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I. A. A. RECORD— October, 1933 



"We'll Distribute Our 



Own Milk" 



This is the Answer of Organized 



Producers at Peoria to 



Local Dealers 



AN overwhelming vote to go into 

 the business of distributing 

 their own milk was the answer 

 of 700 militant organized milk pro- 

 ducers to dealers' efforts to shut them 

 off the market given at a meetin^g^ 

 held in the ballroom ox the Pere Mar- 

 quette Hotel, Peoria, Saturday night, 

 September 16th. 



The members came on a 24 hour 

 call by President Ryland Capron from 

 all sections of the Peoria milk shed 

 to voice their sentiments on which 

 way to go in solving the controversy 

 which began September 1st. On that 

 day, the Illinois Milk Producers Asso- 

 ciation, comprising more than 1,000 

 producers who have always supplied 

 the Peoria market, voted unanimously 

 to withhold their milk until the deal- 

 ers either cease their discrimination 

 against members of the Association 

 or else submit their differences to a 

 Board of Arbitration on which the pro- 

 ducers would have fair representation. 

 When it became apparent that there 

 would be no ready solution to the con- 

 troversy because of the dealers' un- 

 willingness to cooperate toward se- 

 curing a fair settlement, the producers 

 ' took the only course left open to them 

 and that was to vote to distribute their 

 own milk. 



Subscribe $9,000 Stock 



The producers backed their faith 

 and enthusiasm by subscribing for 

 more than $9,000 worth of stock in 

 the new proposed subsidiary, tempo- 

 rarily named "Producers Dairy of 

 Peoria." 



The meeting opened with a review 

 of all that has transpired before and 

 after the action of September 1 by 

 the organized producers in withhold- 

 ing their milk. President Capron 

 briefly reviewed how the larger deal- 

 ers during the past year have been 

 acquiring herds and placing cows out 

 on shares until one dealer, he said, is 

 reported to have approximately 1,000 

 cows under his control, the milk from 

 which he has insisted all go into Class 

 1 at $1.65 per 100 lb. ; V -■ 



"The Association," said Mr. Capron, 

 "insisted that this move was one to 

 undermine the organization and force 

 the milk of members of the Associa- 

 tion into the surplus classes. We 

 thought it no more than fair that the 

 milk from these cows be treated just 

 like the milk from members' herds; 

 that it bear its share toward assum- 

 ing surplus burden of lower prices." 



MASS MEETING, ILLINOIS MILK PRODUCERS, PEORIA 



Voting; unanimouHly to distribute their o>vn milk rather than lose their mar- 

 ket, members subscribed for more than f 9,000 worth of stock to equip a plant, 

 at their meetlngr Sept. 16. 



The dealers not only refused to 

 listen to the producers but they also 

 refused to arbitrate in line with sug- 

 gestions made by Governor Horner 

 looking toward an equitable solution 

 of their differences. They agreed to 

 arbitrate only if the organized pro- 

 ducers were limited to one man in 

 five on an arbitration board. The 

 dealers reserved the right of selecting 

 three men of the committee of five, 

 the organized producers one man, and 

 the Peoria Medical Association one 

 man. 



Dale Morgan, attorney for the Milk 

 Producers Association, gave a clear 

 presentation of the issues involved, 

 told of the conference of dealers and 

 producers with the Governor, and out- 

 lined how the proposed arbitration 

 had failed because of the obstinacy 

 of one Bruce Roszell, distributor, in 

 submitting the controversy to a fairly 

 selected arbitration board. 



Other speakers included Archie Mc- 

 Pfedderan, president of the LaSalle- 

 Peru Milk Producers Association and 

 of the Mississippi Valley Milk Pro- 

 ducers who gave a short, fiery address 

 in which he urged the members to 

 stick together for their rights. "I 

 have milked cows for 35 years," said 

 Mr. McPfedderan. "I know the toil 

 and hardship that goes with the busi- 

 ness. Farmers have never had enough 

 to pay them for their hard work in 

 milking cOws. There is no justice in 

 a situation where the dealers get 7c 

 a quart for bottling and distributing 

 and the farmers get 3c or less of the 

 consumer's 10c." 



"Rather than be deprived of a re- 

 tail outlet for your milk, a market for 

 which you have been producing for 

 many years, you had better go all 

 the way and put your product on the 

 doorstep of the consumers in Peoria," 

 said J, B. Countiss, Dairy Marketing 

 Director of the Illinois Agricultural 

 Association. "Dealers have refused to 

 submit to fair arbitration; they insist 



on dictating the terms on which they 

 will cooperate and so far as I can see, 

 there is only one thing left and that 

 is to go into business for ourselves," 

 he continued. 



The producers responded unanimous- 

 ly with applause to this and similar 

 suggestions made by McPfedderan, 

 Morgan, Albert Hayes, President of 

 the Peoria County Farm Bureau, and 

 officers of the Association. 



Joe Morris, former President of the 

 Tazewell County Farm Bureau, was 

 one of the first to respond by sign- 

 ing an application for 4 shares of 6% 

 stock, $25.00 par value, for which he 

 paid cash. 



A Big Job - 



Both Mr. Capron and Wilfred Shaw, 

 Manager of the Association, em- 

 phasized the difficulties in the way of 

 launching into the distributing busi- 

 ness. "Let's not kid ourselves," said 

 Mr. Capron, "into believing that our 

 problems will be solved when we make 

 this decision. There will be plenty of 

 work and trouble ahead. We ought to 

 have at least $50,000 to go into busi- 

 ness in a big way. We probably can 

 get along with less but don't forget 

 that it takes plenty of capital. We are 

 not urging you to do this. If we go 

 into business for ourselves, our milk 

 checks will probably not be as large 

 as we would like to have them the 

 first year or two. We will have plenty 

 of competition. Yet, I believe this is 

 one way out and perhaps the only 

 way to maintain our organization and 

 protect our interests in this market." 



Both Mr. Morgan and Mr. Shaw 

 spiked false rumors and propaganda 

 circulated by the dealers to shake the 

 confidence of members in their offi- 

 cers and organization. ■ ;,v ; 



Albert Hayes read from the plat- 

 form a statement received from the 

 Roszell Dairy in which they pointed 

 out the amount of the check-off each 

 (Continued on page 16) 



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