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fanners Wofl This Battle 



The Story of Illinois Second Hldest Cooperative Elevator 



By Larry Potter 



^ \\ j«HEN somebody starts push- 

 ^^J 1/ ing you around the natural 

 ff J thing to do is push back. 

 The same is true of groups, be they 

 nations, {X)litical parties, unions, com- 

 mercial organizations, football teams 

 or threshing crews. Battles started this 

 way often wind up the pusher wishing 

 he had not pushed. 



It was only natural, then, for farm- 

 ers around Varna, Marshall county, to 

 develop facilities for handling grain 

 nearly 50 years ago when grain dealers 

 persisted in taking fat margins. 



In their first move toward retalia- 

 tion, farmers tried to load cars with 

 scoop shovels. This plan was nipped 

 prematurely by the railroads whose pol- 

 icy it was to protect regular shippers. 

 Farmers were refused cars. 



The Farmers Cooperative Associa- 

 tion of Varna, organized late in 1893, 

 started buying grain the next year and 

 storing it in their new 9000-bushel ele- 

 vator. Opposition to the farmers eleva- 

 tor was keen. The day the co-op opened, 

 Varna was the best grain market for 

 miles around. Dealers there were ap- 

 plying the squeeze. They hiked their 

 price there, dropp>ed it at other stations 

 to take up the loss. 



Opposition was strongly fortified. 

 The state grain dealers organization 

 dictated to railroads and threatened 

 commission firms with boycott if they 

 handled farmer elevator grain. 



In many ways it appeared that farm- 

 ers were banging their heads against 

 a stone wall of opposition. They had 

 to shave costs and margins to comp>ete 

 with other local buyers. They had to 

 fight for cars and when their grain 

 reached the terminal, no one wanted 

 anything to do with it. 



But the wall crumbled. Loyalty to 

 the cause of better markets was the 

 driving force that smashed it. There 

 were a few enterprising grain commis- 

 sion men who realized what a tre- 

 mendous force loyalty is and special- 

 ized in handling farmer elevator grain. 

 But for the spread of the farmer ele- 

 vator movement these men would have 

 lost everything in the grain dealers' 

 boycott that followed. 



The railroads, too, changed their at- 

 titude. Farmer elevators were spring- 

 ing up all over the corn belt following 

 the example set at Varna. The volume 

 of grain was in the hands of farmers 



and the railroads wanted it without 

 trouble. 



The men who bore the brunt of 

 early battles were William Koch, John 

 W. Whitzal, Jacob Lenz and C. F. 

 Wright who were among the founders. 

 Every man who patronized the co-op 

 in the beginning, too, deserves a vote 

 of thanks. 



The business of marketing grain is 

 ever-changing. New problems rest on 

 the shoulders of Directors W. A. 

 Schwanke, president ; William M. 

 Koch, vice-president; Carl O. John- 

 son, secretary-treasurer; Fred Arndt, 



Snxm PLANT 

 Grain marketing is the major job of the 

 association. Coal and field seeds are the 

 only sidelines. 



Ernest Lenz, Theodore Qui ram and 

 R. H. Petrich who were elected for 

 the job by the 170 loyal members. 



The Varna co-op bought a branch 

 house at Custer in 1908. When the 

 railroad that served it stopped operat- 

 ing in the ■20's, the Custer plant was 

 razed and the co-op bought the ele- 

 vator adjacent to its Varna plant. In 

 1930, the original house was sold. In 

 1935, the newer elevator burned. Work 

 on the present 17,000-bushel plant 

 started at once and before the ruins of 

 the old one had stopped smouldering, 

 business was resumed. The new build- 

 ing cost |1 1,500 and was largely paid 

 for out of insurance funds. 



There were some changes in the fi- 



MANAGER STROMGREN 

 "We couldn't handle grain aa last as it 

 comes in these days without modem 

 equipment There is no time ior sherel- 

 ing." 



nancial set-up, too. In 1930, the asso- 

 ciation was reorganized under the co- 

 operative act. There are 36 shares of 

 preferred stock and 1000 shares of 

 common. Patrons buy common stock 

 at $10 per share under a plan of di- 

 verting patronage dividends towards 

 the purchase. Plans have been made 

 to retire the preferred stock from net 

 income as rapidly as possible. 



Mauritz Stromgren has been man- 

 ager at Varna for ten years. His serv- 

 ice with the co-op dates back nearly 

 20 years when he ran the Custer plant. 

 From his experience he makes these 

 observations : 



"Wider use of modern farm ma- 

 chinery makes grain come in bunches," 

 Mauritz says. "We couldn't handle 

 the grain that comes in at threshing 

 time except for improved dumps and 

 elevating equipment. 



"We rarely weigh horse-drawn ve- 

 hicles anymore. When farmers de- 

 pended on horses to haul their grain 

 they brought it in spurts when they 

 couldn't do field work. Much of the 

 grain we handled used to come in 

 after corn planting and oats harvest. 

 Soybeans have pretty much replaced 

 oats around here but they haven't cut 

 down the total bushels handled. 



"Hybrid corn has pushed the corn 

 marketing season ahead by several 

 weeks and has improved the average 

 grade of corn we handle. Farmers 

 take pride in growing good grain just 

 as they do in producing fine livestock." 



The Farmers Coop>erative Association 

 of Varna is the second oldest farmers 

 elevator now operating in Illinois. As 

 old as it is, young blood flows in its 

 veins and farmers and citizens about 

 Varna are as proud of it as they are 

 of the fine quality grain produced in 

 this part of Marshall county. 



DECEMBER, 1939 



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