"W. S. Batson, Shelby county larm adviser, 

 touches the mortgage to the flame, sym- 

 bolizing final clearance of debt from the 

 Producers Creamery o< Champaign. 



Russell McKee, Marshall-Putnam county — 

 "The whole thin^ reminds me of the old 

 white house in which we live. We didn't 

 realize when we purchased our farm just 

 how ^ood the house was until we tore into 

 it to change it a little. Just like our or- 

 ganization, it was not all built at once. 

 "Whoever built it certainly had a sense of 

 honesty and integrity to build it well. . . 

 It has been added to as the needs of the 

 household had demanded. This 8000 new 

 members is the latest addition to our build- 

 ing. Back of that is the responsibility of 

 leadership and the fact that that leadership 

 has found through the Farm Bureau the op- 

 portunity and the urge to serve its many 

 members. It is the concrete expression of 

 almost a religious principle to be of service 

 to our fellow men." 



Watching the ceremony ore F. C. Fair- 

 child, manager; O. P. Homm, vice-presi- 

 dent' A. Oliver Bower, president and G. 

 A. Lichtenwalter, secretary. ■ i- ■ ■■, 



mowed down. Let's rake it up. We have 

 a big job to assimilate these new members. 

 The building of community organizations 

 should help us in this task." 



"You have done a wonderful job. I see 



in the power of 100,000 farmers working 

 together the possibility of a finer America 

 and a better opportunity for our children, ' 

 said Otto Steffey, chairman of the organ- 

 ization committee of the lAA board. 



Leo Lybarger, Clay county — "I like to 

 look at this whole thing as a patch of hay 



That some day there would be a member- 

 ship of 100,000 had long been the intention 

 of leaders. When the total passed 90,000, 

 during March of 1943, many began to talk 

 seriously of an early attempt to reach 100,- 

 000. It was clearly seen that such an 

 achievement would be the best possible 

 answer to all those who were bitterly de- 



M ( 



nouncing Farm Bureau and its policies. 

 Months before this, however, Tom Drum- 

 mond, veteran Clark county COD, had writ- 

 ten the lAA organization office saying that 

 in the opinion of Clark county folks, the 

 goal should be reached soon, and pledging 

 that their county would, in the event of such 

 a statewide effort, sign three times their 

 new member quota. (They actually signed 

 427 per cent!) 



Partly because of the suggestion made 

 by Tom, and partly because of the general 

 agreement among leaders in the state, it was 

 decided to go "all out" during 1943 and 

 attempt to reach the goal before lAA annual 

 meeting ,time. As a preparatory "buildup" 

 step, an "On Toward 100,000 Campaign" 

 was launched, in which county organization 

 directors were asked to make personal ef- 

 forts to reinstate and to sign as many new 

 members as possible, so as to bring the at- 

 tainment of the balance needed within prac- 

 tical limits. The period of Aug. 15 to Sept. 

 1 1 was set aside for this purpose. 



Tom Drummond, one of the instigators 

 of the effort, proved his mettle by taking 

 first place in that event. Other winners 

 were Walter Specht, Clay county; John 

 Pyle, Marion county; Frank Rathbun, Mer- 

 cer county; J. Clint Miller, Winnebago 

 county; L. R. Lee, Greene county; Verne 

 Campbell, Randolph county; and Gerald 

 Spencer, Washington county. Drummond 

 went on to sign his full new member quota 

 during September and came back with 

 more in the final push during the week of 

 Nov. 8. 



Thus the ground was cleared for the 

 major drive. July 31 membership had stood 

 at 93,415. Quotas were set for each county 

 which would bring a total of slightly over 

 100,000, if made. Since this required an 

 increase of iy2 per cent for the state as a 

 whole, each county was asked to increase 

 its membership by that percentage. A 

 "dream map" published in THE BUILDER 

 was the means used of making county quotas 

 vivid. 



First big thrill of the 100,000 campaign 

 came when John Pyles and Walter Specht, 

 COD's of Marion and Clay counties, respec- 

 tively, presented George Metzger notice that 

 their quotas were attained, during the state 

 leaders' meeting in Springfield, on Sept. 10. 

 Every leader present was impressed. "The 

 job can be done: here are the early birds, 

 both of them from counties which had suf- ' 

 fered devastating floods and droughts 

 through the year, yet they have made their 

 quotas within a week." 



These 100,000-quotas seemed extremely 

 heavy. In some instances, in view of 

 previous net gains made by counties, they 

 seemed even unfair, but there was little if 

 any quibbling. County leaders saw that 

 there was a job to do. It was tackled in 

 good spirit. Some counties found it im- 

 possible to reach their goals but they gave 

 their best. Seventy-one counties achieved 

 or surpassed the figure set. District quotas 

 were in all three cases exceeded. 



^ 



JANUARY, 1944 



This was a happy moment for Gardner 

 Township Farm Bureau members as they 

 dedicated their new community building 

 recently. Seated about the table ore Irwin 

 Whitcomb, secretary-treasurer of the unit: 

 Tom L. Spratt, unit president, and John 

 Bumlce, chairman of the building com- 

 mittee. At extreme left ore Wilfred Shaw, 

 lAA milk marketing director, and Farm 

 Adviser Edwin Bay. The service flag, 

 presented at the meeting, shows that 41 

 members from the 130 iamilies in the unit 

 are in the armed services. 



17 



