M 



Ions, and grease 7.61 per cent or 50,- 

 174 pounds. 



At this point it should be mentioned 

 that there were only two membership 

 applications received and accepted 

 during the year. One of these — Kan- 

 kakee Service Company — ^became af- 

 filiated early last Winter, and the 

 other — Bureau Service Company — ^was 

 organized and placed in operation un- 

 der the management of LaSalle Coun- 

 ty Farm Supply Company, late last 

 Spring. 



According to all information as- 

 sembled to date, Illinois Farm Supply 

 Company holds a record for returning 

 to its member companies the largest 

 percentage of gross operating income 

 of any state purchasing agency in 

 existence today, notwithstanding the 

 fact that the Company operates on a 

 lower rate of brokerage and trading 

 income than some other organizations 

 rendering a similar service. 



From the earnings for the year 

 capital stock dividends in the amount 

 of $6,853.57 will be paid to member 

 companies. This amount represents 

 4.02 per cent of gross income, and the 

 addition of $18,307.15 to surplus 10.73 

 per cent of gross income. 



The balance, less Federal income 

 tax, will be distributed to the mem- 

 ber companies on the basis of patron- 

 age purchases, less any necessary de- 

 ductions to cover subscription for 

 stock and interest charges. 



The upward trend of the patronage 

 refunds paid to the member com- 

 panies in the past, and the amount 

 made payable by the action of the 

 board for the period ending August 31, 

 1933 follows: 1927— $1,138.21; 1928— 

 $11,239.71; 1929— $20,772.74; 1930— 

 $38,307.89; 1931— $73,394.82; 1932— 

 $80,090.43; 1933— $100,000.00. 



1. A. A. RECORI>— November. 1933 



Unorganized Farnner 



Takes Whafs Offered 



"Keep your eye on the farm co- 

 operatives," advises the Western Farm 

 Life, Denver. "The average farmer," 

 it continues, 'Hias learned that non- 

 cooperation is another word for sher- 

 iff's sale. He must sell his products in 

 highly organized distributive channels. 

 The buyer is going to buy at the low- 

 est possible price — the unorganized 

 farmer takes what is offered or goes 

 without a sale. Fair prices are pos- 

 sible only when the selling and buying 

 groups meet on equal grounds — ^when 

 the cooperative faces the middlemen. 

 Industry's plans for recovery are all 

 wisely based on cooperation — on en- 

 lightened self-interest. And the farmer 

 is in exactly the same position." 



Federal Court Upholds 

 Adjustment Act 



The federal district court at San 

 Francisco recently upheld the consti- 

 tutionality of the Agricultural Ad- 

 justment Act in a far-reaching de- 

 cision of interest to farmers through- 

 out the country. 



Federal Judge St. Svu-e granted a 

 permanent injunction restraining the 

 Calistan Packers, Inc. from violating 

 the license provisions issued to enforce 

 the California peach agreement. 



The Calistan Packers was cited for 

 greatly exceeding its allotment of pro- 

 duction and sale of canned peaches, 

 for failing to pay into the control 

 fund the sums assessed against can- 

 ners for the purpose of buying from 

 farmers at a fair rate all their sur- 

 plus peaches and thus preventing glut- 

 ting the market and breaking down 

 prices; and for failure to permit the 

 AAA to examine its books, records 

 and papers. 



In giving its opinion the court said: 



"The power to regulate interstate 

 commerce is granted in broad terms 

 to the National Congress and this 

 power should not be restrictively con- 

 strued, rather it must be construed 

 to give the Congress the power to 

 regulate any and all commerce which 

 may seriously affect the interstate 

 trade. This court, with propriety, 

 cannot make the narrow holding that 

 the legislative body, under this and 

 analogous statutes, is without power 

 to regulate intrastate commerce. In 

 this and other respects this power to 

 regulate must be construed to effec- 

 tuate the broad purposes of the con- 

 stitutional grant and of the national 

 policy. 



"Upon the constitutional question 

 greatest reliance is placed upon the 

 contention that the statute, agree- 

 ment, and license before the court 

 violate the due process clause, a 

 proper respect for the deliberate judg- 

 ment of the co-ordinate legislative 

 branch of the government requires 

 that the court do not hastily pro- 

 nounce important legislation invalid. 

 The Congress made a legislative find- 

 ing that a national emergency exists. 

 This court, upon that finding and up- 

 on its own judicial notice of the eco- 

 nomic distress throughout the nation, 

 here arrives at a similar conclusion. 



"In the cling peach industry and in 

 other industries, due to great over- 

 production and ruinous competition, 

 the members of that industry and the 



trade and commerce thereof have been 

 near the point of ruination. In par- 

 ticular due to the foregoing factors 

 and to the great disparity between the 

 prices of commodities purchased by 

 the farmers and the prices they have 

 received for their own products, the 

 farmers have been reduced to a con-' 

 dition bordering upon economic servi- 

 tude. In the past few years the price 

 for their peaches has been precipi- 

 tously reduced from around $20 a ton 

 to as low as $6.60 per ton. Overpro- 

 duction and glutted markets travel 

 hand in hand with ruthless competi- 

 tion. 



"It is needless to point out that the 

 welfare of the nation has been 

 seriously handicapped by these con- 

 ditions and the country's trade and 

 commerce has been vitally affected. 

 Under conditions such as these the 

 court is bound to arrive at the con- 

 clusion that the peach industry is af- 

 fected with a national public interest 

 and that the Congress has the con- 

 stitutional power to adopt appropriate 

 legislation to cure these evils. The 

 due process clause in such a situation 

 cannot properly be construed to ob- 

 struct the national policy. Neither the 

 constitution nor the due process 

 clause requires the perpetuation of 

 conditions which impair the national 

 vitality. 



"To adopt the view that the con- 

 stitution is static and that it does not 

 permit change from time to time to 

 take such steps as may reasonably be 

 deemed appropriatCTo^^th^ economic 

 preservation of the country is to in- 

 sist that the constitution was created 

 containing the seeds of its own de- 

 struction. This court will not sub- 

 scribe to such a view." 



Farm Prices Compared 



The index of prices of farm prod- 

 ucts on September 15 was 70 com- 

 pared with 49 at the low point last 

 February and 59 on September 15 a 

 year ago. 



Farmers' purchasing power meas- 

 ured by the ratio of prices received to 

 prices paid was 61 on September 15 

 compared with 56 a year ago and 49 

 last February, the low point this year. 

 These figures are based on 100 as the 

 average of prices and farm buying 

 power during the five pre-war years. 





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