The 24tli Annual Convention 



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yjy T TAKFS more than a rip roaring 



C/l blizzard to stop an lAA annual 

 y_^ convention. 



A bii^ snow driven by a whistling 

 wind hit Chitaco at 1 : i5 A.M. Monday 

 Jan, SO, and while it did a pretty good 

 job ot keeping a lot of folks home, espe- 

 cially those who planned to drive, you 

 would scarcely have known it around the 

 convention haHs in the Steven Hotel, Ac- 

 tually 233H persons registered. Another 

 600 or 700, according to conser\ative 

 estimates, didn't bother to write their 

 names on a card. The attendance of ap- 

 proximately 3.000 easily would have been 

 swelled by another 2.000. many believe, 

 had all highways leading to Chicago not 

 been blocked by drifts varying from two 

 to five feet or more in depth. 



The fact that a substantial number of 

 delegates and visitors arrived in Chicago 

 from distant points before the storm with 

 its 1 5 inch snow came out of Lake Mich- 

 igan, was fortunate. The Stevens great 

 ballroom was filled to over-flowing at the 

 banc]uet Tuesday night and at the other 

 main sessions, despite the weather. Of 

 3 1 1 voting delegates certified, 299 were 

 present including 90 out of 97 County 

 Farm Bureau presidents. Every organ- 

 ized county in the state was represented 

 on the board of delegates. Had the 

 weather been mild, even the mammoth 

 Stevens, the biggest liotel in the world, 

 might have been inadequate to handle 

 the main sessions comfortably, Tlie 

 novelty of having plenty of hotel room 

 with eating accommodations and assemb- 

 ly rooms for all the- conferences and af 

 filiated annual meetings under one roof 

 pleased everyone, 



"Boy, this is a swell place to have a 

 meeting. " said one farm adviser, "Why 

 don't we always come here." "Its no 

 use trying to have an lAA meeting any- 

 where else but Chicago, unless -it would 

 be St. Louis." said another. 



Because Chicago is a railroad center, 

 the majority came by train. Any down- 

 state city would have been more serious- 

 ly handicapped with like weather. On 

 Xfonday, trains were nearly all from one 

 to four or five hours late but they did 

 arrive. Frozen switches slowed traffic. 

 Suburban lines and street cars were 

 blocketl and taxi service was non-existent. 

 The blizzard was a freak in some re- 

 spects. Prattically no snow fell in north- 

 western Illinois, yet only 75 to 90 miles 

 south in the vicinity of Peoria, snow 

 drifts reached record heights. Many who 

 started driving abandoned their cars and 

 waited for trains. Cass county delegates 



SENATOR SCOTT LUCAS 

 "All the American farmer wants is a 

 sufficient price to enable him to make a 

 decent living." 



rode the caboose on the back end of a 

 freight train to Springfield where they 

 caught the flyer for Chicago. One Wood- 

 ford county delegate reported walking 

 through deep snow drifts for 21,2 miles 

 before he met the snow plow. The rest 

 of the 12 mile trek to town was covered 

 by sled. Only 13 out of an estimated 75 

 from the county who planned to attend 

 the convention made the trip and most 

 of these were members living close to 

 town. Harold Enns. president of Illi- 

 nois Producers Oeameries, McLean coun- 

 ty, telephoned that he couldn't get out 

 of his barn lot. On Monday it rained 

 south of Danville, delegates reported, but 

 there was no snow. 



The meeting otherwise went off ac- 

 cording to schedule with all speakers ar- 

 riving on time. If there was any new 

 note struck in the convention it was the 

 challenge to industry and labor, in the 

 annual address of President Earl Smith, 

 to go back to work and match the farm- 

 ers' abundant production and low prices 

 thereby removing the disparity between 

 agricultural and industrial prices. Last 

 year, he pointed out. while agriculture 

 was producing more than ever before in 

 the history of the country, industrial 

 production was reduced 35 per cent be- 

 low 1929. factory payrolls had droppeil 

 30 per cent although the per unit hourly 

 w.ige was maintained and in many cases 

 increased. 



Because the labor vote bulks large in 

 practically every county and state you can 

 scarcely find a man in political life, from 

 a county official on up to the president 

 of the United States who has the cour- 

 age to tell organized labor leaders that 



they are at least partially, if not largely 

 to blame, for widespread unemployment 

 and general business stagnation. The 

 slowness of trade reflects nothing more 

 nor less than relatively low prices on the 

 farm and too high prices for city goods 

 and services. If farmers took the same 

 tack as the cities and cut their production 

 from 30 to 50 per cent the depression 

 would be felt much more acutely. Some- 

 thing like that may yet have to be done 

 to bring certain (not all) industrial and 

 labor groups to their senses and show 

 them the folly of holding up wage rates 

 and prices to unreasonable levels. The 

 only way to raise the standard of living 

 is for everyone to go to work producing 

 more at lower prices. Excerpts from Mr. 

 Smith's address will be found on page 7. 



Senator Scott Lucas efl^ectively de- 

 fended the AAA as "the best bill for 

 agriculture ever placed on the statute 

 books." panned the president of the LI 

 S. Chamber of Commerce, Geo. H. 

 Davis, for putting out misleading in- 

 formation to the effect that the recent 

 farmer-business man's conference was op- 

 posed to the Ay\A, against acreage ad- 

 justment, but favored subsidies to farm- 

 ers with no checks on soil depletion. 



Lucas, a Democrat, pleaded for a non- 

 political approach to the farm problem, 

 stated that Republicans had initiated 

 the idea of surplus control legislation and 

 had ccx)perated in enacting the present 

 act. He challenged AAA opponents to 

 bring out a better plan than the present 

 one, urged all farmers to give the present 

 program which has given cooperators a 

 57c corn loan plus adjustment payments, 

 a fair trial in 1939. Explaining his re- 

 cent vote against an increased WPA 

 appropriation, which farmers and think- 

 ing citizens generally applaud. Senator 

 Lucas said that after studying all angles 

 of relief, he cast his vote 'for what he 

 considered was the best interests of the 

 people of Illinois and America. 



Administrator R. M. "Spike " Evans of 

 the AAA read a good paper dealing with 

 principles of the Act. but what farmers 

 wanted more information about con- 

 cerned details of corn and wheat allot- 

 ment programs and the reasons for 

 methods of figuring crop allotments. 

 The lively and interesting discussion on 

 AAA after lunch on Wednesday with 

 Evans, Claude Wickard, and State Soil 

 Conservation Chairman Lee NL Gentry- 

 on the platform, aided at times by Presi- 

 dent Smith, points to the need for more 

 free and open discussion and less time 

 devoted to set speeches. 



Farmers generally believe in equity 

 between farms in making corn, wheat 



iConliiiutJ on p.if:e 6) . 



L A. A. RECORD 



