^(t^e Sixteen 



THE I. A. A. RECORD 



March, 1931 



Idarch, 



42 Commission Companies 

 Suspended at E. St. Louis 



Forty-two commission companies, 

 lo;:atcd at St. Louis National Stock 

 Yards, III., were "suspL'nded from reg- 

 istration" February 2 5 by order of C. 

 I . Marvin, acting Secretary of Agri- 

 culture, as a result of evidence show- 

 ing violation of the packers and stock- 

 ynrds act which the U. S. Dep.irtrnenl 

 of Agriculture administers. 



A hearing resulted in testimony thai 

 ih'j commission companies, in question, 

 refused to sell or buy live stock or have 

 ,"ny business relations with two other 

 market organizations. The ru'.ocnsion 

 b.'-omes effective March 16 .ind con- 

 tinues for a period of 90 days, except 

 that the Secretary' of Agriculture may 

 modify or set aside the provisions of 

 ihe order ii the suspended firms cease 

 ihe discriminatory practices. 



The decision of the acting secretary, 

 based on voluminous testimony, stated 

 in part, "The evidence in " this case 

 clearly discloses a general widespread 

 .n tempt to deny the advantages of an 

 open competitive market to an agent 

 lor the farmer or • shipper and to an 

 order buying company as agent for 

 various members of the packing indus- 

 try. This is a grave injustice to their 

 principals. The record discloses 



nothing to excuse the conduct and ac- 

 tions of the respondents toward the 

 National Order Buying Company and 

 the Producers Live Stock Commission 

 Association, legally registered and with 

 the legal right to operate at the slock 

 }ards. The establishment of an open 

 competitive market is one of the prime 

 essentials which the packers and stock 

 \ards act of 1921 was designed to ac- 

 complish and perpetuate." 



In the course of the hearing, during 

 which more than 2,800 pages of testi- 

 mony were taken, the evidence dealt 

 with the various ramifications of live 

 stock marketing including the provi- 

 sions of the agricultural marketing act 

 which is administered by the Federal 

 Farm Board. Referring to objections on 

 the part of the old-line commission 

 firms to Farm Board policies, the deci- 

 sion stated, "However much objection 

 the respondents or any of them may 

 have to the agricultural marketing act 

 or the policies of the Federal Farm 

 Board, the same cannot constitute any 

 excuse or justification to a boycott or 

 unjust discrimination or unfair practice 

 under the packers and stock yards act." 



Soybean Ass'n. Officers 



The following officers were recentlv 

 elected by the new board of directors 

 of the Soybean Marketing Association: 

 John W. Armstrong, president; Owight 

 Hart, vice-president; W. G. McCor- 

 mick, secretary; R. A. (Bowles, treas- 

 urer; j. fL Llo\d, assistant secretary. 



The Board named the following 

 members as its F^xecutive C^ommittee: 

 John W. Armstrong, Dwight Liart, 

 W. G. McCormick, Samuel Sorrells, 

 \V. J. Sanduskv. 



Chicago Producers 



Do Big Business 



During 1930 the Chicago Producers 

 handled about <, 3 0,000, 000 worth of 

 live stock, 60 per cent oi which c.ime 

 from Illinois farmers. 



The National Li\e Stock Marketing 

 Association last year handled approxi- 

 mately si 75,000,000 worth of live- 

 stock. 



Dixon-Kewanee High 



Line Case Is Settled 



Rates of compensation to farmers for 

 la-nd traversed b\' the Dixon-Kewanee 

 high line of the Super Power Com- 

 pany were agreed upon at a confer- 

 ence between officials of the Illinois 

 Agricultural Association, the utility 

 company, and the 1 arm Bureau land 

 owners committee, held in the 1. A. A. 

 oriices on March 6. 



Twenty-five farms in Lee uui Vv'hite- 

 side counties were affected by the 

 settlement. This case has been in con- 

 troversy more than .i year. Both the 

 interests of the utilities and the lan.l 

 (»wners were served by settling out of 

 court. 



Vermilion Service Co. 



Six thousand dollars have been sub- 

 scribed by Vermilion (bounty Farm 

 Bureau members for a co-op^-rative oil 

 company. The new organization will 

 be known as the Vermilion County 

 Service Company. When S20,000 is 

 raised, the company will buy equip- 

 ment and start operating. 



Crawford-Jasper Shipping Associi- 

 tion (Joe Brown, manager) held its 

 annual meeting at Oblong February 26. 

 Manager Scott Meiks of Indianapolis 

 Mid Ray Miller of the I. A. A. were 

 the speakers. 



B. F. Beach of Michigan 



Speaker Peoria Meeting 



FLUID milk producers can, if they 

 work together within any market- 

 ing area, exercise more control over 

 their marketing than almost any other 

 group of farmers, B. F. Beach, mana- 

 ger of the Michigan Milk Producers 

 Association, told members of the Illi- 

 nois Milk Producers at their recent an- 

 nual meeting in Peoria. 



Mr. Beach stated that the iepressed 

 automobile industry in southeastern 

 Michigan resulted in a decline of 2 5 

 per cent in local milk consumption in 

 and about I^etroit. At Flint the mar- 

 ket sufFered a 5 per cent decrease in 

 milk consumption. 



I le believes that the base and sur- 

 plus plan of milk price* is the best yet 

 devised for controlled production and 

 seasonal surpluses. The edvi.:ationaI 

 value t)l the plan is important because 

 e\er\ member knows that his average 

 price per 100 pounds declines when he 

 increases protluclion where there al- 

 read\ is a surplus, he said. 



Beach expressed the view tiiat lack 

 of consumer buying power is the 4")rin- 

 cipal reason for low farm' prices. The 

 Michigan Milk Producers has been op- 

 erating about 15 }'ears. The '■ speaker 

 stated that the Association has over- 

 come a condition in which farmers 

 1ormerl\- underbid each other in the 

 market and reaped lower prices. 

 'Through organized effort they are 

 now working together using their bar- 

 gaining power to obtain a fair price,'' 

 he said. 



The Mid-West Grain Corporation 

 handled 135 carloads of grain, or 

 more than 200,000 bu. in the week 

 ending Feb. 28. 



Uncle Ab says there is one hard- 

 working committee from which 

 every mernber should resign — and 

 that's the Rumor Committee. 



^110,000,000 Loaned 



On Farm Crops 



The 12 federal intermediate credit 

 banks during 1930 loaned approximate- 

 ly SI 10,000,000 to farm commodity 

 marketing associations. The law speci- 

 fies that not more than 7 5 per cent of 

 the valu- of the products in storage 

 can be loaned. 



Th^' intermediate credit banks arc 

 further protected by the privilege of 

 calling for a reduction of their loans 

 should the market price reach the level 

 w^here the loan exceeds 75 per cent of 

 the valu;; of the crop in storage. 



Edgar county, Illinois, led all others 

 in consignments to the Producers dur- 

 ing February. A total of 24 cars re- 

 ceived represented an increase of eight 

 cars over February a year ago. 



Vermilion county was the next larg- 

 est consignor with a total of 20 cars, 

 representing an increase of 1 5 cars over^ 

 February, 1930. Other counties show- 

 ing increases were Effingham and Iro- 

 quois. . 



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