14 



I. A. A. RECORD— May, 1933 



borrowed a little more than $400,000 

 through the Chicago Producers' Loan 

 Service in 1932. Since 1924 the Pro- 

 ducers loaned approximately one and 

 two-third millions of dollars of which 

 only a little more than $6,000 was 

 lost. The association carries ample 

 bonds to protect shippers. The organi- 

 zation has investments of $107,627 of 

 which $35,000 is in government bonds, 

 and $64,000 in the stock of associated 

 companies. Net worth at the close of 

 the year was $156,770.85, a gain of a 

 little more than $16,000 for the year. 



Chas. A. Ewing, president of the 

 National Association, gave a highly 

 interesting talk in which he expressed 

 optimism over the outlook for agri- 

 cultural relief from Washington. He 

 lauded the progress made by the new 

 administration, but suggested that or- 

 ganized livestock growers better get 

 ready in the next few years to do 

 their own financing. "Nothing is so 

 uncertain as the uncertainty of poli- 

 tics," he said. "We must not depend 

 too much on any one bill. We must 

 become self-reliant. v 



"Our biggest job," he said, "is to 

 concentrate terminal and direct mar- 

 keting. Science has done much for 

 agriculture since the turn of the cen- 

 tury, but apparently it has not solved 

 the problem of maintaining prosperi- 

 ty. While the National Marketing As- 

 sociation members increased their 

 business 15 per cent in volume last 

 year the livestock handled brought ap- 

 proximately 46 per cent less money." 



Ewing expressed approval of the 

 new farm bill, but believes its most 

 hopeful feature is that concerned with 

 establishing reciprocal trade agree- 

 ments with foreign countries. He at- 

 tacked the industrial tariff which, he 

 said, had nursed industries along for 

 more than 100 years. "I agree with 

 Joe Fulkerson of Jerseyville," he said: 

 "If I had a calf that couldn't stand up 

 and suck after 140 years, I would veal 

 it." 



Directors chosen to represent the 

 four districts whose directors' terms 

 had expired were as follows: Chas. J. 

 Hearst, Jr., Blackhawk county, Iowa; 

 Earl Gehring, Knox county, Illinois; 

 Frank Snodgrass, Geneseo, Henry 

 county, Illinois, and Theodore Oriez, 

 Washington, Iowa. 



Dolomite, or dolomitic limestone, 

 added to complete fertilizers which 

 contain ammonium compounds will 

 prevent them from increasing soil 

 acidity. - 



The gross income from dairy prod- 

 ucts last year was $1,180,000,000 or 

 about half the income of 1929. Poultry 

 and eggs yielded $608,000,000 in 1932, 

 a decline of 52 per cent since 1929. 



NEW STOCKYARDS ON I. C. AT BLOOMINGTON 



The McLean county unit of Illinois Iilvestock Marketing: Association vvlll use 

 these facilities recently completed at Bloominiirton. There are 28 pens under one 

 roof. liO'^ver vletv sho'ws unloading platform for trucks. 



Direct Shipping of Hogs 

 ,; ; Cuts Terminal Prices 



How direct buying of hogs at local 

 concentration points is undermining 

 terminal market prices was explained 

 by Ray Miller, director of livestock 

 marketing, before the I. A. A. Board 

 March 24. 



A recent survey shows that hogs 

 are being bought by local packer 

 buyers for direct shipment at 29 dif- 

 ferent points in Illinois, said Miller. 

 In many cases these hogs are shipped 

 direct to eastern markets such as 

 Buffalo and Pittsburgh. By shipping 

 direct the buyers make a substantial 

 saving on freight rates, compared 

 with the combined rate from the coun- 

 try point to Chicago or St. Louis, and 

 then on east to destination. 



For example, the hog rate from 

 Bluffs, 111. to Buffalo, N. Y. is 46 

 cents per cwt. Thus a buyer at Bluffs 

 could secure plenty of hogs within 

 the past week for $3.65 per cwt. He 

 could add a commission of 15 cents 

 and lay these hogs down at Buffalo 

 to the packer at $4.26. Hogs were sell- 

 ing on the open market at Buffalo at 

 considerably more money. 



Has Bearish Influence 



This district buying has a bearish 

 influence on all the terminal markets 

 according to Miller. The result of the 

 system is to place farmers in direct 

 competition with each other. The seller 

 for the lowest price tends to set th6 

 price for all. 



Miller stated that farmers today 

 are receiving less than 30 per cent of 

 the consumer's pork dollar. Based on 



recent prices the Illinois hog crop for 

 1933 he said will bring the farmer ap- 

 proximately $44,000,000 whereas the 

 consumer will pay approximately 

 $176,000,000 for the finished product. 

 In other words, it will cost close to 

 $132,000,000 to process and distribute 

 the Illinois hog crop. Packers and dis- 

 tributors thus receive three times 

 more for processing and handling the 

 hogs than the farmer receives. r- 



In Denmark where farmers have 

 co-operative packing plants, the pro- 

 ducer gets close to 60 to 70 per cent 

 of the consumer's dollar. Before the 

 war Illinois farmers were receiving 

 upwards of 50 per cent of the con- 

 sumer's pork dollar. 



"It is time that livestock growers 

 made a more complete study of pack- 

 ing and distributing their commod- 

 ities," said Miller, "not so much with 

 the idea of getting into the packing 

 business themselves, but to learn how 

 the excessive cost and waste of get- 

 ting the finished product to the con- 

 sumer can be reduced." 



Dairy Products Lead 



In Gross Farnn Inconne 



Dairy products assumed first place 

 in the amount of gross farm income 

 during 1932. This position was form- 

 erly held by the livestock group, in- 

 cluding cattle, hogs, and sheep. Live- 

 stock in 1932 was the second largest 

 source of income to farmers of the 

 U. S. and vegetables third. 



Gross income from cattle, hogs, and 

 sheep declined from $2,807,000,000 in 

 1929 to $1,122,000,000 in 1932— a drop 

 of 60 per cent. 



^iH- 



'^k* 



