When certain metropolitan newspa- 

 pers shout about the freedom of the 

 press what they really have in mind is 

 freedom to follow the pet prejudices of 

 their publishers and protect the vested 

 interests of their advertisers. Ask 

 any honest newspaper reporter what 

 he thinks about the freedom of the 

 press and he'll laugh right out loud if 

 the boss isn't looking. He knows only 

 too well, and sometimes from sad ex- 

 perience, that the paper he works for 

 has "pets" and "policies," that it must 

 not step on the toes of certain inter- 

 ests and people. 



Many newspapers are controlled 

 from their business offices. Editorial 

 writers and reporters are not always 

 privileged to follow the dictates of 

 their own conscience or write as they 

 see things. They get their orders 

 from higher up and write accordingly. 

 The financial pages of big dailies are 

 often edited to please the banks, bro- 

 kerage and investment houses, com- 

 mission men, and others who contrib- 

 ute thousands of dollars annually 

 through advertising in normal times 

 to their support. ,, , 



FARM ADVISER RAY C. DONEGHUE OF MeDONOUGH COUNTY. LEFT, IS CONGRATULATING 

 H. B. Smith for winninfl the 1933, 10 acre yield e«m growino eontest of Illinois. The eonteot was sponsorotf 

 tay tlie University of Illinois, Col lege cl Agritulturo. 



Mr. Smith's 10 aere field yielded 09.1 buslielt per acre, whereas the averaie yield of the next 10 eonteetaiits 

 was 85.1 bushdis. The total eost per aere of thia crop was computed at $20.56 or 21 cents per bushel of ten 

 produced. 



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the bulk of their subscribers. But 

 profit comes first and that means 

 there are certain people in every city 

 who must not be offended. 



Real freedom of the press would be 

 a wholesome thing in America. The 

 man in the street would glory in it. 

 No patriotic citizen who has given the 

 matter any thought wants to see real 

 freedom of the press curbed or abol- 

 ished. They would like to see it re- 

 stored. The downright thievery and 

 skullduggery practiced by big bankers, 

 investment houses, utility magnates, 

 real estate operators, and corporation • 

 executives during the boom days sel- ' 

 dom drew a word of criticism from 

 big newspapers. Their financial editors 

 must have known what was going on. 

 Yet they seldom protested. The pub- 

 lishers played the game and took their 

 percentage through advertising along 

 with the rest. 



. If the freedom of the press is ever 

 disturbed by the popular will of the 

 people expressed through the congress, 

 it will be because of the abuse of the 

 privilege by newspapers themselves; 

 because the immense power and in- 

 fluence they wield on the public mind 

 and morals is used for personal ends 

 rather than for social welfare. — E. 



G. T. ....A^- ...:,.•.-:.. 



f. :• 



Call On Pres. Roosevelt 



Whether true or not, it was fre- 

 quently reported that under the old 

 tax-fixing regime in Chicago, certain 

 daily newspapers exchanged political 

 support for low assessments, and vice 

 versa bitterly attacked any men in 

 public life they could not control. The 

 editorial writer may have his ideals 

 but the publisher or business manager 

 is practical. The rank and file of news- 

 papers today are primarily in the 

 business of making a proft. In fair- 

 ness let us say that there are still 

 many that try to serve the public in- 

 terest, at least that public comprising 



MAY, 1934 :'-'-^--::.---y ;v'"-;iv,;.- 



President Edward A. O'Neal and 

 Secretary Wallace recently called on 

 President Roosevelt and spent an hour 

 with him discussing tariff problems. 



"We have the President's assurance 

 that he will give proper protection to 

 American agriculture in tariff re- 

 form," said Mr. O'Neal, following the 

 meeting. "I agree with the philosophy 

 of Secretary Wallace that reduction of 

 surpluses in line with natural needs, 

 plus a greater outlet for farm sur- 

 pluses, offers a sound and construc- 

 tive attack on the farm problem. - 



"Agriculture is setting great store 

 by the work undertaken in Washing- 

 ton to restore world trade, by our 

 good friend George N. Peek, just ap- 

 pointed by the President as Special 

 Adviser on Foreign Trade, to assist 

 him in promoting foreign markets. Mr. 

 Peek is endeavoring to speed up the 

 movement of commodities between us 

 and foreign nations.'' V • 



McDonough Champion J 

 Corn Costs 21c Per Bu. 



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' Among its many activities the Farm 

 Bureau encourages more efficient pro- 

 duction which means higher yields on 

 fewer acres. And the record made re- 

 cently by a McDonough County Farm 

 Bureau member, H. B. Smith, in win- 

 ning the state corn yield contest is an 

 example of the effective work the 

 Farm Bureau and its members are 

 doing in improving farm production. 

 Mr. Smith got a yield of 99.1 bushels 

 per acre in a 10 acre field. The total 

 cost of producing the 10 acres of corn 

 was computed at $205.60 as follows: 



Man labor ................ ...$ 9.12 



Horse labor 11.16 



Machinery expense 6.00 



Seed 2.63 



Manure, fertilizers and 



limestones 75. 80* 



Misc. and overhead 6.27 



Total growing cost 110.98; 



Total harvesting; cost 19.82 



Cost of growing and 



harvesting 130.80 



Taxes 12.30 



Interest on land at 5% 62.50* 



TOTAL COST 205.60 



Total cost per acre 20.56 



Cost per bushel of corn .21 



♦ In 1933 the fertility charge was 

 made for nitrogen, phosphorus, and 

 potassium removed from the soil by 

 corn. Land valued at |126 per A. 



The fact that the Farm Bureau has 

 maintained a seed corn testing serv- 

 ice for many years has been helpful to 

 McDonough county farmers in grow- 

 ing larger yields of corn on fewer 

 acres at lower eost. 





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