I. A. A. RECORD— July, 1933 



19 



Milnor Tells Illinois 



Grain Board About 

 The Farnners National 





We Are Thriving and Growing 



Constantly, He Says, That's 



Why the Trade is 



Fighting Us 



A 



BRIEF report on recent prog- 

 ress of the Farmers National 

 Grain Corporation was made 

 by General Manager George S. Milnor 

 before the Illinois Grain Corporation 

 board in Chicago June 12. 



Mr. Milnor made clear the position 

 of the Farmers National on its loans 

 from the Farm Board and answered 

 what he branded as false charges and 

 propaganda circulated by the grain 

 trade. 



"It is true that the Farmers Na- 

 tional refunded its $16,000,000 loan 

 from the Farm Board about a year 

 ago to provide for payment over 

 a ten-year period," said Mr. Milnor. 

 "This fact was given plenty of pub- 

 licity at the time. More recently the 

 grain trade and the newspapers that 

 speak for them have tried to make 

 it appear that there was something 

 irregular about this procedure. The 

 Farmers National secured this loan 

 at a low rate of interest. But under 

 the Marketing Act it was definitely 

 provided that co-operatives should pay 

 the same interest rate as the Federal 

 government paid on its lowest inter- 

 est bearing securities. Under the law 

 Farmers National could pay no more. 



They Were Disappointed 



"The grain trade is now boasting 

 about its propaganda having elimi- 

 nated the Federal Farm Board and 

 the Grain Stabilization Corporation. 

 Apparently they expected the Farmers 

 National to be eliminated along with 

 them and were chagrined when your 

 organization kept right on doing 

 business." 



Mr. Milnor stated that the national 

 co-operative will handle approximately 

 one-sixth of all the wheat raised in 

 the United States this year. "This 

 hurts the grain trade," said Milnor. 

 "Much of this business formerly went 

 to private commission men. Now the 

 farmers are doing it themselves 

 through their own agency. The Farm- 

 ers National is making money. It has 

 always made money, but this money 

 belongs to the producers and is re- 

 flected in their growing investments, 

 facilities, and in dividends to the 

 stockholder co-operatives. 



ALADDIN GAS STATION AT ROCK ISLAND 



LirMlir Smith, member of the Rock Inland County Farm Bureau, haM inHtalled 

 thlt* filling citation adjolninij^ hiti apple houiie at 4lMt street and <tth avenue. Rock 

 Inland, where he dieipenMet* service petroleum products to the public. 



GaH and oil are obtained throufch the Henry-Stark Service Company. Smith 

 has been active in both the Henry and Rock iHland County Farm Bureaus since 

 he returned from the army in 102O. 



■* 



"So far as our loans are concerned," 

 said Milnor, "the Farmers National 

 will have liquidated its borrowings 

 from the Farm Board, in my judg- 

 ment, many years before the govern- 

 ment gets back all the money it loaned 

 to railroads and banks. The fact that 

 125 farmers' elevators in Iowa joined 

 the Farmers National in the past year 

 was another blow to the trade." 



Illinois Grain Leads 



Milnor stated that the Illinois Grain 

 Corporation had shawn the largest 

 growth in volume of grain handled of 

 any stockholder member during 1932. 

 He indicated that this is the reason 

 why propaganda against I.linois Grain 

 and Farmers National is being con- 

 centrated in this state. The Farmers 

 National, he said, had met all its obli- 

 gations to the Farm Board on the day 

 due. Also that the co-operative was 

 borrowing large sums from private 

 banks in New York, Chicago, St. Louis 

 and other cities. "We are the largest 

 grain handling concern in the United 

 States," he said. "And we need large 

 sums of money for working capital. 

 The Farmers National today has 

 about 20,000,000 bushels of grain." 



In spite of the outlook for a small 

 winter wheat crop Milnor expressed 

 the belief that application of the do- 

 mestic allotment plan embodied in the 

 Emergency Farm Act would have to 

 be made to avoid piling up another 



surplus next year. The carry-over this 

 year, he said, is approximately 360,- 

 000,000 bushels, and production for 

 1933 is estimated about the same. "If 

 we don't export any more wheat than 

 last year (38,000,000 bushels) and 

 consume a normal amount at home, 

 we will still have an estimated carry- 

 over of 260,000,000 bushels of wheat 

 a year from now in spite of the light 

 1933 crop. 



Furnishing Competition 



"We at the Farmers National don't 

 claim to be able to bid the highest 

 price for grain all the time," said Mil- 

 nor. "We can and are meeting compe- 

 tition most of the time," he said. 

 "Moreover the competition furnished 

 by the Farmers National in buying 

 grain all over the country has nar- 

 rowed the spread between the local 

 elevator and terminal and future 

 prices. You have seen the result of 

 this in Illinois," he continued. "It has 

 been more noticeable in the southwest 

 where the private trade used to take 

 a margin of eight to 12 cents per 

 bushel on wheat in Oklahoma where 

 at present the margin is only three 

 to four cents per bushel. The Farm- 

 ers National has been responsible for 

 elevating the price of grain in this 

 country compared \/ith the world 

 market. A study of prices during the 

 past five years will convince anyone 

 of this fact." .....<., 



