I. A. A. RECORD— September, 1933 



Former Gov. Lowden Is 



Honored In Broadcast 



Awarded Medal For Distin- 

 guished Service to Agriculture 



A TRIBUTE to Fr^ilk 0. Low- 

 den of Oregon, ill., recently 

 awarded the Distinguished 

 Service Medal of the American Farm 

 Bureau Federation for "distinguished 

 service to agriculture" was delivered 

 by President Earl C. Smith, over 57 

 radio stations in the NBC chain Sat- 

 urday noon, Aug. 12. 



"On behalf of the American Farm 

 Bureau Federation, I am highly hon- 

 ored in being afforded this opportu- 

 nity to pay its tribute and respect to 

 a great national leader on this occa- 

 sion when it publicly confers upon the 

 Honorable Frank O. Lowden, Illinois 

 farmer and former Governor of this 

 great state, its highest award for dis- 

 tinguished service," said Mr. Smith. 



"It is pleasing, indeed, to know that 

 farmers and their friends throughout 

 the United States are listening in on 

 this broadcast and are in full accord 

 with the speaker as we honor this 

 great leader and statesman. 



"I keenly recognize my responsibil- 

 ity in choosing the words to confer 

 this honor, as words seem meager, in- 

 deed, to express my innermost feelings 

 to and of Mr. Lowden. for his great 

 service and sacrifice in behalf of 

 justice and equity to the farm people 

 of this nation. 



His Words Prophetic 



"For many years as a 'farmer, later 

 as a Congressman and th6ft as Gover- 

 nor of Illinois, h^ lias never failed, 

 whenever opporturiity VduSd afford, to 

 express cleiarly and definitely that the 

 nation could only enjoy permanent 

 prosperity to the extent .that its agri-: 

 culture was recognized as the basic 

 industry of all and those engaged in 

 farming pursuits were allowed to re- 

 ceive incomes commensurate with the 

 importance of the industry and on a 

 plane of equality with that enjoyed by 

 the other citizens of the nation, 



"Throughout his career, he has 

 proven himself an advanced student of 

 taxation and other public policy mat- 

 ters. He was the first citizen of na- 

 tional prominence in saying to the na- 

 tion that government policy toward its 

 agrtctjlture must be changed, so that 

 the surpluses of agricultural com- 

 modities which our bountiful soil was 

 providing be not allowed to depress 

 the domestic price levels for such 

 commodities. 



"For many years, from the platform 

 and through the press, he pleaded with 

 those controlling public policy for the 

 enactment of laws necessary to se- 



Debate Price of Cream 



In Ice Cream Code 



Farmers R^resented by I. A. A. 



and Co-ops. in Conferences 



with Manufacturers 



Frank O. Lowden 



cure for the American farmer, for that 

 portion of his production consumed in 

 the American market, a price in line 

 with American standards of living and 

 society. He insisted that unless this 

 were done the whole economic fabric 

 of America would break down, that 

 we would find ourselves in a state of 

 chaos and great unemployment be- 

 cause the greatest buyers of all — the 

 American farmer and those dependent 

 upon farmers — ^were being forced out 

 of the buying market for the products 

 of other industries. 



Made Great Cotiti'ibution 



"Had his pleadings been heard and 

 his counsel and advice followed, we in 

 America ^ould not today be strug- 

 gling to restore the., pillions of , un- 

 employed, people to tbeir f<JrmeJ? jt)bs 

 — the Am6rican farmer would not to- 

 day find himself burdened , with debt 

 and the natron as a whcde facing ■•» 

 total debt of $200,000,000,000 which -is 

 more than the value of all the prop- 

 erty in the United States. ^ - 



"He contributed more than any liv- 

 ing American in efforts to awaken the 

 citizens of this great country to the 

 seriousness of this situation and we 

 are forced to recognize the soundness 

 of his predictions when he said, 'un- 

 less this great farm problem is 

 squarely met and properly solved, it 

 will ultimately undermine the eco- 

 nomic welfare of the nation.' 



"No sacrifice has been too great 

 for him to make in expressing these 

 honest convictions and • forewarning 

 the nation, even possibly' sacrificing 

 what is nationally termed the greatest 

 honor of all — the presidency of the 

 United States. 



"The consistency with which he has 

 for so many years championed the 

 cause of agriculture and the welfare 

 of the United States, could lead the 

 Awarding Committee of the American 

 Farm Bureau Federation to no other 

 conclusion than selecting him as the 



THE Illinois Agricultural As- 

 sociation and the milk producer 

 co-operatives in Illinois set up 

 by the I. A. A. and County Farm Bu- 

 reaus are trying to get farmers a bet- 

 ter price for s\yeet cream through the 

 adoption of a code for the ice <?ream 

 industry that protects the interests of 

 producers. 



J. B. Countiss of the I. A. A.; Don 

 N. Geyer of the Pure Milk Associa- 

 tion, Chicago; A. D. Lynch, Sanitary 

 Milk Producers, St. Louis; Wilfred 

 Shaw, Illinois Milk Producers Associa- 

 tion, Peoria; Forrest Fairchild, Mc- 

 Lean County Milk Producers; and 

 Wilkie Lee, Mid-West Dairy Company, 

 Rockford, represented producers at a 

 recent conference in Chicago with Illi- 

 nois ice cream manufacturers. 



The producer representatives in- 

 sisted on a provision for a substantial 

 premium price over the Chicago 92 

 score butter market that gives full 

 recognition to extra labor and expense 

 involved in producing high quality 

 sweet cream for tlTe ice cream trade. 



A national code for the ice cream, in- 

 dustry was considered at a h^wrlm^ 

 before the Agricultural Adjustment 

 Administration at Washington oiii 

 August 10. The marketing agreement 

 submitted by the Ice Cream Manufac- 

 turers Assoeiatiouls now on file with 

 Secretary Wallace., y inc}udea minif 

 mum price jsi-oposals, the-sfet-up' of > the 

 governing comtnittee, .-t^trms of dijs- 

 counts and fair trade practices, and a 

 sample of a tentative marketing agree- 

 ment for the different state units to 

 submit so as to co-ordinate the whole 

 ihdustry. ' ^■ 



The national ice cream manufac- 

 turers' agreement proposes minority 

 representation for producers. The Ij. A. 

 A. objected to this provision when sub- 

 mitted by Illinois manufacturers anq 

 will insist on equal representation for 

 farmers on the national control board 

 when sweet cream and butterfat price 

 schedules are considered. 



- t 



outstanding citizen and farmer in the 

 United States to receive its highest 

 award for distinguished-service. 



"In closing, I want to say to Mr. 

 Lowden, if he is listening in, that I 

 am sure I voice the heartfelt feelings 

 and sentiments of the thinking people 

 of the United States when I say — ^we 

 not only love you and honor you, but 

 shall esteem your memory as long as. 

 the present generation may survive." 



