I. A. A. Record— February, 1934 



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Auditing Association 



^ J Good Meeting 



Clifford Gregory Makes Interest- 

 1. ing Talk on the Money 

 Question 



FARMERS should take a great 

 deal of satisfaction out of the 

 fact that many of the leaders in 

 national affairs have come from their 

 ranks, C. V. Gregory, Editor of the 

 Prairie Farmer, said in addressing the 

 annual meeting of the Illinois Agri- 

 cultural Auditing Ass'n at Danville, 

 Jan. 24. 



The president of the United States, 

 the secretary of the treasury, the sec- 

 retary of agriculture, as well as many 

 other federal officials are farmers and 

 Farm Bureau members, Mr. Gregory 

 said. Farmers and agricultural pro- 

 fessors are now exerting their in- 

 fluence in the national capital. The 

 honest dollar, for which organized ag- 

 riculture has been fighting, is now in 

 prospect, far in advance of the time 

 any one expected that it could be ac- 

 complished. 



The speaker pointed out that money 

 and credit constitute the life blood of 

 a nation and that its control is now 

 being taken away from the big bankers 

 of Wall Street and given to the treas- 

 ury of the United States. Naturally, 

 the bankers do not like it, he said, but 

 there is little, if any, possibility of 

 back-tracking. Whatever group is in 

 control of money and credit is in posi- 

 tion to take profits. For many years, 

 the banking group has been the fa- 

 vored class. Several months ago, the 

 country went off the gold standard. 

 This was done quietly and very little 

 effect was noticed by industry. There 

 were some rather rapid advances in 

 farm prices, and to meet such ad- 

 vances sometime ago, the Government 

 began to buy gold at prices higher 

 than the established monetary value. 

 The President's chief financial adviser, 

 Dr. Warren, has stated that as gold 

 goes up, prices also go up. If the 

 price of gold is doubled, the price of 

 commodities should double. A level be- 

 tween the two will inevitably be re- 

 established, although the commodity 

 price advance has been slow. This is 

 due to the restriction on the natural 

 flow caused by the falling off of ex- 

 port trade. Mr. Gregory stated that 

 the present foreign trade situation is 

 unnatural. All countries have estab- 

 lished high protective tariff walls, 

 which has delayed the recovery pro- 

 gram. 



The total result of the public works 

 and civil works, and the entire line of 

 public spending, Gregory said, is a 



AT THE ANNUAL BANQUET THURSDAY NIGHT 



Left to riKhtt G. C. Hewea, general manager, Danville Commercial-Neivii; IV m. 

 S. Bradley, director, corn loan division of AAA; and Dean H. W. Mnmford, Col- 

 leare of Agrrlcnltare, Vnlveralty of Illinois. 



form of inflation, the effect of which 

 will be to raise the price of everything. 

 Prices that went down quickest and 

 farthest will go up first, except in the 

 cases where the supply is so great 

 that the normal laws do not apply. 



We have been hearing a great deal 

 about the "boloney dollar," but the 

 only "boloney dollar" that I know any- 

 thing about, he said, is the "boloney 

 dollar" that we've been getting for our 

 hogs. 



Every step that President Roosevelt 

 has taken has been leading up to 

 ruin, according to certain groups. We 

 were warned by the financial "gen- 

 iuses" that 'one of the first effects of 

 the President's monetary policies 

 would be the refusal of investors to 

 buy government securities. The gov- 

 ernment's credit would be ruined. 

 However, the recent issue of $900,- 

 000,000 was oversubscribed four times 

 and within the last few days, the Fed- 

 eral Reserve Bank has agreed to un- 

 derwrite the entire ten billion dollars 

 needed to carry on the government's 

 planned program. (The day of the 

 meeting, a one billion dollar, 2%%, 

 issue was oversubscribed five times.) 



Now that it is evident that the gov- 

 ernment is going to get the funds 

 necessary to finance the recovery pro- 

 gram, we are told that prosperity will 

 not last long because the 32 billion 

 dollar debts will have to be repaid. 

 The way to pay it is to pass the hat, 

 he said. In 1933 we had 35 to 40 bil- 

 lions less income than in 1929. Under 

 the present program, the national in- 

 come should go back to about 75 or 

 80 billions and if it does, the bill can 

 be paid. 



Mr. Gregory reminded his audience 



that back in 1919, nine-tenths of the 

 mail received by Prairie Farmer was 

 letters from farmers asking questions 

 about income tax. He believes that the 

 farmers will not object to paying taxes 

 if they get reasonable income. 



In closing he said, "organized farm- 

 ers are responsible for much of the 

 progress made but they must not rest 

 on their laurels. They must continue 

 their efforts when the government gets 

 control." 



The officers and management of the 

 Illinois Agricultural Auditing Associa- 

 tion submitted reports for the year 

 1933 showing that a strong financial 

 condition has been maintained and 

 that the results of operations during 

 the year were very satisfactory. Sev- 

 enteen new membership and service 

 agreements were entered into during 

 the year and a total of 308 agricul- 

 tural organizations are now being 

 served. Approximately 2,700 audit 

 and other service engagements have 

 been completed during the 9% years 

 that the Association has been in exist- 

 ence. Operating economies have en- 

 abled the Association to lower its 

 rates, and the cost of service in 1933 

 was less to member companies than 

 in any preceding year. Officers and 

 directors selected for the ensuing year 

 are — Albert E. Heckle, Quincy, Presi- 

 dent; Jesse L. Beery, Cerro Gordo, 

 vice president; Geo. E. Metzger, Chi- 

 cago, secretary; R. A. Cowles, Bloom- 

 ington, treasurer; R. H. Voorhees, Jer- 

 sejrville, director; C. R. Hays, Nor- 

 mal, director; Paul Harker, Peoria, di- 

 rector. 



More than 300 attended the meeting 

 which was the largest held for many 

 years. 



