Page Ten 



THE I. A. A. RECORD 



August, 1931 



Is-Farm Organization Worth the Cost? 



A Radio Address By George Thiem, Station WMAQ, Chicago, July 28, 



FOR more than 10 years now Illinois 

 farmers have had an opportunity to 

 judge the results of their organized 

 efforts in the County Farm Bureau and 

 lUinois Agricultural Association. Is or- 

 ganization worth the cost? Do the re- 

 turns justify the $15 a year the member 

 invests in his Farm Bureau, county, 

 state, and national? 



Organized middlemen who just now 

 are engaged in collecting $25 per year 

 contributions for four years to fight 

 co-operative marketing, would like to 

 answer this question for the farmer. 

 They are specifically advising him to 

 abandon his organized efforts, drop his 

 farm organizations, confine his activi- 

 ties to making two blades of grass grow 

 where one grew before. That seems to 

 be the end and aim of all their advice. 

 Will the farmer follow it? I believe 

 not, judging from the history of organi- 

 zation and its accomplishments in Illi- 

 nois during the last decade. 



How Maintained 



That Illinois farmers have clung to 

 their state agricultural association more 

 than 60,000 strong through the worst 

 and longest depression in the history of 

 American agriculture is well known to 

 informed people. Mind you the organi- 

 zation has been maintained not by high- 

 powered salesmen, not by artisans skilled 

 in extracting contributions for doubt- 

 ful ventures, but by the members them- 

 selves who every three years voluntarily 

 go out and ask their neighbors to stand 

 together in a worthy cause. What has 

 influenced the decision of such a large 

 number to stick to their organization 

 year after year? There must be a rea- 

 son. Let us see. 



The County Farm Bureau in Illinois 

 was organized back in 1912 chiefly to 

 help farmers with their production prob- 

 lems. The opening of the World War 

 gave the movement a powerful stimu- 

 lus. "Food will win the war" became 

 our national battle cry. Food prices 

 rose rapidly. The Farm Bureau bent its 

 efforts toward stimulating production, 

 making two blades grow where one grew 

 before. Europe was out of production. 

 Farmers there laid down their imple- 

 ments of production and went to the 

 battle front. Besides her own people, 

 American farmers were called upon to 

 feed the warring nations. 



The I. A. A. Organized 



The great conflict destroyed the eco- 

 nomic balance of the world. Post-war 

 deflation set in. Agriculture felt the 

 effects of the drastic readjustment more 

 than any other major industry. Euro- 



pean nations were deeply in debt, had 

 little buying power left. Our food ex- 

 ports rapidly declined. Farm production 

 in Europe and other countries arose. The 

 American farmer became troubled with 

 surpluses. The protective tariff on farm 

 products didn't help any under such 

 conditions. It was natural for Illinois 

 farmers, therefore, to turn to organi- 

 zation to solve the problems arising be- 

 yond their line fences. The Illinois Agri- 

 cultural Association was the result. 



One of the first problems that drew 

 farmers' attention was taxation. Farm 

 land valuations had started their long 

 decline following the war. With lower 

 prices for grain and other crops in 

 1921-22 taxes became exceedingly bur- 

 densome. The lower values were not 

 being fully reflected in assessed valua- 

 tions. The I. A. A. requested a hearing 

 before the Illinois Tax Commission. It 

 was granted. For the first time in his- 

 tory Illinois farmers were represented 

 before such a body along with the rail- 

 roads, manufacturers, public utilities, 

 and other groups. 



Facts were presented to the State Tax 

 Commission showing that assessed valu- 

 ations were still far too high. The 

 upshot of the hearing was that land 

 valuations from 1921-22 were reduced 

 a total of $181,000,000. As a result 

 Illinois farmers paid $1,072,050 less 

 taxes in 1923 than they would have 

 paid had valuations not been adjusted. 

 Since then repeated cuts have been ob- 

 tained both for state and county tax 

 purposes. 



$22.79 Per Farm 



For 1931 the effect of this early 

 work both before the State Tax Com- 

 mission and before many county boards 

 of review was to reduce Illinois farm 

 land taxes a total of $4,900,000 less 

 than farmers would have paid had the 

 high valuations of previous years not 

 been reduced. This service alone meant 

 an average saving of $22.79 on each of 

 the 215,000 farms in Illinois for 1931. 



During and following the war the 

 cost of processing and distributing 

 farm products had increased enormous- 

 ly. Farmers learned that they were 

 getting less than one-third of the con- 

 sumer's dollar. They were selling on a 

 world market because of their surplus 



production, and buying on a protected 

 market. They were selling wholesale and 

 buying retail. ■ -^^ 



To make the tariff effective on farm 

 products brought on the movement to 

 pass the McNary-Haugen bill. Co- 

 operative marketing likewise was turned 

 to as a means of helping farmers obtain 

 a satisfactory price for their products. 

 The Illinois Agricultural Association 

 became prominently identified in these 

 organized efforts, a / ' ' ' 



Livestock Selling Agencies 



As a result co-operative producer- 

 owned and controlled livestock selling 

 agencies were organized on all of the 

 larger terminal markets. Farmers had 

 learned that a half dozen buyers work- 

 ing together have all the advantage over 

 75 to 100 unorganized sellers when it 

 comes to making prices. 



Today where the co-operative live- 

 stock selling associations are handling a 

 comparatively large percentage of mar- 

 ket receipts at the terminals they are 

 having a wholesome influence in getting 

 all, the market affords for the farmer's 

 livestock. The Producers co-operatives 

 are giving the farmer a voice in the 

 market. During the past nine years one 

 Producer commission association alone 

 has refunded more than a million dol- 

 lars of commission charges to farmer 

 patroni. Two others serving Illinois 

 livestock shippers have refunded annu- 

 ally 25 per cent of their commission 

 charges. 



Aid to Dairymen 



In 10 years the County Farm Bu- 

 reaus and the I. A. A. together have 

 organized close to 8 5 per cent of the 

 whole milk producing territory of the 

 state. If these dairy co-operatives added 

 only 10 cents per cwt. net to the whole 

 milk sold in Illinois annually, the in- 

 creased return would be more than 

 $3,000,000. But these co-operatives 

 have done far better than this. 



A. D. Lynch, dairy marketing direc- 

 tor for the I. A. A., said in his report 

 for 1929: "The members of the Pure 

 Milk Association in Illinois who sup- 

 ply the Chicago and tributary fluid 

 milk markets received approximately 

 $1,600,000 more during 1929 for their 

 milk than they received during the years 

 preceding their organization." It is dif- 

 ficult even to estimate the value of 

 organized effort represented by these co- 

 operative dairy associations now oper- 

 ating in Chicago, St. Louis, Peoria, 

 Springfield, Decatur, Quincy, Rock 

 Island, Rockford, Champaign, Bloom- 

 ington, and other points. 



