock Market- 

 ing Association, Peoria, February 19. 



Delegates efforts were rewarded with 

 a clean-cut explanation of the AAA of 

 1938 and its probable effect on the live- 

 stock industry by lAA President Earl C. 

 Smith. Pinch-hitting for Sam H. Thomp- 

 son of Quincy, who was unable to get to 

 Peoria due to road conditions, Mr. Smith 

 briefly traced the events that led up to 

 the slump in cattle prices last fall. 



Speaking of the probable effects of the 

 newly enacted crop surplus control law 

 on prices the president said, "instability 

 in price levels of feed grains is the cause 

 of price swings in livestock prices. When 

 corn is selling at parity or around 80 

 cents and hogs are bringing eight cents 

 or less, feeders will market them at 190 

 to 200 pounds instead of feeding longer. 

 This will decrease pork production and 

 produce better meat which will lead con- 

 sumers to eat more of it." 



Fair Treatment Assured 



The new law is thoroughly democratic 

 in administration. Farmers are assured 

 fair treatment through local committees 

 which they elect. If any producer is not 

 satisfied with the performance of a local 

 committee his case will be reviewed by a 

 special committee which the secretary of 

 agriculture is authorized to apf)oint, Mr. 

 Smith said. 



"Give producers of new wealth (that 

 which comes from the soil) fair prices 

 for their products and we will keep out 



the varied un-American movements that 

 are creeping into society. 



"We have heard a great deal about the 

 'poor little pigs' that were killed in 1933 

 and yet industries are guilty of mistreat- 

 ment of employees. Within the last three 

 weeks, many industries have swept ten 

 per cent of their employees from their 

 payrolls and have reduced the working 

 time of thousands more. This need not 

 have hapjjened. With fair prices for the 

 producers of basic wealth there will be a 

 steady flow of the products of cities into 

 farming regions and the mistreatment of 

 employees will stop, " President Smith 

 concluded. 



The morning program included an ad- 

 dress by Daniel Smith, president of the 

 marketing group, officers reports and a 

 discussion of the services of the National 

 Livestock Marketing Association by P. O. 

 Wilson, secretary. 



These Market Services 



Services described were: Promoting 

 and aiding cooperative selling agencies 

 on the central markets; aiding in the 

 maintenance of open competitive mar- 

 kets ; correlation of shipments of live- 

 stock on a national scope to promote 

 orderly marketing; providing informa- 

 tion for producers and agencies regarding 

 market trends; providing an adeauate 

 system of financing producers; handling 

 transportation problems affecting the in- 

 dustry; legislative; promoting meat con- 

 sumption ; and cooperating with other in- 

 dustries for the benefit of all. 



The annual report of the board of di- 

 rectors showed that the volume of Illinois 

 livestock marketed cooperatively in 1937 

 was 27,255 cars or 21.8 per cent of the 



PINCH-HITTER EARL C. SMITH 

 "Stabilize feed 9rain prices. . ." 



total volume produced in the state. The 

 total farm value of meat animals pro- 

 duced in Illinois was $206,512,344 as 

 compared to $183,594,098 in 1936. Re- 

 ceipts from the sale of livestock was ap- 

 proximately 42 per cent of the total sales 

 of principal farm products in the state 

 in 1937. 



During 1937, the Association handled 

 1,652 decks of livestock which is 269 

 decks more than was handled in 1936. 

 The volume of business was distributed 

 among the Association's affiliated units 

 as follows: Champaign, 458 decks; 

 Bloomington, 421; Macon, 311; Shelby, 

 241; Vermilion, 159, and Galesburg, 62. 



The tendency to ship hogs direct to 

 packers increased during the year. In 

 1936, 59,262 head went to packers from 

 marketing units as compared to the 80,- 

 069 head in 1937. The 20,807 head 

 more sold direct in 1937 represents a 

 gain of 3,397,565 pounds. 



Consignments to terminal markets and 

 home sales also gained. Hogs to ter- 

 minals totaled 12,328 head in 1937 and 

 10i354 a year ago. Home sales nearly 



COOPERATIVE LIVESTOCK MARKETING BOOSTERS 

 They heard report*, studied the balance sheet, leomed more about their National organization and the AAA of 1938. 



m( 

 fo 

 an 



SP 



05 



19 



14 



L A. A. RECORD 



