Page Twelve 



THE I. A. A. RECORD 



September, 1932 





who speak with the force of an 

 organization behind them. How 

 can the individual farmer expect 

 to have his needs recognized if it 

 is necessary for him to make his 

 journey as an individual down to 

 Washington or to the State Capital 

 where he may "buttonhole" the 

 representatives and senators and 

 plead his cause as a farmer from 

 Podunk. The idea is absurd. 



Half Slave— Half Free 



Owen D. Young, in an article 

 published in Collier's under date of 

 July 9, said, "Take this country as 

 an example. Here we are down in 

 the depths. Why? Partly, I think, 

 because for years we have tried to 

 live half slave and half free. That's 

 exactly what I mean; half slave 

 and half free. For selfish reasons, 

 which can be ascribed about equally 

 to industry and politics, we have 

 created an exclusive tariff barrier 

 around this country behind which 

 the industrial half of our people are 

 free to make a profit out of their 

 activities, while at the same time 

 the unprotected other half, the ag- 

 ricultural half, is held in bondage 

 not only to the first half but also 

 to the competition of the world as 

 well." 



,, Should any more convincing ar- 

 gument be needed to the American 

 farmer to interest him in the work 

 which he can do in cooperation 

 with men of similar interests but 

 which he cannot do if he persists 

 with his individualistic ideas? On 

 every hand we see evidence of the 

 concrete advantages obtained 

 through organized groups. 



> Too Much Indifference 



In the field of taxation a start 

 has been made both in Illinois and 

 Missouri, and in fact in twenty 

 states, where income taxes or other 

 new sources of revenue have been 

 tapped and made to bear some 

 share of the expense of government. 



In the field of marketing it would 

 be difficult to find better examples 

 of concrete advantages than you 

 have right, here in St. Louis. The 

 Producers Live Stock Commission 

 Association, beginning only ten 

 years ago without a dollar — in fact 

 they were $5,000 in debt — have been 

 able to send back to the country 

 through earnings and refunds on 

 commissions paid, over $1,150,000, 

 an average of more than $100,000.00 

 a year. The Sanitary Milk Produc- 

 ers Association today is fighting to 

 send back to its members a fair 

 price for milk, without penalizing 

 the consumer. 



Examples of the benefits of coop- 

 erative legislative action are too 

 numerous to mention but bear out 

 the fact that agriculture must find 

 expression through organized groups 

 if it is to protect itself and the 



American standard of living for 

 American agriculture. 



The other day throughout Illinois 

 the 4th of July was celebrated by 

 County Farm Bureaus in over 

 ninety counties. It was made not 

 only a day of celebration but a day 

 of dedication. A dedication of the 

 energies, resources and man-power 

 of agriculture toward the perpetua- 

 tion of agriculture as a basic indus- 

 try on a fair and just economical 

 scale. As a part of the proceedings 

 a number of the enemies of agricul- 

 ture were burned in effigy. Among 

 these was Old Man Indifference. 

 It seems to me that the farmers 

 have no worse enemy than Old Man 

 Indifference. Even though a farmer 

 may be financially independent at 

 the present time he has no right 

 to assume an indifferent attitude 

 because unless he does bestir him- 

 self, eventually he too will suffer 

 the burdens of taxation, marketing 

 costs and legislative injustice 

 crowded upon all farmers alike un- 

 less they all act collectively to pro- 

 tect the industry. 



Note: From a recent radio address 

 delivered over Station KMOX, St. 

 Louis by Mr. Miller. 



R. F. C. Loans Near One 

 And Quarter Billions 



* 



St. Louis Producers 



Host To 200 Visitors 



Approximately 200 livestock 

 growers in the St. Louis territory, 

 representing 40 counties, gathered 

 at E. St. Louis August 18 to tour 

 the livestock market and review the 

 progress of the St. Louis Producers. 



J. R. Fulkerson, president of the 

 Producers, called the meeting to 

 order and presided during the pro- 

 gram. C. B. Denman, livestock 

 member of the Federal Farm Board, 

 attended the meeting and gave an 

 interesting talk about the progress 

 made in co-operative marketing 

 since the Farm Board came into 

 existence. 



American agriculture is a piker 

 when it comes to asking relief from 

 the government compared with 

 other economic groups in our na- 

 tional life, said Mr. Denman. Other 

 interests are getting far more fi- 

 nancial aid from the government 

 than is agriculture. Mr. Denman 

 referred to the large loans made 

 and being made by the Reconstruc- 

 tion Finance Corporation. 



Among those participating in the 

 program were H. D. Wright, man- 

 ager of the St. Louis Producers who 

 explained the new commission 

 rates; P. O. Wilson, secretary of 

 the National Livestock Marketing 

 Association who gave a progress re- 

 port; and Ray Miller of the I. A. A. 

 who led discussions of plans for the 

 completion of county livestock mar- 

 keting programs. ....;.,;. 



How business and financial or- 

 ganizations secured more than 

 twice as much money in loans from 

 the federal government as agri- 

 cultural co-operatives was revealed 

 recently in a report submitted by 

 Ogden L. Mills, secretary of the 

 treasury. 



R. F. C. loans to banks, railroads, 

 insurance companies and other in- 

 stitutions totaled $1,219,000,000. Mr. 

 Mills reported that 6345 loans were 

 extended to 4747 different insti- 

 tutions. Of the amount stated above 

 $976,000,000 had been paid on Aug. 

 19 and only $110,000,000 returned. 



The most money ever authorized 

 to be loaned to co-operatives and 

 for use by the Farm Board in 

 stabilization operations to prevent 

 a collapse of farm commodity 

 prices and with it countless banks 

 in 1929-30 was $500,000,000. The 

 Farm Board never used all the ap- 

 propriation and subsequently a 

 substantial part of this sum was 

 turned over to the Red Cross in 

 the form of wheat and cotton. 



A higher percentage of its loans 

 to co-operatives have been returned 

 than that shown by the Reconstruc- 

 tion Finance Corporation. 



Loans by the Reconstruction Fi- 

 nance Corporation were distributed 

 as follows: 



4190 banks and trust companies — 

 $736,000,000 including $30,000,000 to 

 aid in reorganization and liquida- 

 tion of 34 closed banks. 



43 railroads— $230,000,000 



541 building and loan associa- 

 tions— $68,000,000 



73 insurance companies — $67,000,- 

 000 



60 mortgage loan companies — 

 $81,000,000 



10 agricultural credit corpora- 

 tions— $767,000 



14 livestock credit corporations — 

 $8,000,000 



8 federal land banks— $26,000,000 



5 joint stock land banks — $1,500,- 

 000 (approximately) 



3 credit unions--$405,000. 



Mills reported that 70 per cent 

 of the banks obtaining loans were 

 in towns of less than 5,000 popula- 

 tion, 86 per cent in towns of less 

 than 25,000 people, and 90 per cent 

 in towns of less than 90 per cent. 



More than 20 per cent of all banks 

 in the United States received loans, 

 these banks having about 15,000,- 

 000 of the 40,000,000 depositors in 

 the United States. 



Loans to banks in the smaller 

 cities were relatively small running 

 from $25,000 in many instances up 

 to $100,000 or more. The banks in 

 the big cities, however, received 

 heavy loans, one bank in Chicago, 

 according to reports, receiving $80,- 

 000,000 alone. 



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