AMERICAN FARM BUREAU FEDERATION 279 



a monopoly. Clifford Thome, the general counsel of the Farmers' National 

 Grain Dealers Association, questioned the legality of the compulsory pool 

 and expressed the belief that the courts could easily consider this a case 

 of restraint of trade. It was also feared that the farmers would not be 

 inclined to compulsory pooling. The issue was settled by a vote of 61 to 38 

 against the compulsory pool, which was in line with the views of the 

 more conservative members of the Committee of Seventeen. 57 



Once the grain-marketing conference of July 23 and 24 was provided 

 for, plans were also made for a similar meeting of livestock producers. 

 The latter met in Chicago on October 8, 1920, after a call had been sent 

 out by President Howard to the Farmers' Union, the Equity, the Grange, 

 the state farm bureaus, independent livestock-shipping associations, and 

 other interested groups. As a result of this conference, Howard was au- 

 thorized to appoint a Committee of Fifteen to consider all phases of 

 cooperative livestock marketing. On January 3, 1921, the personnel of the 

 Livestock Marketing Committee of Fifteen was announced. 



This committee had on it several members of general farm organiza- 

 tions, but the majority of them were either chiefly interested in livestock 

 production or in animal-husbandry work in agricultural colleges. The 

 committee met in Chicago on February 23, 1921, and elected C. H. 

 Gustafson of Omaha as its chairman and H. W. Mumford of the Uni- 

 versity of Illinois as its secretary-treasurer. The object of the committee, 

 according to Gustafson, was to "get the livestock business back on a 

 sound basis and keep it there." Emphasis was to be placed on better prices 

 and "orderly marketing." 



The committee labored for six months and announced its tentative 

 plan in mid-August. Later the plan was presented to the ratification con- 

 ference held in Chicago on November 10 and u. Fifty-three delegates 

 from fifteen states assembled at this meeting, most of them from the Farm 

 Bureau, with a considerable representation of delegates from shippers' 

 and feeders' organizations. 



As in other Farm Bureau meetings, sectional grievances came to the 

 surface, and again the views of the representatives of the western Middle 



57. American Co-operative Journal (Chicago), XVI (April, 1921), p. 4; ibid., 

 (June, 1921), p. 4; North Dakota Leader (Fargo), May 21, 1921; Filley, Cooperation 

 in Agriculture, p. 156. 



