September, 1932 



THE I. A. A. RECORD 



Page Fifteen 



MarMmg 



The organized milk dealers of 

 Rock Island, Davenport, and Moline 

 recently refused to deal with the 

 Quality Milk Association represent- 

 ing more than 800 dairymen in that 

 territory in the sale of their milk. 



While declining to recognize the 

 right of farmers to bargain collec- 

 tively they insist on operating 

 through a strong dealers' organi- 

 zation themselves. 



The producers offered to sell the 

 dealers all the milk needed for their 

 fluid milk trade and to take care of 

 their own surplus. 



Whole milk for the fluid trade 

 was offered at $1.85 a hundred, the 

 present price, which the dealers 

 said would be too high if they got 

 no surplus. Representatives of the 

 producers countered by asking if 

 this was not an admission that the 

 dealers are not paying $1.85 now 

 for fluid milk but are using sur- 

 plus for fluid purposes. The dealers 

 could not answer this question. 



The dealers asked for an abso- 

 lute guarantee that the farmers 

 will not go into business for them- 

 selves, they agked for complete pro- 

 tection of all price cutting of com- 

 petitors which they don't have now 

 and never will have. The dealers re- 

 fused to buy butter made in the 

 association plant stating that they 

 can make it cheaper with the pro- 

 ducers' surplus milk than can the 

 association. 



The dealers insist that the 

 farmers have no right to organize, 

 that they are satisfied and don't 

 want an organization, that it is 

 ill-advised, wrongly promoted, and 

 that when the organization ac- 

 cumulates funds through a check- 

 off it will give the organized dairy- 

 men too much power. 



The Quality Milk Association con- 

 trols about 85 per cent of the milk 

 going to the organized dealers on 

 the quad-cities' market. Unless the 

 two groups get together presum- 

 ably the dealers will attempt to 

 ship in milk from distant centers 

 of production. One friendly milk 

 processor who was refused mem- 

 bership in the organized dealers 

 bottle exchange, will begin dis- 

 tributing fluid milk on Aug. 30 

 in fibre bottles, co-operating with 

 the producers and paying $1.85 per 

 cwt. for all milk going into the 

 fluid trade. "And you can check 

 my sales every day if you like," he 

 said. The other dealers refused to 

 let the producers see their records 

 so they could determine what per- 

 centage of milk was going into the 

 fluid trade and how much manu- 

 factured into butter and other 

 products. 



The dealers have nothing to of- 

 fer in place of the proposal of the 

 organized dairymen, and insist that 

 they will buy milk from individuals 

 only, according to their own prices 

 and grades. 



The dairymen in the meantime 

 refuse to be bluffed. They have 

 completed the financing and lease 

 of a plant to manufacture butter 

 and other dairy products from 

 their surplus milk. At this writ- 

 ing they plan, beginning Aug. 30, to 

 deliver the milk from some 800 

 farms to their own plant unless 

 the dealers come to terms and 

 recognize farmers' rights to bargain 

 collectively in the sale of their 

 products. 



This situation reveals the prob- 

 lems farmers face in seeking to ob- 

 tain a voice in the sale of their 

 products. Every organized effort of 

 producers meets with similar op- 

 position when it seeks to overcome 

 special privilege or monopoly and 

 gain economic justice. 



The solution of this and similar 

 problems is up to the producers. 

 Are they going to be pushed around 

 by organized dealers who them- 

 selves insist on dealing collectively 

 while refusing to recognize the right 

 of producers to do likewise? 



The distribution of fluid milk and 

 cream has been one of the few in- 

 dustries that has thrived through- 

 out the present depression. Four 

 leading dairy distributing chains of 

 America show a 40 per cent in- 

 crease in net profits from the 

 period 1929 to 1931. During the same 

 time farmers' income declined ap- 

 proximately 40 per cent. Thus, 

 through organization and semi- 

 monopolies, these distributors were 

 able largely to dictate prices and 

 maintain high average profits while 

 the price paid the farmer con- 

 stantly diminished. • ?'• '■■.■. 



Middlemen who have an unfair 

 advantage in the setting of prices 

 to their own profit will not relin- 

 quish this privilege without a strug- 

 gle. Farmers can meet such op- 

 position only with more thorough 

 organization and a determination 

 to fight for their rights. 



Feeders who are in need of fi- 

 nancial assistance to carry on their 

 feeding operations should apply to 

 the National Live Stock Credit 

 Corporation of St. Louis. 



The National Live Stock Credit 

 Corporation is owned and operated 

 by the live stock feeders through 

 their Producer terminal sales 

 agencies, and has been engaged in 

 financing feeders for over eight 

 years. This organization was re- 

 cently enlarged to such an extent 

 that it is now in a position to han- 

 dle the needs of any reliable and 

 experienced feeder. 



Loans are at 6% net, taking a 

 promissory note, secured by a chat- 

 tel mortgage on the stock pur- 

 chased, together with the feed nec- 

 essary to finish them. They loan a 

 varying percentage of the appraised 

 value of the stock depending upon 

 the grade and the financial stand- 

 ing of the borrower. 



These loans are made for nine 

 months in case of cattle, and six 

 months for sheep with the amount 

 loaned in general running from 

 80% down in the case of cattle, and 

 75% down in the case of sheep. 



For additional information write 

 directly to the National Live Stock 

 Credit Corporation, 228 N. La- 

 Salle St., Chicago, 111. 



"Probably tlie low point in prices 

 of stocks, bonds, and basic commod- 

 ities has been passed, but the world 

 monetary chaos is still with us. For 

 the next ten years, world demand for 

 gold will probably be the major fac- 

 tor affecting prices, as it has been 

 for the past seventeen years. Caution 

 about debts continues to be good ad- 

 vice."— G. F. Warren, August, 1932. 



A black, neatly polished steer 

 calf belonging to Robert Woolsey of 

 Williamsfield, in Knox county, sold 

 for top price of all 4-H Club calves 

 on Aug. 23 in the first calf club 

 auction of the year, conducted by 

 the International Livestock Exposi- 

 tion at the Union Stock Yards, Chi- 

 cago. Between 250 and 300 calves 

 were auctioned off by Carey M. 

 Jones. The Woolsey calf selling for 

 $9.75 per hundred pounds was the 

 only calf of the entire sale to bring 

 that price. Armour and Company 

 was the buyer. 



A total of 39 calves were sold from 

 Knox county yesterday on a mar- 

 ket that had declined $1 per hun- 

 dred from the values a week pre- 

 vious, market quotations on 900 to 

 1100 pound steers ranging from 

 $6.50 for medium grade to $8 for 

 good steers. A total of 25 of the 39 

 Knox county calves sold for $8, or 

 better. 



Sfronger Wool Market 



Reported By National 



We can report another week of 

 very satisfactory sales with values 

 showing decidedly advancing tend- 

 encies, reports the National Wool 

 {Continued on page 17) 



