HAMPSHIRE COUNTY FARMERS' MONTHLY 



NEWS OF THE FARM BUREAU 



WHICH CLASS ARE YOU IN? 



"The man who is not willing to take 

 ix chance in the Farm Bureau and lose 

 or win as the case may be is not one 

 who will go down in history as a friend 

 to agriculture", said President A. D. 

 Emerson of Hempstead, New Hampshire 

 in his annual address to the members of 

 the Rockingham County, (N. H.) Farm 

 Bureau, on November 1st. Mr. Emerson 

 who is a true, ordinary dirt farmer and 

 proud of it, has the situation sized up 

 very well according to Fred D. Griggs of 

 the Massachusetts Fedeiation who was 

 present at the time of the meeting. Said 

 Mr. Emer-son, "No man today who has 

 no use for the farm bureau is the kind 

 of a man who is forevei' running down 

 the new way and clinging to the old. 

 Such a man we are striving to help, know- 

 ing that if the new way was not the best 

 he would not be continually trying to 

 make us believe that the old way was 

 just as good. 



"Then when we see another farmer 

 continually complaining that farming 

 does not pay, nor is he trying very hard 

 to make it, we have a right to ask if 

 he is one of those who has traded in the 

 old bus for a new sport roadster before 

 paying his grain bill, or signing up as 

 member of the Farm Bureau. Such a 

 man was recently called upon, and when 

 asked to become a member said "I have 

 no money, my farm does not produce 

 anything; my apple trees are all break- 

 ing down; my hens are sick, and I am 

 .selling them oif. I don't know anything 

 about the Farm Bureau, and I don't 

 want to." He had just purchased a new 

 machine for his wife. He was passed by. 

 Such a man in his present state of think- 

 ing is not fit for a Farm Bureau member. 



"The Farm Bureau is not made of such 

 timber, but of men of high moral stand- 

 ards such as will influence our boys and 

 girls in the I'ight way. So we can tell 

 whether we are doing a work that is right 

 or wrong by noting from which source 

 the kicks come. 



"As every cloud has a silver lining, so 

 the work being accomplished by our or- 

 ganization is having its re.sults. The gap 

 is gradually growing wider between the 

 farmer who is adopting improved methods 

 and the one who is still clinging to the 

 old way. 



"The Farm Bureau is the foundation 

 of cooperation. The best definition we 

 have heard was given us at the Con- 

 vention in Albany. "Cooperation is to 

 adjust yourself so the other fellow can 

 woi-k with you." We can do this by first, 

 being willing to cooperate, by having con- 

 fidence in our neighbor, and then show 

 by our works that we are cooperating. 

 It is costing the Farm Bureau too much 



to convince the farmer that he should 

 support his organization. Our old cus- 

 tom of independence must give away, and 

 we must unite to further our interests. 

 "United we stand, divided we fall," is 

 as true today in agriculture as when ut- 

 tered years ago by one of our noted 

 statesmen. 



"It is a deplorable fact that -so many 

 farmers can not realize what their 

 strength would be to the organization, 

 preferring rather to be led hither and 

 yon like the dumb animal. 



"Someone has said that the farmer is 

 so indifferent to printed matter that the 

 Faxm Bureau has to send out men to 

 read to him what has already been mailed. 

 Do you believe this? I don't — or don't 

 want to at least. 



"But have we presented a picture that 

 is too dark and di.scouraging? Don't 

 believe any such thing. There never was 

 a time when the future looked as bright 

 as now." 



Plans for 1924 



Next year the Federation will -resume 

 the printing of a monthly news letter 

 according to a vote of the State Execu- 

 tive Committee at its meeting in Boston 

 on December 3rd. Only in this way can 

 those who pay for the up-keep of the 

 oi-ganization be kept acquainted with the 

 results that are being obtained by their 

 investment. 



The State Committee also plans to 

 provide metal membership signs in 1924 

 to take the place of the card board variety 

 that have been in use for the past three 

 years. 



A feature of the meeting of the State 

 Committee was the presentation by Sec- 

 retary Fred D. Griggs of a county pro- 

 gram of work based on composite activi- 

 ties of the various counties to date plus 

 a proposed extension of these activities. 

 This model program will be presented in 

 detail at the annual meeting of the State 

 Federation next month and will then be 

 passed along to the counties in the hope 

 that it will be adopted unanimously. 



PRESIDENT BRADFUTE 

 TO SPEAK IN 



MASSACHUSETTS 



Plan to be at Worcester, January 15 



Oscar E. Bradfute of Ohio, President 

 of the American Farm Bureau Federa- 

 tion will be guest of honor and principal 

 speaker at the annual meeting of the 

 Massachusetts Farm Bureau Fderation, 

 scheduled for Tuesday, January 1.5th, at 

 Mechanics Hall, Worcester. With this 

 Farm Bureau program the annual Union 

 Agricultural meeting will be opened. 



An urgent invitation is being extended 

 to all farm bureau members in the State 

 to be in Worcester on .lanuary 1.5th. All 

 farmers and others interested in agricul- 

 ture will also be welcomed. It will be a 

 day of inventory of past accomplishments 

 and making plans for the coming yeai-. 



Worcester County Farm Bureau will 

 take this opportunity to hold its annual 

 meeting at 9.30 in the morning. Reports 

 of officers and committees and the an- 

 nual election of officers will be out of the 

 way in time for President Howard S. 

 Russell to call the State organization to- 

 gether at 10.45. 



President Bradfute is scheduled to 

 speak at 1.30 on "What the National 

 Organization is Doing". His address is 

 sure to be chucked full of interesting 

 things because forty-four definite ac- 

 complishments have already been chalked 

 up by the American Farm Bureau Fed- 

 eration since January 1st. Following 

 Mr. Bradfute, President Russell will de- 

 liver his annual address. 



Then will come election of officers and 

 general discussion of the 1924 State pro- 

 gram. The days session will be concluded 

 with Farm Bureau motion pictures. 



MASSACHUSETTS SENDS 

 DELEGATES TO 



NATIONAL MEETING 



Howard S. Russell of Wayland, Presi- 

 dent of the Massachusetts Farm Bureau 

 Federation, and Leon A. Wetherbee of 

 Stow, President of the Middlesex County 

 Farm Bureau are the Mas.sachusetts rep- 

 resentatives at the annual meeting of the 

 American Farm Bureau Federation at 

 Chicago, December 10th, 11th and 12th. 

 These same two farm bureau leaders will 

 represent this state at the Cooperative 

 Marketing conference which precedes the 

 big convention. 



Legislation, marketing, transportation, 

 taxation, community development and 

 program building are the outstanding 

 topics at this Chicago gathering. 



Outstanding upon the first day's pro- 

 gram is an address by Herbert Hoover, 

 Secretary of Commerce, on the subject 

 of Commerce and its Relation to Agricul- 

 ture. On this first day. Gray Silver, 

 Washington representative of the farm 

 bureau leads a discussion on agricultural 

 legislation. Benjamin H. Hibbard, Pro- 

 fessor of Agricultural Economics, Wis- 

 consin talks on basic agricultural eco- 

 nomics. 



On the second day of the conference, 

 Mrs. H. W. Lawrence of the Home and 

 Community Committee of the A. F. B. F., 

 leads the discussion on her subject. 

 Aaron Sapiro, cooperative marketing 

 I'nTUinued on prige I.'!, column 1 



