Conferences at 



New Orleans 



(Continued from page 29) 



vices, not only wholesale purchasing 

 of petroleum products," he said, "but 

 the county oil company is interested 

 only in buying and selling supplies." 



Charles McNeil of the Mississippi 

 Cotton Cooperative supported a modi- 

 fied plan of Farm Bureau control with 

 interlocking directorates but the em- 

 phasis on the selection of directors, and 

 sales management with business ability. 

 In his opinion a man who is suited 

 to direct legislative, organization and 

 other activities of the general organiza- 

 tion is often not suited to direct a 

 business enterprise. 



"One man cannot cover too much 

 ground and spread himself out too 

 thin," he said. He told how in Mis- 

 sissippi the Farm Bureau cotton coop- 

 erative had failed and that on its ruins 

 had been built the Mississippi Coop- 

 erative Cotton Association which re- 

 duced the cost of handling a bale of 

 cotton from $5 to 86 cents. 



John East of Virginia supported the 

 idea that Farm Bureau cooperative pur- 

 chasing should be limited to Farm Bu- 

 reau members. But Silas Vance of 

 Ohio, taking the opposite view, said 

 that exclusive service to Farm Bureau 

 members in his state did not give the 

 cooperative enough volume. He de- 

 fended the use of savings in cooper- 

 ative purchasing to support the legis- 

 lative and educational service of the 

 Farm Bureau. 



In Ohio, he said, the Farm Bureau 

 legislative and transportation service in 

 one case saved $800,000 which bene- 

 fited all farmers — therefore all should 

 help pay the cost and not only those 

 ■vyho belong to the Farm Bureau. When 

 the Farm Bureau was successful in 

 abolishing the sales tax on farm im- 

 plements use in production, it saved 

 millions of dollars to the farmers of 

 the state, he said. 



Field Secretary George E. Metzger 

 presided and took part in the confer- 

 ence on Organization, while Harry W. 

 Day, Wilfred Shaw, and Sam Russell 

 of the lAA marketing staff took part 

 in the commodity conferences on fruits 

 and vegetables, milk, and livestock. 

 A. E. Richardson and Dave Mieher 

 attended the farm insurance conference 

 in which were Farm Bureau insurance 

 leaders from a number of states. It 

 was voted to recommend ^that such a 

 conference be held annually. Frank 

 Gingrich had a part in the rural youth 

 group discussion. 



The fact that the Farm Bureau was 

 responsible for organizing most of the 



20 7/ea4d On cM(UHe. Il44^ieau 



MR. AND MRS. WILLIAM SPRINGER 

 "Home Bureau landscaped the railroad tracks, the water works, the school, church, 

 and a vacant lot." 



^\ -ISSING only three Home 



J^A ij Bureau meetings in twenty 

 a^^fl years is the record of Mrs. 

 William Springer, McLean county. 

 During that time, there was a stretch 

 of 16 years when she didn't miss a 

 single meeting. 



Mrs. Springer was recently honored 

 for her attendance at the twentieth 

 anniversary of the founding of the 

 county Home Bureau. 



Having a definite part, and things to 

 do, may have had something to do 

 with her regular attendance, Mrs. 

 Springer admitted. For 18 years she 

 served as an officer of the Allin town- 

 ship unit, where her home town is 

 Stanford, either as chairman or vice 

 chairman. 



"I saw the unit grow from 12 mem- 

 bers to 124. When it was so small 

 we felt something must be done. We 

 canvassed the town and brought in 48 

 members, later 35 more. Now, there 

 are more than 3000 members in the 

 county." 



major farm cooperative enterprises 

 throughout the Middle West, South, 

 and East, also many in the far west, 

 suggests that it can render a real service 

 to farmers and Farm Bureau member 

 patrons by bringing the co-op leaders 

 together annually in the interest of 

 maintaining closer relations. 



j 



As Mrs. Springer remembers it. 

 Home Bureau in its early days had 

 mainly to do with foods, feeding, and 

 health. She believes that rural women 

 feed their families much better be- 

 cause of this training. Demonstrations 

 too, always meant a great deal to her. 

 To see a cake baked seemed to make 

 it much clearer. These demonstrations 

 comprised much of the work of the 

 early home advijors. 



"The advisor baked Christmas cook- 

 ies, and showed us how to decorate 

 them. Too, we learned to make hooked 

 rugs by machine. For 45 years I made 

 them with a needle, 25 rugs in all. 

 Caning chairs was another popular 

 project of the time. At least 24 chairs 

 were caned in this community." 



In later years Home Bureau has un- 

 dertaken other projects. The one of 

 most interest to the passerby in Stan- 

 ford is the community beautification 

 work. At the entrance to the town 

 along the railroad tracks, originally 

 was located a trash pile or dump yard. 

 While Mrs. Springer was chairman of 

 this project, Home Bureau leased this 

 ground from the railroad for 100 years, 

 cleaned off the trash and planted shrub- 

 bery. After realizing the improvement 

 made, the town of Stanford took over 

 the project and now pays the Si a year 

 rent to the railroad. Besides this lands- 



(To next pane. Col. 1) 



32 



I. A. A. RECORD 



