EDITORIAL 



Who Controls The lAA? 



V^V^ HE nearness of the 1939 lAA annual meeting is 

 ^~— ^ a reminder that every member will be given an 

 ^_y opportunity in the various conferences and business 

 sessions to voice his opinions and use his influence to com- 

 mend, criticise, modify or change any policy being followed 

 by the Association. While the board of delegates alone 

 has the power to vote, every member is accorded the 

 privilege of speaking in any business session or before 

 meetings of the resolutions committee. 



The lAA is set up as a true cooperative with member- 

 ship running to the individual. Only actual producers of 

 farm products, farm owners and tenants, have the power 

 to vote. But these voting members have full control of 

 the organization and its policies through the board of 

 delegates who are elected at the annual meetings of the 

 97 County Farm Bureaus. Each county organization is 

 entitled to at least two voting delegates including the presi- 

 dent of the County Farm Bureau and one other voting 

 delegate, together with one additional voting delegate for 

 each 500 paid-up members in the county, or major fraction 

 thereof, engaged in the production of agricultural products. 



The board of delegates annually elects half the direc- 

 tors for two-year terms, and the president and vice-president 

 for one-year terms. The official delegates make the policies 

 as outlined in the resolutions. This year every County Farm 

 Bureau president who is elected by the members in the 

 county becomes ex-oificio a member of the state board of 

 delegates which controls the annual meeting of the Asso- 

 ciation. Thus the Farm Bureau operates as a true democracy 

 in which the majority rules, from the local unit on up 

 through the county, state, and national organizations. 



So when any individual criticises the Farm Bureau as 

 not being farmer-ov\'ned and farmer-controlled, as being 

 dominated by this, that, or the other group or individual 

 he doesn't know what he is talking about. The annual 

 declarations of policy are an expression of the combined 

 majority opinion of the thinking farmers of the state 

 adopted through orderly, democratic process. 



For Rural Study And Discussion 



>^N a world of confusing thought on economic ami 



l)j political questions, both at home and abroad, never 



\^J/ has there been such an opportunity for worthwhile 



activity as in the organization of study and discussion clubs. 



Every community has more than its share of leagues 

 and societies, but are not most of them oblivious or indif- 

 ferent to the real problems of the great democracy in which 

 we live? Groups that actually take time to study and inform 

 themselves on government policies, unemployment relief, 

 the farm program, the relation of prices, wages, imports 

 and exports, interest rates, distribution and the money sys- 

 tem to national prosperity, are too few. 



It might be profitable to think and talk about what can 

 be done to improve the community and the county, to get 

 better schools and roads, more efficient marketing facilities, 

 greater value from tax money, more able and honest public 

 officials, and dozens of like problems that influence the 

 home, welfare, and happiness of the family. 



34 



A great deal of valuable information can be had from 

 newspapers, books and current magazines, from govern- 

 ment oflficials, papers and reports, from state agricultural 

 colleges and universities, and from your farm organization. 

 Accurate statistics and facts are necessary to intelligent 

 thought and speech. They are essential to good judgment. 



Study and discussion are not only stimulating and en- 

 tertaining, but they develop the mind and personality. And 

 every now and then someone may get an idea that will 

 germinate and develop into something big and fine, some- 

 thing that will make the world better. 



18 Per Cent More Pigs 



C"*^^ HE old see-saw of cheap corn and high priced hogs 

 with us. The fall pig crop, government reports show, is 



^ 



and cattle, followed within a year or two by un- 

 profitable livestock and higher priced corn is still 



up 18 per cent. It was inevitable that a corn -hog ratio of 18 

 or 20 to 1 instead of the normal 10 or 11 to 1 would bring 

 on a substantial increase in hog numbers. With corn at 

 40 to 50c a bu. and hogs at $7.50 to $9 per cwt. it pays to 

 feed hogs rather than sell corn. 



Only a substantial increase in consumer buying power 

 later this year can save hog growers from unprofitable 

 prices. And given a little more time, the same situation is 

 bound to occur in cattle. Lower farm prices and larger 

 production would not be harmful to agriculture IF indus- 

 try', labor, and all the other price-fixing and "scarcity" 

 groups would go back to work and match the farmers 

 abundant production. In fact such cooperation would raise 

 the standard of living for everyone. Eighteen per cent more 

 pigs means cheaper pork and possibly fewer farm dollars 

 — further proof of the need for corn price stabilization. 



Hybrid Com 



)URRENT claims of hybrid seed corn producers re- 

 mind you of the enthusiasm displayed by purebred 

 _ cattle and hog breeders back in the war period; 

 Twenty years ago the farm and breed papers were filled 

 with advertisements each claiming the greatest bull or the 

 greatest boar in the world. Then the purebred bubble 

 broke, advertising slowed up, and the fabulous superlatives 

 went into storage. 



There is no question about the desirability of adapted 

 varieties of hybrid corn. There are good ones available 

 for each section of the corn belt, and there are others not 

 so good. Then how is the corn grower to know which one 

 to buy.-" 



The most reliable source of information about hybrid 

 com is the Farm Bureau office. The farm adviser is, or 

 should be, posted on the better yielding hybrids for his 

 territory. He can be entirely impartial about his recom- 

 mendations because he has the interests of all the farmers 

 of the county in mind. 



The county adviser has available latest information 

 from the state experiment station on hybrid corn perform- 

 ance tests made under average field conditions. The re- 

 sults for 1938 will be available about the first of the year 

 and these tests should be given greater consideration than 

 the private field tests made by commercial growers. 



L A: A. RECORD 



