

«* finger 

 The 



ILLINOIS AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIATION RECORD 



To advance the purpose for which the Farm Bureau was organized 

 namely, to promote, protect and represent the business, economic, social 

 and educational interests of the farmers of Illinois and the nation, and 

 to develop agriculture. 



MAY 

 VOL 17 



1939 

 NO. 5 



Published monthly by the Illinois ABricuItural Asso- 

 ciation at 1501 West Washington Road, Mendota, 111. 

 Editorial Offices, 608 So. Dearborn St., Chicago, 111. 

 Entered as second class matter at post office, Mendota, 

 Illinois. September 11, 1936. Acceptance for mailing 

 at special rate of postage provided in Section 412. Act of 

 Feb. 28, 1925, authorized Oct. 27, 1935. Address all 

 communications for publication to Editorial Offices, Illinois 

 Agricultural Association RECORD, 608 So. Dearborn St., 

 Chicago. The individual membership fee of the Illinois 

 Agricultural Association is five dollars a year. The fee 

 includes payment of fifty cents for subscription to the 

 Illinois Agricultural Association RECORD. Postmaster: 

 Send notices on Form 3578 and undeliverable copies 

 returned under Form 3579 to editorial offices, 608 S. 

 Dearborn St.. Chicago. 111. 



Editor and Advertising Director, E. G. Thiem ; Assistant 

 Director and Ass't. Editor. Lawrence A. Potter. 



Illinois Agricultural Association 



Greatest State Farm Organization in America 



OFFICERS 



President, Earl C. Smith _ „ .Detroit 



Vice-President, Talmage DeFrees Smithboro 



Corporate Secretary, Paul E. Mathias Chicago 



Field Secretary, Geo. E. Metzger. Chicago 



Treasurer, R. A. CowLES Bloomington 



Ass't Treasurer, A. R. Wright. Vama 



BOARD OF DIRECTORS 



(By Congressional District) 



1st to 11th Arthur States, Elwood 



12th _ E. E. Houghtby, Shabbona 



13th Leo M. Knox, Morrison 



I4th Otto Steffey, Stronghurst 



15th „ M. Ray Ihrig, Golden 



16th Albert Hayes, Chillicothe 



17th C. M. Smith, Eureka 



18th „ W. A. Dennis, Paris 



19th _ Eugene Curtis, Champaign 



20th _ K. T. Smith, Greenfield 



21st Dwight Hart, Sharpsburg 



22nd _ A. O. Eckert, Belleville 



23rd _ Chester McCord, Newton 



24th Charles Marshall, Belknap 



25th .August G. Eggerding, Red Bud 



DEPARTMENT DIRECTORS 



Comptroller _ R. G. Ely 



Dairy Marketing Wilfred Shaw 



Field Service _ Cap Mast 



Finance R. A. Cowles 



Fruit and Vegetable Marketing _...H. W. Day 



Grain Marketing Harrison Fahmkopf 



Legal and General Counsel Donald Kirkpatridc 



Live Stock Marketing. Sam F. Russell 



Office C. E. Johnston 



Organization G. E. Metzger 



Produce Marketing. F. A. Gougler 



Publicity George Thiem 



Safety. „ C. M. Seagraves 



Soil Improvement John R. Spencer 



Taxation and Statistics J. C Watson 



Transportation-Claims Division G. W. Baxter 



Young Peoples Activities Frank Gingrich 



ASSOCIATED ORGANIZATIONS 



Coimtry Life Insurance Co Dave Mieher, Sales 



Manager; Howard Reeder, Home Office Mgr. 

 Farmers' Mutual Reinsurance Co...J. H. Kelker, Mgr. 



Illinois Agr. Auditing Ass'n C. E. Strand, Mgr. 



Illinois Agr. Mutual Ins. Co...A. E. Richardson, Mgr. 



Illinois Agr. Service Co Donald Kirkpatrick, Secy. 



III. Farm Bureau Serum Ass'n S. F. Russell, Secy. 



Illinois Farm Supply Co L. R. Marchant, Mgr. . 



Illinois Fruit Growers' Exchange.. ..H. W. Day, Mgr. 



III. Grain Corporation Frank Haines, Mgr. 



III. Livestock Marketing Ass'n Sam Russell, Mgr. 



Illinois Milk Producers' Ajs'n Wilfred Shaw, Mgr. 



Illinois Producers' Creameries....F. A. Gougler, Mgr. 

 . ,<.. - . J. B. Countiss Sales Mgr, 



GEORGE THIEM, Editor 



DUTCH SHIP BEING LOADED 

 with soybean oilmeal in Chicago Riy- 

 er for dairy cows in Th« Netherlands. 



/ 



T has always been a mystery 

 to us why SO many manu- 

 _ facturers and tradesmen cap- 

 able of building and operating sub- 

 stantial business enterprises are of- 

 ten so uninformed on fundamental 

 economic problems. Why, for in- 

 stance, have not all business men 

 (many have) been wholeheartedly 

 for, yes insistent upon, an agricul- 

 tural program to maintain farm 

 prices in balance with the prices of 

 manufactured goods. Not for the 

 benefit of the farmer but purely in 

 the interests of trade which spell 

 business profits. For surely every 

 business man has learned by now 

 that his prosperity is directly or in- 

 directly dependent on farm buying 

 power ana a brisk exchange of 

 goods and services between city and 

 country. 



Having knowledge of the seem- 

 ing stupidity of so many otherwise 

 intelligent business leaders, it was 

 with some amazement that we read 

 the memorandum recently adopted 

 by the Birmingham (England) 

 Chamber of Commerce entitled, 

 "Our Customers: Their Prosperity 

 and Purchasing Power As They Af- 

 fect Our Trade." 



Tn this most unusual statement 

 you find such things as this: "In 

 four years (1928-1932) the income 

 of five groups of primary (agricul- 

 tural) producers fell by over.1,000,- 

 000,000 pounds (nearly $5,000,- 

 000,000) due to the fall in prices 

 of their produce. While this fall 

 in primary prices, was taking place 



prices of manufactured goods re- 

 mained comparatively stable. These 

 primary articles are exchanged in 

 large part for manufactured goods. 

 The fall in primary prices was 50% 

 and over. It is not surprising there- 

 fore that the demand for our manu- 

 factured goods fell heavily and our 

 exports diminished from 730,000,- 

 000 pounds to 365,000,000 

 pounds." 



"Today there is no assurance of 

 any balance in exchange values of 

 primary for secondary or manufac- 

 tured goods, for the reason that 

 prices of the latter remain fairly 

 constant due to the automatic con- 

 trol of supply to demand whereas 

 prices of the former fluctuate vio- 

 lently due to the absence of con- 

 trol of supply. Manufacturers de- 

 liberately cut down production as 

 demand falls ofiF and thereby main- 

 tain a command on selling prices. 

 Agriculturists, on the other hand, 

 do not control supply either in- 

 dividually or collectively. They 

 have no assurance, before they start 

 production, of the price they will 

 receive on delivery. ... A period 

 of low prices seems to be accepted 

 by producers as a sort of act of 

 God and no attempt at protecting 

 themselves is made. 



"Is there any reason why the ag- 

 riculturist should not be on an 

 equality with the manufacturer in 

 the matter of maintaining a com- 

 mand on the selling price of his 

 products? No one complains of the 

 manufacturer protecting himself 

 but many people object to any re- 

 striction in agricultural production 

 on the ground that we have no 

 right to curtail the bounties of na- 

 ture so long as there are people in 

 the world who need more food. 

 These people ignore two facts, 

 first, that nature, unassisted, does 

 not produce bounteous harvests. She 

 enables man, by his industry to pro- 

 duce bounteous .harvests. Quite a 

 different thing. Secondly, uncon- 

 trolled production increases the 

 .number of people in want instead 

 (Continued on page 6) 



MAY, 1939 



