Page Six 



THE I. A. A. RECORD 



February, 1933 



Nearly 2000 Assemble 



In Armory For Banquet 



Harriman and O'Neal Speak, 

 Many Guests Attend 



THE largest single gathering of 

 the convention was the banquet 

 on Thursday night when nearly 

 2,000 crowded into Peoria's new ar- 

 mory. A large number sat in the 

 balcony to hear the speeches but 

 did not take part in the dinner. It 

 was necessary to cook the food else- 

 where and bring it in since the 

 armory has no kitchen facilities. 



"We served more than 1,600 peo- 

 ple and never missed a fork," com- 

 mented the caterer the next day. 



The acoustics in the armory were 

 very poor but with the aid of the 

 I, A. A. public address system, 

 speakers' voices were carried clearly 

 to nearly all sections of the big 

 room. When speakers moved away 

 from the microphone it was next to 

 impossible to hear them beyond a 

 few rows from the speakers' table. 



H. I. Harriman, president of the 

 U. S. Chamber of Commerce, the 

 first speaker, received a warm wel- 

 come from the audience. He stuck 

 closely to his manuscript. President 

 Edward O'Neal of the American 

 Farm Bureau discarded his written 

 speech and much to the delight of 

 the audience gave an informal and 

 intimate word picture of lobbying 

 and legislative developments at 

 Washington interspersed with plen- 

 ty of Ed's famous picturesque lan- 

 guage. 



Presidents and managers of co- 

 operative marketing organizations 

 operating in Illinois, and the I. A. 

 A. staff who were introduced en 

 masse, occupied a long table imme- 

 diately in front of the speakers' 

 platform. 



Among the guests introduced by 

 President Smith were C. A. Atwood, 

 Chicago, president Allied Mills; C. 

 V. Gregory, editor, Prairie Farmer; 

 Dean H. W. Mumford; Harvey 

 O'Hair, ex-Chairman House agricul- 

 tural committee; Senator Simon E. 

 Lantz, chairman Senate agricultural 

 committee; J. C. Spitler, state ex- 

 tension leader; George C. Jewett, of 

 Chicago; Allan Gordon, of the Illi- 

 nois Manufacturers' Association; C. 

 G. Ferris, secretary, Illinois Cham- 

 ber of Commerce; Fred Stowe, 

 editor Peoria Journal-Transcript; 

 Homer Ahrends, mayor of Peoria; 

 P. I. Rogers, president of Peoria 

 Chamber of Commerce; Irma Hill 

 Vogel, secretary Illinois Home Bu- 

 reau Federation; Eugene Eckert, 

 master State Grange; Senator Har- 

 ry Wilson, president, and H. O. Alli- 

 son, secretary, Illinois Farmers' In- 

 stitute; Harvey J. Sconce of the 

 Century of Progress; Howard Leon- 

 ard; George Milnor, Chicago, man- 



Produce Markets and Community Recreation were discussed at the Women's 

 Conference sponsored by the Illinois Home Bureau Federation. 



ager Farmers' National Grain Corp.; 

 Samuel R. Guard, editor, Breeder's 

 Gazette, and Fred Lee, legislative, 

 counsel, Washington.: '.-; ; 



Women Hear About 



Farm Produce Markets 



Co-operative marketing, home 

 bureau markets, and community 

 recreation featured discussion at 

 the women's conference sponsored 

 by the Illinois Home Bureau Fed- 

 eration during the I. A. A. conven- 

 tion, Peoria, Thursday, Jan. 26. Mrs. 

 Irma Hill Vogel, secretary, presided 

 in the absence of Mrs. Meis, presi- 

 dent, who is recovering from se- 

 rious injuries suffered in an auto- 

 mobile accident. 



In her address on Home Bureau 

 markets. Miss Grace Armstrong of 

 the University of Illinois stated that 

 when money is more plentiful it is 

 a man's world, but when cash is 

 scarce it then belongs to the woman. 

 "Women try to reduce expenditures 

 and try to increase the net income," 

 she said. "Many women have gone 

 back to the work they did before 

 they were married, some are teach- 

 ing school, and others have begun 

 private trading." 



Miss Armstrong stated that be- 

 tween 600 and 700 Illinois women 

 have formed co-operative organiza- 

 tions to sell farm produce. There 

 are 26 of these co-operative markets 

 operating in 14 counties, she said. 

 Of the 26 eighteen have been 

 launched since 1930. These 26 or- 

 ganizations are in towns ranging 

 from 4,000 to 45,000 in population. 

 A survey showed gross sales of 13 

 of the 14 counties having such or- 

 ganizations to be $107,577. 



Guy French of Putnam county 

 told of the progress farmers are 

 making in co-operative marketing. 

 The farm woman, he stated, has 

 borne more than she should because 

 co-operative marketing has not yet 



Many An Old-Timer 



At The Peoria Meeting 



■ Memories of the early days of the 

 I. A. A., particularly the historical 

 meeting held in Peoria early in 1919 

 when the Association was launched 

 on its present membership basis, 

 brought many an old-timer back 

 for the 18th annual meeting. 



Zealy M. Holmes of Peoria coun- 

 ty, gray-haired veteran Farm Bu- 

 reau leader who served as vice- 

 president of the I. A. A. in 1920-21, 

 was an interested spectator at all 

 the main sessions. 



Among other pioneers in the 

 movement who attended were J. C. 

 Sailor, Iroquois county, Charles 

 Borgelt, Mason county, Howard 

 Leonard, Woodford county, Harvey 

 J. Sconce, Vermilion county, Eugene 

 Funk and G. C. Johnstone of Mc- 

 Lean county, H. E. Goembel, Henry 

 county, Geo. A. Fox and Henry H. 

 Parke of DeKalb county, Edgar L. 

 Bill, former I. A. A. publicity direc- 

 tor and now owner of Station 

 WMBD, Peoria, C. V. Gregory, mem- 

 ber of the first I. A. A. legislative 

 and publicity committees, and W. 

 H. Moody, Rock Island county. 



President Earl Smith, Bob 

 Cowles, I. A. A. treasurer since 1922 

 and a pioneer in the organization of 

 McLean County Farm Bureau, Vice 

 President A. R. Wright, George F. 

 Tullock, W. L. Cope, Sam Sorrells, 

 Frank Barton, A. B. Culp, and 

 others still closely identified with 

 the Association, also were active in 

 the early history of the organiza- 

 tion, -\: \r.[K ...-. .'■■■■ 



reached its goal — that of giving the 

 farmer bargaining power through 

 control of a large volume in the 

 sale of his products. 



Mrs. Spencer Ewing led an inter- 

 esting discussion on the subject of 

 "Co-operation in Community Recre- 

 ation." 



