February, 1933 



THE I. A. A. RECORD 



Page Tvyenty -three 



Farm Supply Conference 

 Peoria Well Attended 



Hear of Tremendous Growth of 



Company In Recent Years, 



Big Gain In Future Orders 



L. B. MARCHANT 



UTMOST confidence that 1933 

 will surpass even the remark- 

 able record made in 1932 was ex- 

 pressed at the various conferences 

 of officials of Illinois Farm Supply 



Company and 

 officers of affil- 

 iated county 

 companies held 

 in connec t i o n 

 with the annual 

 meeting of the 

 I. A. A. at Peoria. 

 Approximate 1 y 

 350 attended the 

 session. 



L. R. Mar- 

 chant, manager 

 of the Company, 

 announ c e d at 

 the "Victory 

 Breakfast" on January 27 that the 

 Company now has on order 579,805 

 gallons of lubricating oil for 1933 

 delivery as compared with approxi- 

 mately 350,000 gallons which were 

 on order at the same time a year 

 ago. Sales for 1933 in all depart- 

 ments will exceed 1932, C. W. Ward, 

 superintendent of sales, predicted, 

 for a number of reasons. First the 

 operations of the Company have in- 

 creased enormously in scope, due to 

 the extension of existing county 

 supply service and to the formation 

 of new companies; also to the fact 

 that the managers and salesmen 

 are better informed regarding their 

 product, while the field offers 

 plenty of room for expansion. 



22 Exceed Quotas 



Twenty-two company managers, 

 who made or exceeded their quotas 

 for 1933 delivery were guests at the 

 breakfast. 



At the conference held at the 

 Board of Education Building on 

 Jan. 25 at which F. E. Herndon, 

 president of the Company, presided, 

 special emphasis was laid on the 

 scope of Company operations, and 

 the importance of the supply busi- 

 ness to the Farm Bureaus of the 

 state. The annual report of the 

 Company was reviewed and it was 

 revealed that last year approxi- 

 mately 75,000 Illinois farmers were 

 customers of the county service 

 companies. Mr. Marchant pointed 

 out that the organized buying 

 power of P0,000 members of Illinois 

 Farm Bureaus, plus the economies 

 of group distribution effected 

 through the county service com- 

 panies, has resulted in a distribu- 

 tion of patronage dividends to 

 member - customers amounting to 

 more than half a million dollars 



Standing room only at the meeting of Service Company managers spon- 

 sored by Illinois Farm Supply Company, Peoria, Jan. 25. 



annually. At this meeting also there 

 was a general discussion of business 

 methods, methods of improving 

 service to the customer, and one 

 of the interesting features was a 

 chart showing that fifteen cents of 

 the farmer's dollar spent with the 

 county supply companies was re- 

 turned to member-patrons in the 

 form of patronage dividends. 



There was much interest in the 

 contest among the companies to sell 

 their various quotas of lubricating 

 oil for futur delivery. This contest 

 was won by Carroll county with a 

 sale of 159.5% of its quota. It was 

 notable that the twelve high com- 

 panies among the 52 competing 

 averaged 135.75% of the quotas as- 

 signed to them. F. E. Bender, of 

 Tazewell County, stood first in the 

 contest among the salesmen, with a 

 total of more than 6,400 gallons of 

 oil to his credit. 



Hear Report Year's Work 

 at Farmers' Mutual Meet. 



Nearly $11,000,000 fire and light- 

 ning insurance on farm buildings 

 and crops was written in 1932 by 

 Farmers Mutual Reinsurance Com- 

 pany, it was reported at the annual 

 meeting of the Company held at 

 Peoria January 25. Geo. F. Tullock 

 of Rockford, president of the Com- 

 pany , presided. About 300 were 

 present. 



This impressive amount of fire 

 and lightning insurance was aug- 

 mented by the following totals writ- 

 ten by the various departments of 

 the Company: 



Windstorm, cyclone and tornado, 

 about $6,000,000, farm crop hail in- 

 surance approximately $947,000 and 

 hail on buildings about $615,000. 



At the annual election the fol- 

 lowing were chosen as directors: 

 Norman Flagg, Moro; G. F. Hayes, 

 Aledo and J. M. Beckett, Blue 

 Mound, the latter being a new ad- 

 dition to the board. 



Prospects for the coming year 

 were favorable, the various speakers 

 asserted, particularly in the line of 

 fire prevention where the com- 

 pany's efforts since its inception 

 have been unceasing and which J. 

 H. Kelker, manager, declared are 

 bearing more and more fruit, with 

 satisfactory results in cutting down 

 claims and keeping insurance costs 

 at a minimum. 



Grain and Livestock 



Conventions in Febr. 



The annual meeting of the Illi- 

 nois Livestock Marketing Associa- 

 tion at Bloomington on Feb. 14, and 

 the annual meeting of Illinois Grain 

 Corp. at Peoria on Feb. 22 head the 

 list of activities of organized Illi- 

 nois farmers for this month. 



Addresses by Earl C. Smith and 

 Chas. E. Ewing will feature the 

 meeting of livestock growers at the 

 McLean county seat. Mr. Smith will 

 discuss "The Essentials of a Suc- 

 cessful Marketing Program," and 

 Mr. Ewing will talk on the subject, 

 "A Year with the National Live- 

 stock Marketing Association." The 

 meeting will be held in the Farm 

 Bureau building. 



In addition there will be reports 

 from Ray E. Miller and R. W. 

 Grieser on the first year's business, 

 and operation of the state sales of- 

 fice. Geo. F. Tullock will deliver 

 the treasurer's report. 



The annual meeting of Illinois 

 Grain Corp. scheduled for Washing- 

 ton's birthday will be held in the 

 Jefferson Hotel, Peoria. C. E. Huff, 

 president, Farmers National Grain 

 Corp. will address the gathering. 

 Other speakers will be announced 

 later. 



Truck competition is costing the 

 railroads at least $275,000,000 a year, 

 according to an estimate of the 

 U. S. Department of Commerce. 



