FARMERS' NUMBER ONE PLEDGE: 



HELP WIN THE WAR! 



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To discharge his full responsibility 

 to his country and to the men and 

 women on the fighting front in the 

 face of obstacles which may beset his 

 path — this is the creed of the typical 

 Farm Bureau member as he looks ahead 

 to his job in 1944. 



This is no mere slogan designed to 

 catch the public fancy; it is the general 

 sentiment that any honest observer 

 could have recorded at the open forum 

 for delegates held during the 25th an- 

 nual convention of the American Farm 

 Bureau Federation. 



As one delegate from each state rose 

 to contribute his part to the overall pic- 

 ture of American agriculture in 1943 

 and the outlook for 1944, it was appar- 

 ent that not a single section of the 

 country was without major problems in 

 the second year of World War II, but 

 the farmer wasn't licked as he prepared 

 to meet the coming year. It was unmis- 

 takably cjear that many of these prob- 

 lems were created by ill-advised and 

 poorly conceived Government agricul- 

 tural policies, but there was no talk of 

 a letup in general production. Regard- 

 less of personal setbacks and sacrifices,^ 

 the farmer demonstrated again that he 

 is first of all a patriot. 



Illinois farmers could be certain that 

 their thoughts were properly reflected 

 by Talmage Defrees, lAA vice-presi- 

 dent, when he declared, "I think the Il- 

 linois farmer is more interested in win- 

 ning the war and bringing our boys 

 back home than he is in anything else. 



AFBF Gathers in Annual 

 Meeting and Dedicates Itself 

 Anew to Task of Feeding 

 Nation in Wartime 



I am sure of that . . . We are going to 

 produce and we are going to sacrifice; 

 we are going to do everything that is 

 possible to further the cause of win- 

 ning the war. . ." 



To enable them to contribute their 

 full share toward winning the war, 

 there are certain things that farmers 

 need, delegates asserted. First of all 

 they need to have programs announced 

 well in advance so that producers can 

 plan their operations. Equally impor- 

 tant, said Allen B. Kline, Iowa Farm 

 Bureau president, is for the govern- 

 ment to stick to its proposition once 

 it is made. 



Delegates also reported that farm- 

 ers in the corn belt were particularly 

 concerned about the government's hog 

 program. An Indiana hog grower sug- 

 gested that if the OPA would remove 

 ration points on pork for at least a 

 few weeks it would* ea-se the glutted 

 market. Such a move, he said, would 

 permit literally hundreds of thousands 

 of hogs to be butchered and distributed 



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in local communities throughout the 

 corn belt, thus removing the conges- 

 tion in the terminal markets. 



Delegation of more authority and 

 responsibility in local OPA boards 

 was recommended by George Ogil- 

 vie, president of the Nevada Farm 

 Bureaut This, he said, would avoid 

 much delay and confusion, since the 

 local boards understood the problems 

 of the area better. Other spokesmen 

 reaffirmed the need for speeding up 

 OPA operations. A Missouri delegate 

 reported that his people were not op- 

 posed to the OPA because they knew 

 they had to have some control of this 

 type, "but for six weeks or two months 

 in my own county we have been try- 

 ing to find out definitely what the ceil- 

 ing price on corn is." 



The universal appeal at the forum was 

 for a coordination of policies and pro- 

 grams affecting food production, "so 

 that farmers would know what they are 

 supposed to do." 



Inflation control was strongly urged 

 by various state leaders. Rollback sub- 

 sidies were opposed as highly infla- 

 tionary. 



Feed shortages came in for much dis- 

 cussion as well as inadequate supplies 

 of new machinery, parts, supplies and 

 labor. Eastern and northwestern farm- 

 ers are hard iiit on feed supplies. 



Officers and directors of the American 

 Farm Bureau Federation in session at the 

 25th annual meeting, seated left to right 

 Mrs. Elsie Mies, Illinois, Associated Wom- 

 en; H. I. King, Wroming: Francis lohnson, 

 Iowa; Vice-president Earl C. Smith; Presi- 

 dent Edward A. O'Neal; R. B. Corbett 

 secretary-treasurer; Donald Eirkpotiick, 

 legal counsel: |. F. Porter. Tennessee: 

 George M. Putnam. New Hampehire. 

 Standing, left to ri^t, O. O. WoU, Kansas; 

 Ronsoni Aldrich, Mississippi- George Wil- 

 son, California; Arthur Packard, Vermont' 

 H. H. Nuttle, Maryland; Frank W. WUte. 

 Minnesota: H. L. Wingate, Georgia; Hassil 

 E. Schenck, Indiana: George Ogilvie, 

 Nevada: I. Walter Hammond, Texas, and 

 Perry Green, Ohio. Two directors not pres- 

 ent when the picture was taken were R. 

 E. Short, Arkansas, ond Warren W. Haw- 

 ley, New York. 



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L A. A. RECORD 



