The 



Dlinois A^cidtural Assodation 



Published monthly by the Illinois Agricultural Association at 165 So. Main St., Spencer. lad. Editorial Offices, 608 So. Dearborn St, Chicago, ID. 

 Application for transfer of second class entry from Marshall, 111., to Spencer, Ind., pending. Acceptance for mailing at special rates of postage pro- 

 vided in Section 412, Act of Feb. 28, 1925, authorized Oct. 27, 1925. Address all communications for publication to Editorial Offices, Illinois Agri- 

 cultural Association Record, 608 So. Dearborn St., Chicago. 



Number 3 



MAY, 1932 



Volume 1 



Addresses 2^200 at Kewanee 



Farm Bureau Mass Meetings Well Attended, Discuss Leading Problems and 

 I 5 ^ ^ Policies of Organized Farmers 



Earl C. Smith 



IN an hour-and-a-half address before 

 an attentive audience of 2,200 Farm 

 Bureau members and their families, 

 meeting in the Kewanee armory the 

 night of April 19, 

 President Earl C. 

 Smith reviewed 1 

 years of effort by the 

 Illinois Agricultural 

 Association and the 

 American Farm Bu- 

 reau to arouse the 

 nation toward estab- 

 lishing economic par- 

 ity between agricul- 

 ture and industry, 

 outlined the cause 

 of the current eco- 

 nomic situation, and discussed the poli- 

 cies of the Farm Bureau toward effect- 

 ing a solution and a way out of the 

 dilemma. 



"When the powers of this country 

 who control its finances make up their 

 minds to end this depression, I firmly 

 believe they can start us on the road 

 to recovery," said Mr. Smith. "And 

 that recovery, I am convinced, must 

 begin with a movement to re-establish 

 the buying power of 40 per cent of our 

 population who depend on agriculture 

 for a livelihood." 



Not Adequate 



Taking up the question of enabling 

 legislation, he said, "the Agricultural 

 Marketing Act is not adequate to do 

 the thing that must be done to create 

 farmer buying power and start the 

 wheels of industry moving. The Act 

 must be amended to include the equal- 

 ization fee or something similar to re- 

 move the disastrous influence of crop 

 surpluses and make the tariff effective 

 on American farm products. 



"To accomplish this does not neces- 

 sitate the complicated machinery and 



red tape opponents of such legislation 

 ■ would have your believe. I suggest that 

 the plan first be tried on wheat. I am 

 convinced that wheat could be raised to 

 $1 or $1.15 per bushel without advanc- 

 ing the price of bread. Prices of other 

 grains and farm products' would follow, 

 and the start made toward recovery of 

 normal prosperity." 



Mr. Smith charged that the grain ex- 

 changes and middlemen's organizations, 

 particularly the speculators, who vigor- 

 ously opposed the equalization fee 

 measure, were the ones indirectly re- 

 sponsible for the limitations in the Agri- 

 cultural Marketing Act. "And now we 

 see this same group which once favored 

 a co-operative marketing bill bitterly 

 fighting to repeal it," he said. 



Look It Up 



"Look up the Congressional Record 

 of 1926-1928 and read for yourself," 

 he continued. "Representatives of the 

 grain exchanges and business groups ac- 

 tive in Washington at that time re- 

 peatedly said it was all right to assist 

 farmers in building their own market- 

 ing machinery with the assistance of a 

 Federal Farm Board, but the equaliza- 

 tion fee measure is all wrong. 



"The Illinois Agricultural Association 

 and the Farm Bureau never asked for 

 the Agricultural Marketing Act. We 

 never endorsed it as offering a solution 

 to the farm problem. But when it 

 finally appeared that this was the gov- 

 ernment's plan to end the farm depres- 

 sion that began in 1920 we said we 

 would support it wholeheartedly and 

 give it a thorough trial, but reserve the 

 right, if found inadequate, to amend 

 and make it effective. That is our po- 

 sition today. 



Big Loans to Europe 



"We said more than five years ago 

 that the prosperity then being enjoyed 



by business and industry in this coun- 

 try could not endure with agriculture 

 out of balance. For several years it 

 appeared that we were wrong. Indus- 

 try continued prosperous in spite of the 

 fact that farmers had little buying 

 power. And why? Largely because of 

 an artificial European demand created 

 by enormous loans of American money 

 to Europe. The Wall Street bankers 

 received substantial returns from these 

 loans and the industrialists reaped enor- 

 mous profits from the sale of American 

 goods to these foreign people. Now pay 

 day has come, and we find the borrow- 

 ers unable to meet their obligations. 

 And they can get no more credit. 



"In the meantime our factories find 

 that their old customer, the western 

 farmer, is unable to buy. After years 

 of going without there isn't a thing 

 from the front gate to the farthest 

 field but what the western farmer needs 

 — lumber, roofing, fences, paint, farm 

 implements, furniture, automobiles, and 

 the rest. The demand from Europe no 

 more stimulated by American capital 

 has dried up, with the result that from 

 50 to 90 per cent of the factories in 

 many industries are closed down and 

 workmen turned out on the streets. 



Thinking Needed 



"If our leaders had been thinking, 

 this situation could have been avoided; 

 if they had listened to the plea of agri- 

 culture, we would not now be going 

 through the worst depression in any- 

 one's memory. If anything, industry 

 has not only fallen to the level of agri- 

 culture but below it. Farm values are 

 down, it is true, but they have not 

 evaporated as have many investments in 

 factories and business enterprises. 



"There is a silver lining in the clouds 

 of depression for agriculture. The farm- 

 ( Continued on next page) 



