S. N. OETEB 



18 



Chicago Milk Shed Gets 



First Trade Agreement 



But Legal Battles Loom as 



Roadside Stands Refuse To 



Abide By 10c Price 



TO the fluid milk industry in the 

 Chicago milk shed goes the hon- 

 or of securing the first trade 

 agreement under the Agricultural Ad- 

 justment Administration. The agree- 

 ment was initiated by the Pure Milk 

 Association and Chicago milk dealers. 

 It was delayed for weeks while the 



Agricultural Ad- 

 justment Admin- 

 istration (Geo. N. 

 Peek) and the Na- 

 tional R e c very 

 A d m inistration 

 (G e n. Johnson) 

 argued as to 

 which should have 

 jurisdiction. Fi- 

 nally the matter 

 was taken to the 

 White House 

 where President 

 Roosevelt decided for the A.A.A. 



The influence of President Ed. A. 

 O'Neal of the American Farm Bureau 

 Federation was mighty helpful in get- 

 ting our agreement administered by 

 the Adjustment Administration, said 

 Don N. Geyer, manager of the Pure 

 Milk Ass'n. 



The agreement prescribes among 

 other things that the producer shall 

 receive $1.75 per cwt. for base milk 

 and that the retail price shall be 10 

 cents per quart to the consumer. The 

 so-called "independent" dairies and 

 roadside milk stands which have been 

 retailing unpasteurized milk, often in 

 unsanitary and germ-breeding sur- 

 roundings, at 6 to 9 cents a quart or 

 less, are contesting the agreement and 

 propose to carry the question up to 

 the Federal Supreme Court. They in- 

 sist on the right of selling milk for 

 less than 10c when the consumer 

 comes after it. Meantime the State 

 Department of Agriculture has 

 started to prosecute a number of milk 

 stands for violation of sanitary regu- 

 lations under the state pure food 

 laws. Until these questions are 

 settled the Chicago market will con- 

 tinue in an unstable condition, with 

 the regular dealers threatening to 

 lower the price to save their business 

 unless the unfair cut throat competi- 

 tion of the roadside stands and "inde- 

 pendents" is eliminated. At the same 

 time organized dairymen are demand- 

 ing that the trade agreement be 

 amended at an early date to give 

 them a 50 to 75 cent increase in the 

 base price so they can pay interest 

 and taxes and maintain their farms. 



Honor Frank I. Mann 



More than 300 friends qf Frank I. 

 Mann, noted soil and crop expert of 

 Gilman, Iroquois county, gathered at 

 his home Sunday, July 30, in recogni- 

 tion of his contribution to the better- 

 ment of Illinois agriculture. 



Robt. A. Cowles, treasurer, repre- 

 sented the I. A. A. The picnic in 

 honor of Mr. Mann was arranged by 

 Prairie Farmer and the Iroquois 

 County Farm Bureau. Ex-Gov. War- 

 ren T. McCray of Indiana, Dean Mum- 

 ford, Prof. Lehmann and Dr. Bauer of 

 the University of Illinois, Congress- 

 man Chas. Adkins of Decatur, C. V. 

 Gregory and Floyd Keepers of Prairie 

 Farmer, Eugene Funk of Bloomington, 

 and many others including Farm Bu- 

 reau member delegations from central 

 and eastern Illinois counties attended. 



Scale Down Debts, Get 



Connmissioner Loans 



Examples of How Farmers Are 

 Being Refinanced 



"Reports from the Commissioner's 

 agents show that much assistance al- 

 ready is being extended to farmers in 

 the numerous ways made possible by 

 their loans, including forestalling fore- 

 closures, scaling down of debts and 

 reduction in interest rates," says a re- 

 cent statement from the Farm Credit 

 Administration. 



"A Commissioner's loan of |900 re- 

 cently made to a farmer in Louisiana 

 whose total debts practically equalled 

 the appraised value of his farm made 

 it possible for him to scale down a 

 $726 second mortgage bearing 8 per 

 cent to $450, to settle his $161 tax bill 

 for $147 cash, and to pay off $662 

 of other debts for $165 cash and have 

 somethi.-g left with which to carry on 

 his farm operations for the current 

 year. He secured a scale-down of ap- 

 proximately $724 on his indebtedness 

 or about 25 per cent. 



"Another farmer in North Carolina 

 had a first mortgage amounting to 

 $3,751 on 126 acres appraised at $4,- 

 213. This farmer secured a Federal 

 Land Bank lo.n for $1,700, and a 

 Commissioner's second mortgage loan 

 for $1,200. He used the Federal Land 

 Bank loan and $702 from the Com- 

 missioner's loan to retire the first 

 mortgage, securing thereby a scaling 

 down of about 33 per cent. Of the 

 Commissioner's loan, $451 was used to 

 pay off a second mortgage amounting 

 to $994. The balance was used to pay 

 other debts. 



I. A. A. RECORD— September, 1933 



"A Commissioner's loan of $2,500, 

 made to a farmer in Minnesota, paid 

 off a loan of $2,906^ other indebted- 

 ness amounting to $54.20, and taxes 

 of $148.53. This farmer secured a 

 scale-down in his debts of approxi- 

 mately $638, a slight reduction in in- 

 terest and had funds left for farm 

 operations during the current year. 



"Another loan made in Missouri re- 

 sulted in a scale-down of about $300, 

 or 10 per cent on the first mortgage 

 and a reduction in the interest rate to 

 the borrower from 6 to 5 per cent. 

 This farmer obtained a Commission- 

 er's loan for $3,000. His farm was 

 valued at only $3,200 and he had a 

 first mortgage on it for $3,300, bear- 

 ing 6 per cent.' Obviously, it was nec- 

 essary for the Commissioner to secure 

 other collateral than that of the farm 

 for a loan of this size. A chattel mort- 

 gage for $411, and a crop lien of $189 

 on 42 acres of crops gave the Com- 

 missioner's agent the required amount 

 of collateral. 



"A Commissioner's second mortgage 

 loan of $5,000 on a 98-acre farm in 

 Massachusetts, and a $10,000 Federal 

 Land Bank loan enabled a farmer to 

 wipe out his first mortgage of $23,000. 



"Of course, not all farmers getting 

 Commissioner's loans are able to se- 

 cure a scale-down in the amount which 

 they owe, but in nearly all cases there 

 has been a reduction in the rate of 

 interest from that which they have 

 been paying. Several reports on loans 

 made in the Middle and Far West 

 indicate that the borrowers have been 

 paying 8 per cent interest. Com- 

 missioner's loans carry an interest 

 rate of 5 per cent. They are made for 

 a longer period of years than most 

 of the loans which are being replaced. 

 Usually, they are for a 13-year period 

 and (iuring the first 3 years no in- 

 stallment on the principal is re- 

 quired." 



Tomato Prices Boosted 



Tomato prices to farmers were 

 boosted 25% by several large pro- 

 cessors at the request of Chas. J. 

 Brand, co-administrator of the Ad- 

 justment Act. The Campbell Soup 

 Co. announced that the price of firsts 

 in Eastern States was raised from 

 $14 to $17.50 a ton and seconds from 

 $8 to $10. 



H. J. Heinz increased its contract 

 price in New Jersey from $11 to $13. 



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C. S. Love, farm adviser in Clay 

 county for the past several years, has 

 been employed as adviser to succeed 

 T. R. Isaacs in Mason county. 



