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Illlnolfl hfltcherv operti tions at high level . Mr. A. J. Surratt, agricultural 

 statistician, reports that July commercial hatchery output In Illinois was nearly 

 double that of last year and 5 l/2 times larger than the previous July record hatch 

 in 19^3. Output was 11 million chicks* Illinois leads all states with the total of 

 about 120 million chicks hatched during the first seven months of this year. This 

 compares with 93 million hatched last year. The demand for chicks for meat production 

 is keeping some hatcheries booked up for the rest of the year. Operatione are re- 

 stricted in some areas by a limited supply of eggs and a tight supply of poultry feeds. 

 For the United States July output of chicks by cooanerclal hatcheries was also the 

 largest for that month: about three times as large as the output in July of last year 

 and 22 percent above the previous July record hatch in 19^3. The demand for chicks 

 for meat production has been greater this year than the demand for chicks for egg pro- 

 duction. The number of pullets on farms August 1 not of laying ago was only sevon per- 

 cent larger than a year ago. The demand for poultry for meat exceeded the supply. 



Food for Asia . According to the U, S. Department of Agriculture, Juet prior 

 to the surrender of Japan, UNBRA revealed its heretofore unpublished plans calling for 

 the shipment of seme 800,000 tons of supplies to China. These supplies are part of a 

 larger program which UNERA has been preparing for months against the day when the de- 

 feat of Japan would once again open ports and permit supplies to be sent into China 

 aid tha Far East. The first steps in this all-out program call for: 



1. The taking over of all available military stocks now in the Pacific 

 theater . 



2. The immediate dispatch of UNRRA experts already in China and the South- 

 west Pacific to Thailand, Burma and other food -exporting countries to obtain food- 

 stuffs for famine -threatened areas. 



3. The assignment of at least 3OO trained UNBRA relief technicians to the 

 Far East, principally China, as soon as transport is available. 



k. The earmarking not only of foodstuffs and medical supplies, but of essen- 

 tial Industrial and agricultural rehabilitation supplies as well, to be sent as soon 

 as ships are made available. 



Labor suppJy stabalized . For the first time since February 19^^, farm em- 

 ployment on the first of the current month did not show a decrease from the same date 

 a year earlier. The Increase in the number of family workers was more than sufficient 

 to offset a decrease in the number of hired workers. With the end of the war in Asia 

 making possible the release of substantial numbers of war workers and members of the 

 armed forces, it is posslb3-e that the declining trend in numbers of workers employed 

 on farms may soon be halted. The number employed on farms August 1 was about eight 

 percent below the prewar (1935-59) average. 



July farm income up . Total cash receipts in July were estimated to be about 

 20 percent above June and about 10 percent above July 19^U. The total Income for the 

 period January through July was slightly above I9UU. Cash receipts from farm market- 

 ings in August may exceed cash income in August 19^^ by as much as 15 percent, and 

 receipts in September may be slightly more than in September last year. 



Farm real estate taxes . For the U. S. average farm real estate taxes per 

 acre were about three percent higher in 19^^ than in 19^3. This is the first increase 

 since the outbreak of the war. In 19'*-^ they stood at I8U percent of the 1909-13 aver- 

 age. Taxes per one hundred dollars of value declined steadily since 1939 as land 



