September, 1932 



THE I. A. A. RECORD 



Page Seven 



Company Has Prospered 



"While the Farmers National was 

 born during the depression, and al- 

 most any new-born company pro- 

 duced under such inauspicious con- 

 ditions has slim chance of surviv- 

 ing, your company has survived, 

 rendered an adequate service in 

 marketing grain, and has pros- 

 pered." Mr. Beam stated that in 

 deference to the trend of the times 

 and to some extent to the expressed 

 opinion of those from whom we had 

 our financing, the income of the 

 higher paid personnel was reduced, 

 that while the operations continued 

 to show a profit and the scale of 

 salaries is moderate in comparison 

 with the size and nation-wide char- 

 acter of the corporation, and its 

 very large turnover of capital and 

 business, it was sensible to reflect 

 the lower living costs by a fair re- 

 duction in salaries. 



."-"•. Salaries Reduced 



He stated that material operating 

 economies have been made effec- 

 tive by salary reduction, the con- 

 solidation of certain offices and the 

 centralization of effort made pos- 

 sible thereby, which will result in a 

 saving in operating costs of several 

 hundred thousand dollars a year. 



The meeting was the most har- 

 monious gathering of the Corp. 

 since its organization in 1929. The 

 problem of bringing nearly 30 co- 

 operatives together in one national 

 unified program over a period of 

 two years is a tremendous accom- 

 plishment. Naturally there had to be 

 a great deal of self-sacrifice by 

 leaders in all the groups to develop 

 a unified marketing system. 



In his vigorous but dignified ad- 

 dress to the stockholders, Presi- 

 dent C. E. Huff asserted that the 

 past year had been one of extreme 

 growth, expansion, and adjustment 

 for the co-operative. 



"Those who now seek to alienate 

 farmers from the co-operative mar- 

 keting program to which they have 

 devoted themselves for more than 

 a quarter century," he said, "un- 

 dertake a fool's task." 



Reviewing the efforts of the Na- 

 tional Grain Corp. to obtain clear- 

 ing privileges on the Chicago 

 Board of Trade, President Huff pre- 

 dicted ultimate victory for the 

 Corporation in its demand for full 

 trading privileges granted at the 

 Chicago market. 



We Expect To Win 



"This attitude of defiance against 

 law and authority on the part of 

 the Chicago Board of Trade prob- 

 ably marks the final stand of pri- 

 vate tradesmen against the grow- 

 ing strength and importance of 

 farmer-owned co-operatives," as- 

 serted Mr. Huff. "When this battle 

 has been won, as it will be won. 



SKEK TO BAR FARMERS FROM TRADING PRIVIIiEGES AT CHICAGO 



Left to right: Weymouth Klrkland, chief counsel for the Chicago Board of 

 Trade who is also attorney for the Chicago Tribune; Fred Uhlmann, vice- 

 president, and Peter B. Carey, president of the Board of Trade. They are defy- 

 ing the Grain Futures Act of 1922 which declares that farm co-operatives shall 

 not be discriminated against on the public exchanges. 



we will be able to go forward with 

 greater security and more rapid 

 growth." 



Announcing the establishment of 

 a seed marketing department, Mr. 

 Huff replied to criticisms of the 

 seed trade. "The vital interests of 

 more than a quarter of a million ag- 

 ricultural producers must properly 

 take precedence over the interests 

 of 1,500 tradesmen. 



"Of the 28 stockholders of the 

 corporation, 19 now have turned 

 over to the National all the mar- 

 keting operations formerly con- 

 ducted by themselves, and others 

 are considering like action," Mr. 

 Huff said. 



Influenced By Facts 

 Referring to the favorable bank- 

 ing relations of the Corp., Mr. Huff 

 said: "Bankers are influenced in 

 the lending of money more by 

 sound facts than by loose propa- 

 ganda. Based upon the soundness 

 of our structure and operations, we 

 have been able to obtain such 

 credit. No such line of credit, once 

 established, has ever been with- 

 drawn. No bank, once entering up- 

 on business relations with us, has 

 yet voluntarily ended such relation- 

 ships." 



C. V. Gregory, editor of Prairie 

 Farmer, whose address was one of 

 the highlights of the meeting, 

 stated that the opposition of the 

 middlemen to the Farmers National 



was to be expected. We can forgive 

 commission men for fighting for 

 their business, said Mr. Gregory, 

 but it is harder to forgive farmers 

 who swallow their propaganda 

 against co-operative marketing. 

 This is the crucial battle of special 

 privilege against the advocates of 

 equal opportunity, he said. 



Business and industry in this 

 country have for years controlled 

 the government, continued Greg- 

 ory. This talk about "government- 

 in-business" is merely an expres- 

 sion of their belief that they will 

 not continue this control. 



Mr. Gregory scored the financial 

 leadership of the country and up- 

 held agricultural leadership. "Our 

 financial leadership, which always 

 has dictated business practice and 

 even governmental policies, has 

 shown itself hesitant and fearful 

 in this crisis, and without effective 

 remedies for the present condi- 

 tions," he declared. "Four years ago 

 they told us that a new era was 

 here in which business could con- 

 tinue to prosper despite a prostrate 

 agriculture. Events have shown our 

 farm leaders to be right when they 

 held consistently that no prosperity 

 is possible for long unless based up- 

 on a prosperous agriculture. To the 

 farm leaders the suffering people 

 both of citv and country must look 

 for leadership," he said. .,,.„ 



(Continued on page IS) :fff-'p-[ 



