[ 



ization to buy petroleum products for 

 members and refund the savings. 



Further investigation revealed that 

 such a co-op as they planned was func- 

 tioning at Owatonna, Minnesota. Not 

 only was this company paying substantial 

 dividends on stock but was making hand- 

 some patronage returns as well. 



The news kindled Fuller's enthusiasm. 

 Although the state extension service 

 frowned on farm advisers who encour- 

 aged commercial enterprises in county 

 Farm Bureaus, he did what he could to 

 bring about the organization of a buying 

 co-operative as a needed service to the 

 farmers of the county. 



Convinced that Farm Bureau leaders 

 should support the plan, Fuller lost no 

 opportunity to talk about it. 



Says he, "Corn sugar as a possible out- 

 let for surplus corn had captured the 

 fancy of most corn belt farmers. During 

 the winter of 1924 and '25 we sweetened 

 our oil meetings with corn sugar. Meet- 

 ings were called ostensibly to discuss the 

 new product but some way they always 

 switched to oil." 



To demonstrate the need for uniform- 

 ly graded, quality oils, Fuller prepared 

 two sample bottles. One he filled with 

 a good grade of light oil; the other he 

 filled with com syrup thinned with 

 water. At meetings he never missed an 

 Opportunity to display the bottles and to 

 get opinions as to which contained the 

 best oil. Invariably, even after testing 

 the body of the two "oils" between their 

 fingers, victims of his little joke would 

 choose the syrup. Each time he exposed 

 the ruse by inviting a taste test. 

 Saved Money 



Oil became an obsession with the ad- 

 viser and several leaders. They studied 

 it. They thought, talked and dreamed 

 about it. The Farm Bureau board took 

 it up for action. 



In the spring of '25 they fxjoled orders 

 for motor oil. Although it was little 

 better than that they could buy through 

 local dealers, farmers saved money on the 

 two carloads they bought. 



The following winter the Marshall- 

 Putnam Oil Company was formed with 

 members of the Farm Bureau board as 

 officers and directors. Landy Boyle was 

 president and A. R. Wright, Ben Hoyle 

 and John Bumgarner were directors. John 

 Fecht, a retired farmer and a leader in 

 the community, was chosen to manage 

 the enterprise. 



With no plan to guide them, other 

 than the example in far away Minnesota, 

 they chartered their own course as they 

 proceded. They knew that a single mis- 

 take might destroy farmers' faith in co- 

 operatives and in the Farm Bureau, too. 



A charter was issued to the company in 

 April 1926 under the state cooperative 

 act of 1923. It was capitalized at $20,- 



000. John Fecht and the others set out 

 to sell |25 non-cumulative stock bearing 

 eight per cent interest. 



"It went like hotcakes. In one day 

 we sold more than |19,000 worth. The 

 promise of an eight per cent return was 

 attractive," Fecht recalls. 



"We thought that $19,000 was enough 

 to begin with and we knew we could sell 

 more if we needed. We made a bid for 

 two bulk tanks that had been put in 

 Varna the year before by an independent 

 operator. He didn't want to sell at first 

 but when we told him we'd build our 

 own he saw the deal our way." 



A man was needed to distribute the 

 products. The two counties were scoured 

 for likely candidates. One was Clarence 

 Austin, a young building contractor in 

 Varna. A. R. Wright invited him to be- 

 come the company's salesman. 

 Failure Predicted 



It was a hard decision for Clarence to 

 make. Folks told him that the venture 

 would fail in six months. Wright would 

 give him no encouragement other than 

 it might develop into a thriving enter- 

 prise or, it might not develop. 



Austin saw the possibilities, the need 

 for such a farmer owned co-op. He 

 dropped his hammer, dissolved his part- 

 nership and bought two trucks on bor- 

 rowed money. Twelve years later he is 

 the senior of all salesmen who sell the 

 branded products of the Illinois Farm 

 Supply Company. 



He and John Fecht sold the first 300- 

 gallon truck load of petroleum fuels 

 distributed by a Farm Bureau cooperative 

 in Illinois, May 4, 1926. 



A few days later Clarence employed 

 his brother, Maynard, to help him handle 

 the business. "The Austin boys banged 

 their Model T Ford trucks over dirt roads 

 that were often impassable. Clarence 

 still has a cancelled check for $10 that 

 he paid a farmer to pull him out of a 

 mud hole. 



Roads were no barrier for the fledgling 

 co-op. Business boomed. In June a bulk 

 plant was installed at Henry. Frank Wal- 

 lace and Owen Stoner were hired to sell 



MANAGER t. B. 

 CULLEN 

 "In Illinois Farm 

 Supply and iU af- 

 filiated companies 

 the employees are 

 each an important 

 part o( the organ- 

 isation." 



petroleum products in that area. A third 

 plant was later constructed at McNabb 

 to better serve patrons in Putnam county. 



After little more than a year of oper- 

 ation these salesmen had handled 544,- 

 589 gallons of gasoline, 196,610 of kero- 

 sene and 19,330 of motor oil. Total sales 

 amounted to $124,760. At the end of 

 that period patronage dividends of eight 

 fjer cent of sales, totaling nearly $10,000, 

 were paid. 



Fuller was jubilant. Officers were 

 pleased but — after all — it was only 

 one year. What would future years bring? 



John Fecht, realizing the need for an 

 especially trained manager, resigned after 

 a year of service. D. R. Smith, an oil 

 company fieldman, replaced Fecht. 



The young co-op was but three years 

 old when the depression struck. Sound 

 financial planning from its inception 

 stood in good stead. Sales dropped some 

 and patronage refunds shrunk but none 

 were missed. Stockholders collected their 

 eight per cent annual dividends each year. 

 In each of the 12 years, except one, a 

 sum was put into the company's surplus. 

 Movement Spreads 



Before the company had been operat- 

 ing a year, farmers in other counties be- 

 came interested. Many of them organ- 

 ized coop)erative oil companies patterned 

 after the Marshall-Putnam Oil Company. 



L. R. Marchant, farm adviser in Knox 

 county, and F. E. Fuller sp)ent much time 

 studying grades and quality in oils and 

 fuels. With Farm Adviser Alden E. 

 Snyder of Montgomery county, they set 

 up standards based on tests by agricultur- 

 al engineers. Refiners told them that 

 such oils, greases and fuels could not be 

 produced. After many attempts they 

 found one who could meet the require- 

 ments. A new high standard of lubri- 

 cation had been achieved. 



With several county-wide cooperative 

 oil companies functioning in the state. 

 Farm Bureau leaders like A. R. Wright 

 saw the need for a state-wide purchasing 

 agency to buy uniform, high quality prod- 

 ucts for all of them. Thus it was that 



(Continued on page li) -\- ■ 



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