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ILLINOIS AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIATION RECORD 



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. 



JULY 

 VOL 16 



1938 

 NO. 7 



Published monthly by the Illinois AfricuHiir.l Asso- 

 riation at 1501 West Wishington Road, Mendoti. I . 

 Ed orial Offices. 608 So. Dearborn St.. Chicago 111. 

 Fnered as second class matter at post office Meodota. 

 mnois September U. '936..^ Acceptance for m,, me 

 it spec al rate of postage provided in Section 412 Act o 

 Feb 28 1925. authorized Oct. 27. 1935. Address all 

 communications for publication to Editorial Offices Illinois 

 AgriTultural Association RECORD. 608 So. Dearborn St.. 

 c£ic«o The individual membership fee of the Illinois 

 Agricultural Association is five dollars a year Tlie fee 

 deludes payment of fifty cents f "f "S>«"P''o'' . '» 'he 

 llinois Agricultural Association RECORD, Postmaster: 

 Send notices on Form 5578 and undeliverable copies 

 returned under Form 3579 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 Agricnltural Association 



Greatest State Farm Organization in America 



OFFICERS 



President, Earl C. Smith Detroit 



Vice-President, Talmage 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 nth E. Harris, Gravslake 



12th E. E. Houghtby, Shabbona 



13th Leo M. Knox, Morrison 



14th Otto Steffey, Stronghurst 



15th -M. Ray Ihrig, Golden 



16th .Albert Hayes, Chilli:oihe 



17th C. M. Smith, Eureka 



18th W. A. Dennis, Paris 



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 



Field Service. Cap Mast 



Finance _ R. A. Cowles 



Fruit and Vegetable Marketing H. W. Dav 



Legal and General Counsel Donald Kirkpatrick 



Live Stock Marketing Sam F. Russell 



Office C. E. Johnston 



Organization G. E. Metzger 



Produce Marketing F. A. Gougler 



Publicity George TTiiem 



Safety _ C. M. Seagraves 



Soil Improvement John R. Spencer 



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 C. E. Strand, Mgr. 



Illinois Agr. Mutual Ins. Co...A. E. Richardson, Mgr. 



Illinois Agr. Service Co Donald Kirkpatrick, Secy. 



111. Farm Bureau Serum Ass'n S. F. Russell, Secy. 



Illinois Farm Supply Co L. R. Marchant, Mgr. 



Illinois Fruit Growers' Exchange.... H. W. Day, Mgr. 



III. Grain Corporation Harrison Fahrnkopf, Mgr. 



III. Livestock Marketing Ass'n Sam Russell, Mgr. 



Illinois Milk Producers' Ass'n Wilfred Shaw, Mgr. 



Illinois Producers' Creameries....F. A. Gougler, Mgr. 

 . • ; J. B. Countiss Sales Mgr. 



GEORGE THIEM, Editor 



Cmr AND COUNTHY MEET 

 At the edge of the E. St. Louis in- 

 diurtrial area in St. Cloir and Madison 

 counties. 



V/^^. HE farm mortgage debt of 

 ^^-^ $7,254,821,000 is the low- 

 ^J est in 17 years according 

 to a recent government report. This 

 no doubt is due in part to fore- 

 closures, downward debt adjustment, 

 and farm transfers which started with 

 the deflation beginning in 1930-'31. 

 But it is also due to the fesson taught 

 by the depression: get out of debt as 

 quickly as possible. 



Within recent years investors have 

 become more wary, and wisely so, 

 about buying property without hav- 

 ing the cash or at least a substantial 

 down payment. Interest that eats 

 away day and night is like soil ero- 

 sion and often goes hand in hand 

 with it. It works stealthily, piling 

 up more and more debt, and the man 

 with a big interest payment to meet 

 is often forced to plow up more of 

 his land to grow and sell more com, 

 wheat and cotton. Conservation and 

 a smaller acreage of soil depleting 

 crops are apt to be the rule on farms 

 that are free of debt. 



Plenty of rain and favorable grow- 

 ing weather in the com belt promises 

 one of the heaviest crops of feed 



grains and forage on record. Good 

 clover hay was bringing little more 

 than the cost of bailing in Madison 

 county recently. 



A striking demonstration of the 

 wisdom of moderate production is 

 seen in today's livestock markets. 

 Hogs have been selling lately above 

 J9 a hundred pounds, not $4 or $5, 

 because the supply is 30 per cent un- 

 der the peak of a few years ago. Any 

 way you figure it, 1 00 shoats averag- 

 ing 200 lbs. each Qi> $9 per cwt. 

 ($1800.00) is more business-like 

 farming than marketing 140 shoats 

 of the same weight at $5.00 per cwt. 

 ($1400.00). The shorter supply of 

 hogs likewise is helping the beef cat- 

 tle and lamb market. 



The favorable outlook for com 

 plus reasonably good prices for hogs 

 promises to increase swine breeding. 

 Off-setting this tendency will be the 

 com acreage adjustment program. It 

 remains to be seen how much actual 

 reduction in corn acreage there will 

 be this year. If corn yields are nor- 

 mal and the price goes to 30c or 35c 

 next fall, as some are predicting, a 

 higher percentage of farmers will 

 cooperate in acreage adjustment next 

 year. Its human nature to lock the 

 barn door after the horse is stolen. 



The "analysis" of the Agricultural 

 Adjustment Act by the National In- 

 dustrial Conference Board, supported 

 by big business, tums out to be an 

 attack apparently influenced by met- 

 ropolitan and political newspaper 

 opinion. Listen to this one; "The 

 new charter for Agriculture might as 

 aptly be called a new charter for the 

 Secretary of Agriculture, for the 

 power to dictate and control the prac- 

 tices of each farmer in the United 

 States is vested in him, practically 

 without check." What nonsense. 

 Back in the '20s the Conference 

 Board reports had high standing be- 

 cause it put out facts on the agricul- 

 tural situation and not opinion. It 

 has definitely weakened its useful- 

 ness and the confidence of the public 

 by this report. — E.G.T. 



lULY, 1938 



