i. A. A. RECORD— November, 1933 



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inois Farm Supply Company 

 Has Record Year^^^^^^^^ | 1 



600 Attend Annual Meeting. Decatur, Urge Government Support Corn Market 



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IMMEDIATE support by govern- 

 ment of the corn market with 

 loans on the grain stored in state 

 sealed warehouses was advocated by 

 President Earl C. Smith at the an- 

 nual meeting of Illinois Farm Supply 

 Co., at Decatur, on Oct. 17. Approxi- 

 mately 600 Farm Bureau leaders, man- 

 agers and directors representing all 

 the affiliated county service companies 

 attended. : :i-<y^, a ';■/,■ ■v.,/.-'»'-'i'.>yr.::.-.:;'- • 



, Mr. Smith pointed to the fact that 

 the government had given such sup- 

 port to the cotton maiket pegging the 

 price at 10c per lb. A corporation could 

 be set up quickly, he said, and with a 

 small force could operate at small ex- 

 pense giving much needed immediate 

 relief. 



'' He urged the leaders assembled to 

 make known their thoughts and wishes 

 regarding market support for corn, 

 to government officials and repre- 

 sentatives at Washington and to ask 

 local business men and leaders to do 

 likewise. 



— :^ Need Immediate ReUef- -- -- 



A- Speaking on the com-hog plan, Mr. 



A Smith stated that the National Corn 

 Hog Committee recommended a plan 

 for immediate relief to hog growers 

 which is the chief point of difference 

 between the committee proposal and 

 that adopted by the administration. 



He stated that any immediate relief 

 in raising hog prices under the AAA 

 proposal would have to come from 

 government buying of hogs and pork 

 • products for feeding the unemployed 

 — that with this one exception, the 

 government plan was a long time pro- 

 gram looking to curtailment of pro- 

 duction first and higher prices some- 

 time in the future. 



Speaking on the subject, "Organ- 

 ization Dividends," Mr. Smith placed 

 among the first accomplishments of 

 the Farm Bureau movement the de- 

 velopment of leadership and mass 

 thinking and action throughout the 

 organized counties. The real organiza- 

 tion is out in the counties, he said, 

 and the strength of our movement 

 lies in the fact that it is built from 

 the grass reots up, not from the top 

 down. 



Pointing to the huge gains recently 

 made by labor organizations in build- 

 ing membership, he asserted that the 

 great need of agriculture is a major- 

 ity of farmers working together 

 through membership in their organiza- 

 tion. "We must preserve the morale 

 of the farm people to save America," 

 he said, "and in order to preserve the 

 morale we must organize and stand as 

 a unit, thinking and acting together 

 for justice and equity." 



Fred E. Herndon of McDonough 

 county, president of the Supply Com- 

 pany, asserted that Illinois farmers 

 had demonstrated their ability to op- 

 erate successfully a farmer-owned 

 and farmer-controlled purchasing and 

 distributing organization with in- 

 creased earning and profits through- 

 out the years of depression while 

 many large business institutions were 

 showing losses. 



"It was our ambition to establish 

 by 1933 a $3,000,000 business," said 

 Herndon. "We have far exceeded that 

 amount, in fact, have nearly doubled 

 that volume. The company is making 

 a larger patronage distribution than 

 ever before. 



"In my opinion our greatest need is 

 more common stockholders. Farm Bu- 

 reau members, that we may be able 

 to expand our business and keep with- 

 in the co-operative law under which 

 we are operating. Let us charge our- 

 selves with that responsibility to sell 

 the whole Farm Bureau program and 

 to co-operate to the fullest extent 

 with other affiliated organizations." 



Manager's Report 



Manager L. R. Marchant reported 

 that gross operating income for the 

 year was |170,565.32, an increase of 

 17.17% over last year. Net operating 

 income of |124,162.12 with additionnl 

 income from interest on investments 

 resulted in a net income of $128,287.31 

 or 75.21 per cent of gross operating 

 income. 



The earnings represent a profit of 

 127.96% on paid-in capital stock which 

 compares with 85% in 1929, 93.5% in 

 1930, 115% in 1931, and 112% in 1932. 



The company is paying to member 

 companies a total of $100,000 patron- 

 age refunds which compares with only 



$80,000 last year, and a little more 

 than $73,000 the year before. 



The capital stock holdings of the 

 state company and the 54 affiliated 

 county service companies now totals 

 $919,059.00 which represents Illinois 

 farmers' financial interest in the larg- 

 est co-operative association of its kind 

 in America. 



Other interesting information re"- 

 ported by the manager follows: 



In less than five years and in the 

 face of the most severe panic the 

 world has ever known, 38 companies 

 were organized and placed in oper- 

 ation. This necessitated selling stock 

 in the amount of $639,826.00 to ade- 

 quately finance the business. This sum, 

 subscribed by the farmers in these 

 various communities, is 69.6 per cent 

 of the paid-in capital stock of all 

 member companies as of August 31 

 this year. Fifty-four companies, 143 

 bulk storage stations, some 400 serv- 

 ice trucks, and over 500 retail outlets 

 with operations in 90 different coun- 

 ties and not less than 75,000 patrons — 

 a five million dollar business trans- 

 acted annually, and an average pa- 

 tronage refund per member, in the 

 territory served, of $15.95 — an out- 

 standing example of organized en- 

 deavor — describes the condition of the 

 organization at the close of the year. 



A New Record 



In referring to the volume of pe- 

 troleum products sold during the pe- 

 riod ending August 31, 1933 we find 

 that the aggregate of all petroleum 

 products handled has established a 

 new record of 40 million gallons. This 

 figure towers well above the 35 mil- 

 lion mark established in 1932. Each 

 commodity shows a substantial gain 

 in spi^-** of all handicaps. The statis- 

 tical records show the following total 

 purchases for the period ending Au- 

 gust 31, 1933: 



2S.90e,778 salIo&» 



9,681,209 galloiM 



8,404,890 gallona 



96S.20e gallon* 



709,041 p»nnds 



In comparison to the totals of each 

 commodity purchased last year, gaso- 

 line shows a gain of 9.302 per cent 

 or 2,205,133 gallons, kerosene 10.35 

 per cent or 906,722 gallons, distillate 

 and fuel oil 53.6 per cent or 1,188,672, 

 lube oil 6.66 per cent or 68,413 gal- 



Oasoline 



Keroaene 



DlBtlllatp and fuel oil 



Lnbrlcatins oil 



Oreara 



