August, 1932 



THE I. A. A. RECORD 



Page Fifteen 



f 



Tiedeman And Lynch 



On July 4th Programs 





Two officers of Sanitary Milk 

 Producers, farm cooperative of the 

 St. Louis milk territory, were among 

 the 90 speakers on the Illinois state- 

 wide Fourth of July program Mon- 

 day at Marion in Williamson Coun- 

 ty and Salem in Marion County. E. 

 W. Tiedeman, president, spoke at 

 the latter. A. D. Lynch, secretary- 

 manager, was the speaker at Ma- 

 rion. Both carried the message para- 

 mount in the campaign of the Illi- 

 nois Agricultural Association, urg- 

 ing passage of emergency price- 

 raising legislation before the Con- 

 gress. 



"Since the deflation of 1921— for 

 over ten years — organized agricul- 

 ture has been making a fight for 

 economic equality," Tiedeman de- 

 clared. "All other lines of industry 

 and labor have had the support and 

 kindly consideration of the govern- 

 ment. Agriculture has not even 

 been given a seat at the family 

 table. Since the collapse of 1929, 

 the situation has become exceed- 

 ingly aggravated until at the pres- 

 ent time it is acute. A year ago the 

 farm price index was 91 — today it 

 is 56. On the first of last December 

 it had fallen to 71. By the first of 

 February it dropped to 60." 



Lynch in his speech at Marion, 

 Illinois pointed to prevailing milk 

 prices as an accurate example of 

 the influence of uncontrolled buy- 

 ing in pushing down commodity 

 prices The entire blame for in- 

 equitable milk prices was laid at 

 the hands of distributors unwilling 

 to cooperate with the policy em- 

 bodied in the program of milk co- 

 operatives, he said. 



"While it must be admitted," 

 Lynch continued, "that lower milk 

 prices than in 1929 are inevitable 

 today, it is also true that organized 

 farm action such as has availed 

 labor groups and other farm bodies 

 would have saved disastrous reduc- 

 tions and saved the milk producer 

 from his present plight. The milk 

 price now should be at least $1.47 

 and I firmly believe our base and 

 surplus marketing plan could have 

 maintained that level had not un- 

 sympathetic distributors buying on 

 the old-time butterfat basis forced 

 cooperating dealers to batter down 

 the price." 



Since the Limestone -Phosphate 

 Department was organized early in 

 1920, a complete change has been 

 brought about in both the methods 

 of handling limestone and phos- 

 phate and the standard quality 

 grades acceptable to Illinois farm- 

 ers. These changes, in both cases, 

 resulted beneficially to the pur- 

 chaser. 



KENDALL COUNTY ACKS 



LEFT TO SIOHT: AVO. COBKEILS, GEO. M. 

 DICKSON, GILFORD JOHNSON WHO SIGNED 

 S5 NEW MEMBEB8 IN THE «MINXrTE HEN" 

 CAMPAIGN WHICH ENDED JTTLY 4. 



Ag College Graduates 



Get Jobs Facts Show 



Experience in Agriculture a Real 

 Advantage in These Days 

 When Positions Are Scarce 



Seventy-five per cent of the men 

 graduated this year from the New 

 York state college of agriculture, 

 who had been brought up on farms, 

 had jobs at commencement time. 

 An equally high proportion of the 

 graduates who had worked on 

 farms before coming to the col- 

 lege, though not reared there, were 

 also employed. Contrasted with this, 

 only slightly over twenty-five per 

 cent of those who had not had any 

 farm experience had been able to 

 find work, says A. W. Gibson, as- 

 sociate secretary of the college. 



Those who are now employed are 

 working on farms, teaching voca- 

 tional agriculture, inspecting per- 

 ishable products in terminal mar- 

 kets, working in dairy plants, 

 greenhouses, florist establishments, 

 seed concerns, farm supply stores 

 and marketing agencies, helping 

 with the state soil survey, or, with 

 few exceptions, in occupations 

 closely related to their courses of 

 study. Only two among those who 

 came to college with a farm back- 

 ground have taken jobs which 

 are not connected with agriculture. 



The evident advantage which 

 farm experience gives agricultural 

 college graduates in getting jobs, 

 at a time when it is difficult for 

 'young men just starting out to find 

 employment, is worthy of serious 

 consideration by boys in the rural 

 counties of the state, says Mr. Gib- 

 son, in charge of placement of stu- 

 dents. He adds that it is doubtful 

 if, on graduation from any other 

 type of college, they would find 

 themselves three to one favorites 

 over their classmates. 



I. A. A. Aids Fight To 



Lower Power Charges 



Gather Evidence For Hearing 



Before State Commission 



in September 



As we go to press, organized 

 farmers who demand a reduction 

 in minimum electric rates for light 

 and power, are taking steps to 

 gather evidence for presentation 

 before the Illinois Commerce Com- 

 mission in September, to sub- 

 stantiate their contentions. 



The hearing scheduled at Spring- 

 field for July 21 was postponed by 

 the Commission until September to 

 allow time for interested parties to 

 gather evidence. The Illinois Agri- 

 cultural Association is assisting 

 members in efforts to reduce serv- 

 ice charges. 



Complaints received from Frank- 

 lin, Henry, Rock Island, McDon- 

 ough, McLean, Sangamon, Clay, 

 LaSalle, and other counties at the 

 I. A. A. offices primarily refer to 

 the $9 per month minimum charge 

 to farm users, and to line construc- 

 tion costs. 



"A number of complaints have 

 been adjusted informally through 

 the able efforts of the Commerce 

 Commission's engineering divi- 

 sion," stated L. J. Quasey of the I. 

 A. A. transportation department in 

 a letter to the Commission. "But in 

 our opinion complaints are too nu- 

 merous for individual consideration. 



"We believe that in order to pro- 

 mote rural electrification on a 

 sound and equitable basis the con- 

 struction costs of rural lines should 

 be reduced to the lowest practical 

 figures and that the rate schedules 

 should be so adjusted as to en- 

 courage the use of electricity in 

 large quantities. 



"Furthermore we believe that 

 some special provision should be 

 made for the rural tenant who of- 

 ten is not in a position either to 

 bear the burden of construction 

 costs or use as large a quantity of 

 electricity as a customer who owns 

 and operates his farm. Therefore we 

 respectfully request that your hon- 

 orable commission give consider- 

 ation to making a general investi- 

 gation into all phases of the sub- 

 ject of rural electrification." 



Editor, I. A. A. Record: 



The speech made by C. V. Greg- 

 ory and published in the July 

 number of the RECORD is a mas- 

 terpiece and will go down in his- 

 tory for future generations to read. 

 What our country needs is a thou- 

 sand men like him and we would 

 not have to worry about old man 

 depression. 



R. L. Sweetnam, 

 ,:;:.-.,:: Peoria County, 111. 



