What Is Meant by 

 'Our Best People?' 



//rriHE term 'our best people' gen- 

 I erally refers to that sedate 

 group who live on the right side 

 oi the tracks, who attended church 

 on Sunday morning, play golf on 

 Sunday afternoon and drink their 

 Scotch and soda with dignity in the 

 priTacy of their own homes. They 

 conduct their business within the law 

 and are good citizens — nobody 

 questions that. 



But my hand and heart goes out 

 and my hat goes off to the men who 

 make liie possible for all o{ us. The 

 farmers. They are up in the morning 

 when most of us are still asleep or in 

 some cases just coming home. They 

 are still at work at night long after 

 we have finished our day. They till 

 their soil, roise their crops, feed the 

 nation and bear the brunt of ridicule 

 for their efforts. They know nothing 

 of strikes or unions and very little of 

 politics. They know little of luxury, 

 but very much of hard work, bitter 

 disappointments and the ache in a 

 lonely heart. 



The song of the cricket at twilight, 

 the patter of rain at night is sweetest 

 music to their ears. They ask nothing 

 more than kindness from the elements 

 and a chance to live their lives in 

 peace. Yet everything we eat, the 

 clothes we wear, the bed on which 

 we sleep are made possible by the 

 calloused hands of the farmers. For 

 everything must come from the soil, 

 just as everything must some day re- 

 turn to the soil. 



It has always been thus and will 

 so continue in the future. For it was 

 not the bankers nor the lawyers nor 

 even the missionaries who built our 

 country and established our civiliza- 

 tion. It was the men who come with 

 plows and oxen, who claimed their 

 little plots of land and stuck through 

 floods, droughts and constant threat 

 of Indians, and knew not whether the 

 setting sun would gild their grizzled 

 whiskers or the upturned sod on their 

 freshly dug graves. It was the em- 

 battled farmers who routed the British 

 at Concord and ultimately won our 

 freedom, just as they have fought 

 and won all our wars. And when 

 the smoke of battle clears away it is 

 always the farmers who quietly return 

 to their beloved land and rebuild the 

 nation. Our best people — the world's 

 best people — the American fanners." 

 — Letter submitted in prize contest in 

 Chicago Daily News. 



RURAL YOUTH TAliES A TOUR 



Pay 2c More 



for Grade A Cream 



The best indication of the value of 

 any plan is the result it produces. The 

 quality improvement program carried on 

 by Farmers Creamery at Bloomington is 

 designed to induce cream producers to 

 deliver or send to their creamery, cream 

 of better quality. The large quantity of 

 poor butter produced in Illinois proves 

 the money-value need of such improve- 

 ment. 



"WE USE GOING PLACES AND SEEING THINGS I" 

 Thai's what these 22 young folks from 18 northern Illinois counties said before their 

 five-day bus tour of 1108 miles through southern Illinois was over on October 15 TskI 

 TskI There were 11 boys and 11 girls. Their average age was 23 years and their home 

 farms averaged 229 A. They stopped at 17 Farm Bureaus, 25 farmer cooperatives, and 

 four state parks. Twelve county rural youth groups entertained them enroute. 



WHEN lAA DAIRY MARKETING DIRECTOR SHAW TRIED TO DRAW 

 Two weeks after the tour of southern Illinois, this group of 13 southern Illinois lads 

 and lassies from 10 counties had an 1160-mile look at northern counties. Their average 

 age was 21V2 years — home farms 220 A. They left Marion. Williamson county, at 

 6 A.M., October 24: visited the University oi Illinois and met Dean Blair; inspected the 

 lAA and affiliated company offices and A.F.BS. headquarters in Chicago, browsed 

 through museums and Chicago's Ghetto and paid a shuddery visit to the county morgue: 

 were guests of the Producers Commission Association at the Union Stock Yards; received 

 souvenir copies of the lAA RECORD as they came from the press at Mendota. Thwy 

 also stopped at Farm Bureaus, farm cooperatives and state parks enroute. 



For the past few years, Farmers 

 Creamery has been paying a two-cent 

 premium per pound butterfat for all 

 grade A cream delivered. Educational 

 work has not been spared to help pro- 

 ducers meet requirements of grade A. 

 This program is not one of farm in- 

 spection, but deals entirely with the 

 quality of cream as it is delivered to the 

 plant. 



To see how much, if any, improvement 

 is being made, the records of a certain 

 number of patrons making approximately 

 the same number of deliveries in July of 

 1937 and July 1938 were examined. An 

 increase of 3% in number of grade A 

 deliveries, and a large increase in pounds 

 of grade A butterfat were noted. 



Fay Tourtellott was selected as manager 

 of Producers' Creamery of Mt. Sterling to 

 take over the active management of that 

 plant on September 1. During the first 

 month's operation under new management 

 this plant gained 94 new cream patrons. 



Although there is a seasonal decline io 



production, the Mt. Sterling plant showed 

 an increase in volume during September of 

 6% over the previous month, manufacturing 

 costs were reduced 1.27 cents per pound, 

 sales costs reduced .08 cents per pound, 

 and general and administrative costs reduced 

 .31 cents per pound as compared with the 

 same month in 1937. 



Of all improvements for the farm or home, 



running water should come first, for it 

 promotes health, convenience and comfort 

 for both family and animals. 



DECEMBER, 1938 



