February, 1933 



THE I. A. A. RECORD 



Page Five 



on 



at- 



> to 



About the Convention at Peoria 



(Continued from page 3) 



debated in the closed session on 

 Wednesday night, a time when in- 

 ternal, confidential problems vital 

 to the organization are annually 

 discussed. 



There was no set program that 

 night. The question of dues was in- 

 troduced from the floor by a Farm 

 Bureau president asking for expe- 

 riences and information from other 

 counties. Then spontaneously came 

 one after another, men who 

 pioneered in the Farm Bureau 

 movement, others who came later 

 in response to the call to assume re- 

 sponsibility and leadership in the 

 county organizations. And here is 

 the way they analyzed it: 



Cutting dues hasn't resulted In 

 increased membership wherever 

 tried; in fact it has weakened mem- 

 bership by reducing service and so 

 paving the way for a decline. Every 

 member who uses his organization 

 is getting more than his dues back 

 in actual cash savings and refunds, 

 directly, to say nothing of the in- 

 direct benefits through having a 

 representative organization fighting 

 for his interests before legislative, 

 tax, and rate -making bodies. We 

 need organization now more than 

 ever. We will do nothing to weaken 

 our cause. 



The annual meetings and con- 

 ferences of associated companies on 

 Jan. 25 disclosed that the service 

 institutions set up by the parent or- 

 ganization are in a thriving con- 

 dition, all having paid dividends on 

 capital stock and with one excep- 

 tion have added to capital reserves. 

 Announcement of the declaration of 

 an extra $48,000 of dividends to 

 Country Life policy holders by the 

 Holding Company was welcome 

 news in view of recent action by 

 many life companies in reducing 

 their dividends. 



The opening session of the I. A. A. 

 convention on Thursday morning in 

 the Rialto Theatre found nearly 

 every one of the 1,750 seats on the 

 main floor and balcony filled. The 

 Pawnee Four were back with new 

 songs and poetry in tune with the 

 times. The old time favorite, "Down 

 On the Farm at Half Past Four", 

 sung at the banquet, was as good as 

 ever to old convention goers, and 

 more than delightful to the new- 

 comers. 



Plans to round up the 120 found- 

 ers of the I. A. A. who signed $100 

 notes to underwrite the launching 

 of the Association at the initial 

 meeting in Peoria 14 years ago 

 failed to materialize because a list 

 of the signers was not readily avail- 

 able. However, many of these old 

 timers were around the convention 

 halls taking honest and justified 

 pride in the growth of the baby 

 they produced early in 1919. 



Without vision of the founders, 



Nearly every seat was filled as the opening session of the big convention 

 got underway in the Rialto Theatre Thursday morning. 



Fred Lee Outlines Farm 

 Debt Refinancing Plan 



Higher Farm Prices The Way 

 Out He Says, But Tells What 

 Can Be Done In Mean- 

 time 



THIS question of farm mortgages 

 is tied up closely to reflation and 

 higher prices. The price scale is the 

 important thing for with present 

 prices no farmer can pay off on his 

 mortgage no matter how much re- 

 funding and refinancing is done, 

 Fred P. Lee, of Washington, D. C, 

 legislative counsel of farm organi- 

 zations, said in his address before 

 the I. A. A. convention on January 

 27. 



Pending the return of higher 

 prices, said Lee, we need a plan to 

 stave off foreclosures and ease the 

 debt situation. There are many 

 ways to refinance such as scaling 

 down principal payments, extend- 

 ing time of payment, and reducing 

 interest rates. 



The Congress can't flatly prevent 

 foreclosures, nor can it reduce the 

 first mortgage on a property, but 

 the creation of conciliation commit- 

 tees can do much toward adjusting 

 debts, and composing secured and 

 unsecured debts to give the debtor 

 a chance to pay out on a long time 

 basis at reduced rates of interest. 



Details Plan 



Mr. Lee outlined in detail the plan 



and the continued support of those 

 who saw beyond the bricks and win- 

 dows and visualized the building 

 and its possibilities, Illinois farmers 

 today could not point with genuine 

 satisfaction to a long list of 

 achievements made possible by or- 

 ganization . — Editor. 



embodied in the resolution on this 

 question reproduced elsewhere in 

 this issue. He suggested the forma- 

 tion of a billion dollar corporation 

 to take up present farm mortgages 

 and debts that are in distress, ex- 

 tend their maturity, and stop indis- 

 criminate foreclosures. He would 

 have the joint stock land banks 

 liquidated gradually without caus- 

 ing them to foreclose on their mort- 

 gages. 



Mr. Lee illustrated how he would 

 compose farm debts by assuming 

 that Farmer A has debts totaling 

 $10,000. Of this amount suppose 

 $6,000 represents a first mortgage 

 on the farm, $2,000 a second mort- 

 gage, and $2,000 of unsecured debts. 

 He would scale down the second 

 mortgage and unsecured debt total- 

 ing $4,000 to $1,500, for example, 

 leaving a total debt of $7,500 which 

 the refinancing corporation would 

 take over to be amortized over a 

 long period of time at a reduced 

 rate of interest. Lee thinks it doubt- 

 ful if anything can be done to ar- 

 bitrarily reduce a first mortgage on 

 property. 



He closed by emphasizing the im- 

 portance of organized farmers pre- 

 senting a united front at Washing- 

 ton and elsewhere in their efforts 

 to gain needed legislation. It 

 pleased Congress when on January 

 12 the farm groups all got together 

 on a program to raise farm prices, 

 he said. Division in the farm ranks 

 only plays into the hands of those 

 who are against doing anything for 

 agriculture. 



The resolution on farm mort- 

 gage indebtedness follows the plan 

 outlined by Fred Lee in his address 

 on this subject at the Friday morn- 

 ing session. 



