August, 1932 



THE I. A. A. RECORD 



Page Nine 



the then President of the United States, and of 

 the Attorney General, to secure for farmers' ele- 

 vators their initial right to have their grain sold 

 by members of most grain exchanges at regular 

 commission rates. 



"The issue today is not with regard to the Fed- 

 eral Farm Board nor to the government in busi- 

 ness, but has to do solely with the development 

 of large scale co-operatives, which are putting the 

 American farmer in control of his commodities in 

 the market places to enable him to retain for 

 himself those final values which heretofore have 

 passed to others in the form of commissions, dis- 

 counts and so on. 



"The early opposition to the co-operative move- 

 ment was hardly more ridiculous than that of the 

 present, and yet, looking backward, the utter un- 

 reasonableness of it is more completely apparent. 

 The passing of time will reveal the folly of the 

 present opposition." 



/J:':y:'^'\:X''^- Value of the Farm Bureau 



A news dispatch which came over the wires June 1 

 "'announced that Earl C. Smith, president of the Illinois 

 Agricultural Association, had been in conference that 

 day at the White House with President Hoover con- 

 cerning proposed surplus control legislation now be- 

 fore Congress. 



That brief item should have been a source of much 

 satisfaction to every member of the Madison County 

 Farm Bureau, and of every other Farm Bureau in the 

 state. 



Their personal representative in the White House! 

 Talking over matters of legislation of vital importance 

 to every farmer! How different from the old days, 

 when the farmer, of all groups, was unorganized and 

 :. without voice in the legislative halls and executive 

 offices of the nation. 



It is most fitting that the question of the value of 



~ the Farm Bureau be discussed at this time in Madison 



, County. Many of the bureau memberships are expir- 



. ing this summer. What the members themselves think 



;:^ of the bureau will be shown by their renewals. The 



. Intelligencer hopes and believes that every expiring 



membership will be renewed. That this belief is justified 



may be seen from the fact that only last week 27 new 



members were taken into the organization. . . . 



The Madison County Farm Bureau has materially 

 increased its value to its members in the last year or 

 two. Every department has been strengthened and 

 additional services have been instituted which have 

 , proven highly popular with and profitable to the mem- 

 bers. 



The Intelligencer would like to see the Madison 

 County Farm Bureau membership greatly increased. 

 That would strengthen the organization. Its power to 

 benefit the farm would be infinitely greater. 



Last of the great productive units to take up or- 

 ganization, the farmer is now making up for lost time 

 The value of organization constantly becomes more 

 apparent. And as it does tlie strength of the farmer 

 associations grows. 



The farmer has often been termed the greatest of 

 individualists. He still is. He has complete control 

 over his crops, their rotation, variety, etc. The desir- 

 ability of this individualism has been put forth by 

 enemies of Farm Bureaus as a reason the farmer should 

 not join them. As a matter of fact, they in no way 

 affect his individualism. He is his own boss just as 

 much now as he ever was. 



In fact, he has greater control over his own affairs. 



In times past he was almost completely under domi- 



. nation of the middleman or the speculator. He took 



their price for his products or he could not sell. Or- 



ganization is changing that. The farmers' co-operative 

 marketing organizations have attained such power and 

 influence that only the broader laws of supply and 

 demand now affect his prices. The whims of the 

 speculator no longer affect him. 



The organized farmer has been a powerful influence 

 in legislative matters in the last several years. His 

 voice, through his organizations, will grow in strength. 

 If the Farm Bureaus throughout the nation are given 

 the support they desire the time will soon come when 

 the farmer will find himself on an economic parity 

 with the manufacturer, the wholesaler and the re- 

 tailer, all of whom have been organized efficiently for 

 many years. 



Farmers of Madison County may speed the arrival 

 of that time by associating themselves with the Madi- 

 son County Farm Bureau. Every person a member 

 should renew that membership and get as many of 

 his neighbors on the roster as possible. He will thus 

 be given additional protection to his own interests and 

 those of his friends. — Edwardsville (111.) Intelligencer. 



Service Company Men Sign 712 



The Illinois Farm Supply Company sales force is 

 responsible for more than 22% of the new Farm 

 Bureau members enrolled during the special state- 

 wide campaign, reports L. R. Marchant, manager. 

 C. W. Ward, field sales director, was active in work- 

 ing with service company men to make this showing. 

 Forty-four of the 52 associated county service com- 

 panies reported 712 new 

 members. Thirty-six man- 

 agers and 154 truck sales-. . 

 men demonstrated their 

 ability to sell something 

 besides oil and grease by 

 signing one member or 

 more. Nine of the man- 

 agers and 21 of the truck 

 salesmen signed ten or 

 more each. 



LaSalle County Farm 

 Supply Company leads 

 with Manager Comisky 

 and his eleven salesmen 

 signing 87 members; Car- 

 roll Service Company 

 scored second with 59 

 members signed by Man- 

 ager Rahn and five sales- 

 men; Macoupin Service 

 Company was third with Manager Rodman and six 

 salesmen signing 40; Manager Curtiss of McLean " 

 County Service Company and his fifteen salesmen 

 ranked fourth with 34 members. 



Manager Ludwig of Woodford County Service Com- 

 pany signed 15 members; Manager Rahn of Carroll 

 Service Company 12 members; Manager Stewart of 

 Champaign County Service Company 11 members; 

 Manager Whitebread of Lee County Service Company 

 11 members; and the following managers are credited 

 with 10 each: Rodman of Macoupin, Campbell of Liv- 

 ingston, Comisky of LaSalle, Wilkins of Fruit Belt, 

 Winkleblack of Coles and Curtiss of McLean. 



Among the salesmen on the Honor Roll with 10 

 members or more are: LaSalle County — Edward Geil, 

 Lyle Albert, Roy Rees, Wm. Morrison, Sigurd Eike, 

 and Don S. Bastian; Carroll County — C. P. Boddiger, 

 Fred Nesemeier, Edwin Miller, Harold Frey; Ford 

 County — Severt Hill; Henry County — Walter Putnam; 

 Knox County — John Cisco; Logan-Mason Counties — 

 Adolph Keith; Macoupin County — Ernest Costley, 

 Keith Mitchell; Marshall-Putnam County — Clarence 

 Austin; Monroe County — Alvin Prange; Richland- 

 Lawrence Counties — H. D. Lewis; St. Clair County — 

 Laclede Holcomb; McLean County — two salesmen. , -, 



M. COMISKY 



