Marchy 1932 



THE I. A. A. RECORD 



Page Twenty-one 



] 



Lieut.-Gov. Sterling Sees 

 Need for Prison Reform 



Advocates Modernization of Penal 

 System in Address at Rockford 



PROPOSED reform of the state 

 prison laws so as to permit prisoners 

 to share in the profits of their labor, 

 were advocated by Lieutenant-Governor 

 Fred E. Sterling at the recent annual 

 luncheon of the Illinois Agricultural 

 Association at Rockford. 



He pointed out that such laws are 

 now in force in several states in this 

 country and almost universally in Eu- 

 rope. Under the proposed law the pris- 

 oner would receive half the profits and 

 the state the other half. One-half the 

 prisoner's share would be sent to his 

 dependents at home, one-quarter turned 

 over to him for his own use, and the 

 other quarter credited to his account so 

 that when he is released he will have 

 something to start anew on. 



Has Labor Approval 



"This new law," said the lieutenant- 

 governor, "will compel every political 

 division in the state, cities, counties and 

 villages to make requisition on the state 

 for such articles as may be needed by 

 them. No effort will be made to cut 

 the prices of state-made articles under 

 those made by free labor on the out- 

 side. This system has the approval of 

 President Green of the Federation of 

 Labor." :, ■. ' ;;: ' .;.,^.-: ; ^.^..."-, ' . 



He believes that the $15,000 spent 

 by the state in conducting the prison 

 investigating tour of Europe will save 

 the state not less than $1,000,000 a 

 year and revolutionize the prison, pro- 

 bation and parole system now in force, 

 if the general assembly will enact into 

 laws the recommendations made by the 

 commission. ' ' ^ 



Comparing the English prison situa- 

 tion with that in Illinois, he showed 

 that Illinois with a population of 7,000,- 

 000 had almost as many inmates in its 

 prisons as England with its 48,000,000 

 people. What Illinois needs to remedy 

 this, he said, is a more liberal use of 

 probation and less of the spirit of ven- 

 geance in its courts, especially when the 

 offense is of a minor character. 



"Our commission believes there is a 

 great chance to improve the penal sys- 

 tem of Illinois," he continued. "We be- 

 lieve all prisoners should be classified 

 and advanced in grades as they earn it. 

 We favor making the parole board a 

 full-time board. The commission would 

 make the old Joliet prison an institution 

 for the more hardened prisoners. We 

 would make a reduction in our prison 

 population by a careful rehearing of all 

 cases, releasing those who are deserving 

 of another chance. 



NOTICE 

 ILLINOIS AGRICULTURAL 



ASSOCIATION . 

 ELECTION OF DELEGATES 



NOTICE is hereby given that in connection 

 with the annual meetings of all County 

 Farm Bureaus to be held during the month 

 of March, 193 2, at the hour and place to 

 be determined by the Board of Directors of 

 each respective County Farm Bureau, the 

 members in good standing of such County 

 Farm Bureau and who are also qualified vot- 

 ing members of Illinois Agricultural Asso- 

 ciation shall elect a delegate or delegates to 

 represent such members of Illinois Agricul- 

 tural Association and vote on all matters 

 before the next annual meeting or any spe- 

 cial meeting of the Association, including 

 the election of officers and directors as pro- 

 vided for in the by-laws of the Association. 



During March annual meetings will be 

 held in Kankakee, McDonough, Boone and 

 VTinnebago counties. 



No annual meetings will be held in April. 



March 1, 1932. 

 Signed, 



G. E. Metzger, Secretary. 



Denman Addresses 



^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ C U Grower^ 



Annual Meeting State Marketing 



Association Held at Peoria, 



February 17 



"Many inmates, the commission be- 

 lieves, have been lost in the great prison 

 maelstrom, being without friends to in- 

 tercede for their release. The commis- 

 sion believes there must be a more scien- 

 tific study of the individual cases of 

 men accused of crime. It is as intelli- 

 gent for us to imprison a man without 

 studying him and learning why he is a 

 criminal as it is to treat a man for the 

 fever shown by the thermometer with- 

 out making an effort to discover the un- 

 derlying cau^e." 



Country Life Agents 



Meet at Bloomington 



THE possibility of making Country 

 Life Insurance Company a billion 

 dollar institution within the next 20 

 years was envisioned by Donald Kirk- 

 patrick, legal counsel for the I. A. A., 

 speaking before 300 Farm Bureau in- 

 surance agents in the annual agents' 

 round-up at Bloomington Feb. 16-17. 



He quoted state insurance examiners 

 to the effect that Country Life is in the 

 best financial condition of any com- 

 pany examined in the past four years. 



C. M. Cartwright, managing editor 

 of the National Underwriter, the prin- 

 cipal speaker at the agents' banquet, 

 said: "You have made an outstanding 

 record, and I have every confidence in 

 the coming success of Country Life 

 Insurance Company." 



Other speakers during the two days 

 included Prof. Fred Russell, University 

 of Illinois; L. A. Williams, manager of 

 Country Life; A. E. Richardson, mana- 

 ger of the Illinois Agricultural Mutual; 

 V. Vaniman, director of insurance ser- 

 vice for the I. A. A.; and members of 

 Country Life's staff. 



<4\T 7E have not heard so much criti- 

 VV cism of the Agricultural Mar- 

 keting Act since the Reconstruction 

 Finance Corporation came into the pic- 

 ture. The other crowd got over into 

 our boat. And they seem willing to 

 have the government lend a helping 

 hand," C. B. Denman, member of the 

 Federal Farm Board, told more than 300 

 delegates and members of the Illinois 

 Livestock Marketing Association in their 

 second annual meeting at Peoria, Feb. 17. 



"There has been a lot of confusion 

 about what the Farm Board has been 

 doing," continued Mr. Deman. "Either 

 ignorantly or purposely the stabilization 

 operations in wheat and cotton have 

 been confused with aid given the co- 

 operatives. The latter is the more inj- 

 portant work. It has occupied nearly 

 all our time." 



Speaking of the stabilization work, 

 Denman said: "There was far more de- 

 mand from the 'trade' that the Board 

 support the grain market than from 

 farmers. Yet most of the criticism of 

 this work is coming from the commis- 



sion men. 



20 Cents Bu. More 



"But let's take a look at the results 

 of stabilization in wheat. Before the 

 stabilization corporation was formed 

 wheat in Liverpool sold at 16.5 cents 

 above the Chicago market. Since then 

 the Chicago price has averaged 3. J cents 

 higher than Liverpool. The two added 

 together make 20 cents a bushel more 

 for the American producer. That 20 

 cents if added to all the wheat sold in 

 this country would be quite an item." 



The speaker admonished the livestock 

 growers that their only hope for secur- 

 ing a fair share of the consumer's dollar 

 lies in organization. "Livestock grow- 

 ers unorganized," he said, "are forced 

 to take what's left after the processor, 

 the retailer, the organized laborer, the 

 transportation agencies, and others take 

 out their costs, and profits. 



What a Packer Said 



"A prominent packer spoke of this 

 situation to me a short time ago," con- 

 tinued the speaker. "He stated frankly 

 that the packer and the retailer must 

 add their costs of operation and a profit 

 to selling prices. He admitted that the 

 farmer is entitled to do the same but 

 because he is unorganized must take 

 what is left. 



"That's a great challenge to the live- 

 stock producer," said Denman. "The 



