'*T^F'-*p"'"Tr '■:■- — 



November, 1932 



THE I. A. A. RECORD 



Page Nine 



'^■■» 



4'* 



.AK. 



<)>, 



* >< 



^ ._ 



" 



'«r f 



Vote for Your Friends 



(Continued from page 8) 



affecting farm interests before the 

 special session of the legislature last 

 winter. 



When in operation it is believed 

 that this legislation will provide from 

 $25,000,000 to $30,000,000 per year in 

 such years as 1931, and from $40,000,- 

 000 to $45,000,000 per year in years of 

 greater prosperity — all of which will 

 REPLACE a like amount of taxes now 

 levied on property. 



The Illinois Agricultural Associa- 

 tion sponsored this measure and 

 urged a favorable vote by members 

 of both houses at Springfield. The 

 vote on this bill was a test of each 

 member's interest in removing a part 

 of the heavy tax burden now borne 

 by property owners. The vote was a 

 test of each legislator's interest in 

 bringing tax relief to the farmer and 

 home owner. 



The members of the Association 

 and friends of agriculture must rec- 

 ognize that to secure the passage of 

 this legislation, tremendous opposi- 

 tion had to be overcome. Many of 

 those who have been enjoying privi- 

 leges and benefits of government 

 without contributing directly to its 

 cost recognized immediately that this 

 legislation would bring them into the 

 tax-paying class. 



Members of the General Assembly 

 were importuned on every hand to 

 oppose the legislation. To those mem- 

 bers who stood up against all opposi- 

 tion and who overcame all obstacles 

 obstructing its passage belongs the 

 credit for these newly created stat- 

 utes. Farmers and other property 

 owners, regardless of party faith, 

 should support these members in the 

 coming election. 



Put Export Bounty On 



Hog Products of Ireland 



New governmental regulations re- 

 lating to hog production and inter- 

 national trade in pork products have 

 been adopted or proposed recently in 

 several European countries. 



Export bounties for hog products 

 have been inaugurated in the Irish 

 Free State and the Netherlands, and 

 the establishment of quotas for 

 imports of lard and pork products is 

 being advocated strongly in Ger- 

 many. 



Recent declines in hog prices in 

 the United States are attributed to 

 relatively large supplies of dressed 

 pork. Inspected slaughter in Septem- 

 ber was the largest on record for that 

 month. 



Consumption of pork, lard, and 

 mutton in the U. S are greater this 

 year than last, while beef and veal 

 consumption are lower. Exports of 

 hog products for the first eight 

 months of '32 were the smallest for 

 any corresponding period in at least 

 30 years. 



Acreage reduction as a way to 

 higher farm prices is receiving more 

 and more consideration as thinking 

 people delve deeper into the farm 

 problem. 



in a good position and revalue the 

 real estate, the crop must not be 

 over two-tnirds of a regular normal 

 acreage. Anything above that would 

 only continue very low prices. Then, 

 after that is done, let them have a 

 little backbone and sell their crops 

 for cost of production plus a nice 

 profit, same as a manufacturer might 

 do. 



Acreage reduction must be con- 

 sidered whether we will or not, if 

 higher prices is to be our goal. The 

 American farmer's market outlook 

 is far different today than a few 

 years ago. The entire civilized world 

 is going through a depression. Coun- 

 tries burdened with debt, of neces- 

 sity, are conducting their businesses 

 very much the same as an individual 

 or a family in a similar position. 

 They are growing more of their own 

 food supply, busring as little as possi- 

 ble, paying off their debts. Tariff 

 barriers, import quotas, and embar- 

 goes are symptons of this condition. 



"If it were not talking out of 

 school, I could tell you that in our 

 line of production we see to it that 

 we do not produce merchandise that 

 is not wanted. That is what the 

 farmers are doing, and they are suf- 

 fering from the result. Ten cents for 

 corn is a joke. That is what it is 

 worth here now for any corn. It is 

 simply destitution. It is bankruptcy. 



As a result the export market for 

 many American farm products has 

 all but evaporated. Until that mar- 

 ket is re-established and trading be- 

 tween nations resumed, it seems folly 

 to continue producing more than the 

 market wants at a price somewhere 

 near cost of production. That is 

 unless we desire to be altruistic and 

 continue producing a cheap food 

 supply at less than cost as a public 

 benefaction. 



"At the same time, if we had 1,500,- 

 000,000 bushels of corn crop, and if 

 we had had not over 550,000,000 

 bushels of wheat raised, the farmer 

 would be well-to-do today. There 

 would not be any foreclosures for 

 non-payment of taxes and interest. 

 Country banks and all banks inter- 

 ested in real estate would not have 

 been forced into bankruptcy, and the 

 farmers would be buying their sup- 

 plies and paying for them. The 

 whole country would be benefited, 

 instead of Sovietized as we are today. 



Few people doubt the effectiveness 

 of a drastic cut in com and wheat 

 acreage in raising prices. But there 

 is some doubt about possibilities for 

 accomplishing this feat following a 

 voluntary plan. The fact is that such 

 a plan has never been seriously at- 

 tempted. There has never been any 

 organization to put the job over. 

 There has been advice and warning 

 which, as might be expected, got 

 nowhere. 



"But they must be well guarded 

 against the commission men and rail- 

 roads and speculators. They will 

 make the greatest howl against a 

 reduced acreage that you have ever 

 heard, but at the same time, that is 

 the saving of the farming situation." 



That farmers and others depend- 

 ent on agriculture are giving serious 

 thought to acreage reduction is in- 

 dicated by expressions from many 

 sources. They do not all agree on 

 the amount of reduction, nor on the 

 means of obtaining the desired ends. 

 "A 25 per cent reduction is not 

 enough," writes Leon Lemaire, 

 farmer and manufacturer of Des 

 Moines county, Iowa, who states that 

 he has lost large sums of money in 

 farming during the past eight years. 

 Mr. Lemaire also manufactures pearl 

 buttons a goodly share of the income 

 from which he presumably has lost 

 in farming. 



"The supply that is carried over 

 would still make an oversupply and 

 the price would not respond," he con- 

 tinues. "In order to make the prices 

 respond enough to put the farmers 



The surplus bugaboo is the stum- 

 bling block which has wrecked nearly 

 all previous efforts to maintain prof- 

 itable prices for agriculture or other 

 commodities. Once the crop is pro- 

 duced, whether it is kept on the 

 farm, impounded in terminal eleva- 

 tors, or shipped abroad, it has a 

 depressing influence on markets. But 

 if an effective way can be found to 

 curb production, to keep the surplus 

 in the ground as in the case of crude 

 oil in Oklahoma and Texas, the prob- 

 lem will be largely solved. 



And with reduced acreage farmers 

 will be conserving soil fertility, sav- 

 ing labor, cutting down the wear and 

 tear on machinery and equipment, 

 and getting more actual dollars for 

 their lowered production than they 

 heretofore have secured for a record- 

 breaking crop. — E. Q. T. 



Stove pipes should always enter 

 directly into the chimney without 

 passing through closets, walls, or 

 partitions If the chimney pipe must 

 pass through a partition, a ventilat- 

 ing thimble should be provided. 



;>v^ 



