Serena Elevator 



(Continued from page 13) 



Deciding is was time to set their 

 house in order, the officers reduced their 

 inventory and cut profits until the debt 

 was cleaned up. Debt-free, the Serena 

 grain co-op had reached its first long- 

 pants stage. 



Like many a small boy with his 

 "longies," the company faced new prob- 

 lems. Further resembling the boy, the 

 co-op's main difficulty was competition. 



New rivalry arrived in Serena on the 

 broad surface of a\ew hard road, U. S. 

 Route 52. It afforded.^ an avenue over 

 which grain might be taken to points 

 enjoying temporary price advantage. 

 Then, too the road could be used to 

 bring grain to Serena /'/ the price was 

 sufficiently high to stimulate trade. 



The grain marketing department of 

 the company suffered first. To meet 

 competition, margins were further re- 

 duced and volume was maintained. In 

 1937, the company sold $313,084.32 of 

 grain and merchandise of which more 

 than $269,000 was grain. 



Voicing the feeling of farmers, gen- 

 erally, in the Serena area. President 

 Henry Marshall quotes an old saying: 

 "He who offers more than the 



farmers' elevator can pay, must get 



it back in some other way." 



While the road brought changes, eco- 

 nomic conditions brought even greater 

 changes. In 1932, farmers were poor 

 prospects for manufactured goods. With 

 the coming of the first AAA and im- 

 proved farm process for which organ- 

 ized farmers had long fought, enter- 

 prising and exploiting businessmen at- 

 tempted to reap a harvest of dollars that 

 were only just beginning to jingle once 

 more in farmers' jeans. 



Some employed short-sighted policies 



MANAGER HANK MOREL 4 FRIEND 

 "Superior products and services, fair 

 prices." 



and tried to force established dealers out 

 of business. Many ignored possible prof- 

 its hoping to cash in later. Pressure of 

 these grab-and-run concerns was strongly 

 felt in the farm machinery trade. 



Baffling as the onslaught appeared at 

 first, the Serena co-op met it just as it 

 had always met competition. They con- 

 tinued to give full measure of superior 

 products and service at a fair price. 



Best year in the co-op's history was 

 1936. Stockholders received six per cent 

 dividends. Patrons got one cent per 

 bushel patronage dividends on wheat, 

 corn and soybeans, one-half cent on oats, 

 two per cent on machinery and four per 

 cent on feeds, seed, coal and lumber. 

 Close to $8,000 was distributed to pa- 

 trons and stockholders. 



Quick to sense the advantage of con- 



PATRON LOUIS COULTRIP & FEEDMAN STAN HAGEN 

 To Coultrip's 100 pigs, 1,000 pounds of fresh Blue Seal Pig MeoL 



centrated and mixed feeds prepared by a 

 farmer organization, Illinois Farm Sup- 

 ply Company, for farmers at fair prices, 

 the Serena elevator company built a new 

 warehouse and took on the county dis- 

 tributorship for Blue Seal feeds. 



George Besore was the first feed sales 

 manager. He resigned to manage the 

 cooperative elevator at Williamsfield and 

 was succeeded by Stanley E. Hagen, a 

 native of LaSalle county who had had 

 previous experience in handling feeds. 



Since the beginning, the volume of 

 feeds sold has increased steadily. Feed- 

 ers have come to depend on it just as 

 they do other services and goods sup- 

 plied by the company. 



Deeply rooted in organized agricul- 

 ture of the county and state, the Serena 

 co-op was one of the first to patronize 

 the grain marketing service of the Illi- 

 nois Grain Corporation when it was in- 

 augurated in June. Farm Bureau-wise 

 members know that their cooperative 

 will be more successful as it works hand 

 in hand with the state cooperative. 



Typical of the farmers who attended 

 the meeting of the livestock shipping as- 

 sociation at which the foundations of the 

 elevator company was laid, is Henry T. 

 Marshall. He is of the third generation 

 of settlers who came to LaSalle county 

 in the 1840's from Alsace-Lorraine, then 

 a part of France. The comfortable Mar- 

 shall home is located on the farm settled 

 by Henry's grandfather. 



H. T. Marshall's impressive record of 

 service to organized agriculture include 

 the presidency, vice-presidency and direc- 

 torship of the LaSalle County Farm Bu- 

 reau and one term on the board of direc- 

 tors of the lAA. 



A somewhat younger member of the 

 Cooperative Grain and Supply Com- 

 pany's board of directors is William 

 Temple. In addition to his activities in 

 the LaSalle County Farm Bureau, he is a 

 director of the Illinois Livestock Market- 

 ing Association. 



Both men, like most members of the 

 cooperative, are progressive, top-notch 

 farmers. This is one of the reasons why 

 the Serena community has long held the 

 enviable reputation as being one of the 

 finest sections in the county. 



The elevator co-op is entering one of 

 its most useful periods which is due to 

 continue as long as the community can 

 produce the type of folks who live there 

 now. — L.A.P. 



The volume of cream sent in to the 



Producers' Creamery of Galesburg for 

 the month of August represents a 25% 

 increase over last year. Production per 

 patron is higher, and there was an in- 

 crease of 12% in patrons serviced. 



Uncle Ab says that tbe most im- 

 portant thing about a hat is what's 

 under it. 



OCTOBER. 1938 



If 





