$ 



, ^ 



Jk 



m^ 



HeriMifi Eli'iiilnr 



Dccitlini; is was time to set their 

 house in order, the officers reduced their 

 inventory anil cut profits until the debt 

 was cleaned up. I)ebt-frec. the Serena 

 yrain coop had readied its first lont; 

 pants sta^e. 



Like many a small boy with his 

 lontics, " the company (,ux\] new prob 

 lems. Further resembling; the boy. the 

 lO-op's main difficulty was competition. 



New rivalry arrived in Serena on the 

 broad surface of a new hard road. U. S. 

 Route '32. It afforded an avenue over 

 which grain mii,'ht be t.iken to points 

 enjoying temporary price ailvantage. 

 Then, too the road could be used to 

 bring grain to Serena if the price was 

 siitficiently high to stirnulate trade. 



The grain marketing department of 

 the company suffered first. To meet 

 competition, margins were further re- 

 duced and volume \sas maintained. In 

 193"', the company sold S3I3,()Si.i2 of 

 grain and merchandise of which more 

 than S269,0()() was grain. 



Voicing the feeling of larmers. gen 

 erally. in the Serena area. President 

 Henry Marshall ijuotes an old saying: 

 "//(' uh" ojftr.s tunic ih.iii the 



f.irriieif' i'hi.if'/r ,.i/i p.iy, imi^l t^i/ 



1/ thick in ionic other u:i\." 



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 .md 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 oni.c 

 more in farmers' jeans. 



Some employed short sighted policies 



MANAGER HANK MOREL & 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 juNt as it 

 had always met competition. They con- 

 tinued to give lull measure of superior 

 products and service at a fair price. 



Best year in the co-op s history was 

 19S6. 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 macliiner\ and four per 

 cent on feeds, seed, coal and lumber. 

 Close to SS. ()()() was distributed to pa- 

 trons and sKxkholciers. 



Quick to sense the adcant.igc of con- 



PATRON LOUIS COULTRIP & FEEDMAN STAN HAGEN 

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



ccntrated and mixed feeds prepared by a 

 farmer organization. Illinois I'arm Sup- 

 ply C Company, for farmers at fair prices, 

 the Serena cle\ator company built a new- 

 warehouse and took on the county dis- 

 tributorship for Hlue Seal feeds. 



Cieorge He.sore was the first feed sales 

 manager. He resigned to manage the 

 ciK)perative elevator at Williamsfield and 

 was succeeded by Stanley I;. Hagcn. a 

 native of I.aSalle county who had had 

 previous experience in handling feeds. 



Since the beginning, the volume of 

 feeds sold has increased ste.idilv. I'ecd- 

 ers lia\e come to dejxnd on it just .is 

 they do other ser\iccs and g(>ods 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 markctuig vcr\i,.e of the Illi- 

 nois Ciram ( orpor.iiion when it w.is in- 

 augurated in hine. I'arm 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 mcetin!,- of the livestock shipping as- 

 sociation at whiih the found.vtions of the 

 elevator company w.is l.iid. is Henrv T. 

 Marshall. He is of the third i;eneration 

 ot settlers who c.ime to I.aSalle county 

 in the ISiOs from ,-\lsace-I.orraine, then 

 a part of I Vance. Ilie comfortable Mar- 

 shall home is loi.ited on the farin settled 

 by Henry's grandfather. 



H. T. .Marsh.iUs impressive record of 

 Ncrvice to org.ini/ed .igriculture include 

 the presidency. \ ice-presidency and direc- 

 torship of the I.aSalle f Ountv Tarm Bu- 

 reau and one term on the board of direc 

 tors of the I,-\,-\. 



A somewhat younger inember of the 

 (Cooperative Grain and Supply Com- 

 pany's board of directors is William 

 Temple. In addition to his activities in 

 the I.aSalle C otmty I-"arm 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 'I'his 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 coop is entering one of 

 its most useful jieriods which is due to 

 continue as long as the community can 

 produce the type ot folks who live there 

 now. J. ,-\ .1'. 



The volume of cream sent in to the 



Producers ( rcamcry of Cj.dcsburg tor 

 the month of August represents a 2'>''( 

 increase over last year. Production per 

 patron is higher, and tliere was an in- 

 crease of 12'^ in patrons serviced. 



Uncle Ab says that the most im- 

 portant thing about a hat is what's 

 under it. 



OCTOBER, 1938 



17 



