Page Eight 



THE I. A. A. RECORD 



February, 1952 



N 



I Li Li I N Oil 



CCLTVIIAL ASSOCIA 



RECORiy 



r* sdvsmct tbt purpost for which the Farm Bureau was orgamised, 

 memtly, <• promote, protect and represent the business, economic, political, 

 ami Educational interests of the farmers of Illinois oud the ustiou, 

 amd to develop agriculture. 



George Thiem, Editor 

 Max Harrelson, Assistant Editor 



Published monthly by the Illinois Agricultural Association at 165 So. 

 Main St., Spencer. Ind. Editorial Offices, 608 So. Dearborn St., Chicago, 

 lU. Amplication for transfer of second class entry from Marshall, IlL, to 

 tpsncar, Ind., pending. Acceptance for mailing at special rate of postage 

 DTOvlded in Section 412, Act of Feb. 28, 1925, authorised Oct. 27. 1925. 

 Address all communications for publication to Editorial Offices, Illinois 

 Agricultural Association Record, 608 So. Dearborn St., Chicago. The indi- 

 vidual membership fee of the Illinois Agricultural Association is five 

 d^lars a year. Tlie fee includes payment of fifty cents for subscription 

 to the Illinois Agricultural Association Record. Postmaster: In returning; 

 aa uncalled for missent copy please indicate key number on address as is 

 rsquircd by law. 



OFFICERS 



Prssldent. Earl C. Smith.. Detroit 



Vica-Presldent, A. R. Wright Varna 



Secretary, Geo. E. Metzger 



Treasurer, R. A. Cowles 



Chicago 



..Bloomington 



1st to 11th- 



12th 



ISth 



14th 



ISth 



l«th 



ITth 



ISth. 

 I9th- 



BOARD OF DIRECTORS 



(By Congressional District) 



H. C. Vial. Downers Grove 



G. F. TuUock, Rockford 



C. E. Bamborough, Polo 



M. G. Lambert, Ferris 



.Charles Bates, Browning 



20th- 



2lBt- 



..Geo. B. Muller, Svashington 



A. B. Schofield. Paxlon 



W. A. Dennis, Paris 



-C. J. Gross, Atwood 



22nd. 



2Srd 



24th 



ISth 



Comptroller.. 



Dairy Marketing.. 

 Financc- 



.Charles S. Black, Jacksonville 



Samuel Sorrells, Raymond 



Prank Oexner. Waterlo* 



W. L. Cope. Salem 



Charles Marshall, Belknap 



Fred Diets, De Soto 



DEPARTMENT DIRECTORS 



Fruit and Vegetable Marketing.. 



Orsin Markeung 



Information.. 



— J. H. Kelker 

 ~J. B. Counties 

 _R. A. Cowles 

 .A. B. Leeper 



Insurance Service- 

 Legal Counsel- 



. Harrison Fahmkopf 



George Thiem 



..V. Vaniman 



Limestone-Phosphate. 



LIvs Stock Marketing.. 

 Ofice- 



Organizatlon. 



l*roduc« Marketing 



Tsaation and Stathtics.. 

 Transportation 



.Donald Kirkpatrick 



J. R. Bent 



Ray E. Miller 



. C. B. Johnston 



G. B. Metsger 



F. A. Gougler 



J. C. Watson 



L. J. Quasey 



ASSOCIATED ORGANIZATIONS 



Gauntry Life Insurance Co L. A, Williams. Mgr, 



Famiers Mutual Reinsurance Co .^ J. H. Kelker. Mgr, 



IlHnols Agricultural Auditing Ass'n 



IBinois Agricultural Mutual Insurance Co, 



Illinois Farm Supply Co _ 



Illinois Grain Cor^... Chas. P. Cummings. Vice-Pres. and Sales Mgr! 



— F. E. Ringham, Mgr. 



A. E. Richardson. Mgr. 



L. R Merchant. Mgr. 



Illinois Livestock Marketing Ass'n... 

 Illinois Produce Marketing Ass'n- 

 Soybaaa Maricetlng Ass'n 



R. W. Grieser. Sales Mgr. 



F. A. Gougler, Mgr. 



W. H. Coultas. Mgr. 



interest in resisting' inroads by farmer-owned 

 agencies into the profits of distribution. 



But public denunciation by farm representa* 

 tives is not in good taste. If the Board has made 

 some mistakes it is only human. Certainly it is 

 no more responsible for the deflation in farm 

 prices than it is for the tremendous shrink in 

 stocks and bonds, the low price of copper and 

 silver, the grasshopper plague, or drouths and 

 floods. The Board has made a conscientious effort 

 to assist the commodity co-operatives in co- 

 ordinating and improving their sales service. It 

 can exercise due authority in correcting mistakes 

 which may have been made by organizations re- 

 ceiving Farm Board aid. More than that it can- 

 not do until the Marketing Act is amended. 



Farm Board the Goat 



TT seems to be popular to criticize and malign 

 the Farm Board. Yet under the limitations im- 

 posed by recent economic trends and the Agri- 

 cultural Marketing Act it is doubtful if any other 

 group of men could have done better. 



The Farm Board has been blamed either direct- 

 ly or by impHcation for the discouraging decline 

 in the prices of wheat, cotton, livestock, dairy 

 products, and produce. It is held responsible for 

 the shortcomings of co-operatives, although even 

 at their worst the overhead costs of co-operative 

 sales agencies are decidedly less than the toll taken 

 by the "trade." 



The Farm Board is made the goat, and a most 

 convenient goat so far as the middlemen and the 

 commodity exchanges are concerned. The anti- 

 Farm Board propaganda of the latter group and 

 the newspapers and trade journals that front for 

 them is easily understandable. They have a selfish 



Government Policy and Agriculture 



rZ. OVERNMENTAL policies since the war and 

 the indifference of the nation to the farm 

 problem are responsible for the plight of agri- 

 culture, George N. Peek of Moline, 111., declared 

 in an address before the War Industries Board 

 Association in New York City recently. 



"Our policy for the excessive expansion of for- 

 eign trade in industrial products was a mistaken 

 one," said Mr. Peek. "We have been trying to 

 maintain our war-time industrial facilities at a 

 capacity above peace-time demand. We have 

 loaned abroad more money than represented by 

 our entire war debt. We have put the facilities 

 of our gigantic Department of Commerce be- 

 hind the movement to expand foreign trade just 

 as though we were a debtor nation, as we were 

 before the war, instead of a creditor nation, as 

 ''we emerged from the war. • 



"We have half the gold supply of the world, 

 so that foreign nations cannot pay us in gold; 

 and we have prevented their paying us in goods 

 and services by our tariffs, although at the same 

 time we have insisted upon the payment of war 

 debts. We have gone even further; to the extent 

 that we have captured foreign markets, we have 

 interfered with the normal relations of other 

 countries between themselves." ^ .:, 7.r 



This intelligent and concise statement of facts 

 brings out in bold relief the underlying reasons 

 for the steady decline in agriculture since 1920. 

 European war debts and excessive American in- 

 dustrial expansion have stimulated agricultural 

 production abroad and dried up foreign markets 

 for our farm products. And the concentration 

 of wealth at home in too few hands followed 

 by industrial retrenchment, fear, unemployment, 

 and destitution for so many now have completed 

 the rout of farm prices. ■ ^ r,-^ 



While post mortems on the cause of our 

 troubles do not lead the way out, they are useful 

 in helping us avoid the same mistakes again. .,., 



