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Hamilton County Farm Bureau is the 98th 

 Farm Bureau in Illinois. Oiiicers and di- 

 rectora receiving congratulations from lAA 

 Organization Director O. D. Brissenden. 

 leit to right, are Earl DeLap, director, 

 Leonard R. Moore, director: John T. Eark- 

 man, vice-president. Xavier Kiefer, presi- 

 dent, Brissenden, and Glen F. Sons, farm 

 adviser. 



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MEMBERSHIP GOAL SET AT 117,000 



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By W. P. Sandiord 



CALM, pre-planned and precisely ex- 

 ecuted progress toward the long-range 

 goals of 117,000 Farm Bureau member- 

 ship in Illinois by September 30, 1945 

 characterized the talks and discussions at 

 this year's Organization-Information con- 

 ference. 



A year ago, 100,797. Sept. 30, at the 

 end of the 1944 fiscal year, 105,057. At 

 the moment of annual meeting, over 

 107,000. And by next September 30, the 

 realization of the 117,000 total of long- 

 range goals set last winter by county lead- 

 ers themselves. It seemed just that in- 

 evitable. 



The same men who exulted last year 

 in song and cheers at the attainment of 

 the long-sought goal of 100,000 were 

 this year matter-of-fact, confident, and 

 quiet about it all. Yet there was no lack 

 of determination. It was rather the pre- 

 cise, well-balanced and integrated move- 

 ment of a polished machine that is 

 guided by experienced, competent, team- 

 working men. 



"Brissy", lAA director of organization, 

 sounded the keynote when he said that 

 organization workers are resolved, first, 

 to administer policies more effectively 

 and thoroughly than ex'er before; second, 

 to have during the coming year the best- 

 prepared and executed drives in history: 

 and third, to give such service to mem- 

 bership that full satisfaction will be the 

 lot of every member, old or new. 



Care in the solicitation and approval 

 of associate members, hewing to the line 

 on the matter of partnership contracts, 

 and enforcing established and authorized 

 policies in these two matters, were em- 

 phasized. Thorough organization of 

 membership campaigns, from the recruit- 

 ing of volunteer workers through the 

 well-planned kickofi meeting to the final 

 report meeting and cleanup work, were 

 also stressed. "M-M Meetings," in 

 which e^ery county goal will be re- 



DECEMBER. 1944 



examined and readjusted if needed, and 

 the year's campaigns planned, and in 

 which all of the employees of Farm Bu- 

 reau will be informed of membership 

 plans and of their part in rendering su- 

 perior ser\'ice, were announced as part of 

 the midwinter preparations for the 

 ■ 117,000 year." 



"Cap" Mast sang what he called his 

 swan song before the C. O. D.'s and 

 leaders, pleading for a public relations 

 consciousness at county, state and na- 

 tional levels, and asking for his suc- 

 cessor, "Cres" Foster, the same coopera- 

 tion that had been accorded him in his 

 years as director of information. "Cres" 

 paid tribute to "Cap," and solicited the 

 aid of his fellow-workers for himself and 

 "Mike" Seagraves in measuring up to 

 their new responsibilities. Chairman 

 Otto Steffey, head of the organ ization- 

 information committee, praised the work- 

 ers for what they have accomplished. Ells- 

 worth Lyon, director of youth activities 

 presented his good-looking state commit- 

 tee for 1945. 



George E. Metzger, field secretary, in 

 a vigorous talk, told of new programs, 

 such as the plant food and feed develop- 

 ments, and told of the evolution of locker 

 plants into local packing functions as an 

 example of what the future may hold. 

 He, too, stressed the importance of thor- 

 ough knowledge and adherence to policy 

 resolutions affecting membership, and 

 was optimistic about the prospects of an 

 increase in membership in 1945 to the 

 117.000 goal. , 



Discussion of the goals, membership 

 serx'ice programs, and other organization 

 problems brought forth the declarations 

 from a number of leaders and COD's. 

 Fieldmen Claar, Hornbeck, and Moore, 

 who had previously distributed the new 

 certificates for attainment of 105 per cent 

 dues income quotas to 86 county organ- 

 ization directors were in e\'idence. Claar 

 leading songs ("All in Favor Say Aye, 



Aye" is a perennial favorite) and he and 

 the others busily arranging with county 

 representatives for the commg M-M 



Meetings. ' 



Dwight Hart and August Eggerding. 

 members of the lAA's organization com- 

 mittee, were present and received ap- 

 plause from the group for their ser\iccs 

 to organization. Roger Corbett, secre- 

 tary, and Thomas Cowden, research di- 

 rector of the AFBF, presented a progress 

 report on the national Million Member 

 drive, pointing out that Illinois is one of 

 ten states that have achieved their goals. 

 Corbett discussed plans for the 1945 

 effort, which is planned to raise AFBF 

 membership from approximately 850,000 

 at present to the million mark. 



That was what happened. No. it 

 wasn't too demonstrative .... that will 

 perhaps be the case next year, when this 

 veteran group of workers has turned the 

 trick once more, and attained the 117,- 

 000. . . . when they have in truth "built 

 a cushion " of membership over 100,000 

 so deep that the "more than 100.000" 

 banner can always be exhibited at annual 

 meetings .... when they have proved 

 once more that no goal short of a myth- 

 ical saturation point is too high .... 

 when, to use the words of the "M-M 

 Meetings" of 1944, they have "made 

 Farm Bureau forever strong." 



Their quietness wasn't the languor of 

 apathy. Quite the contrary. It was the 

 calm assurance of competent men .... 

 men who have done the job and men 

 who can do it again. And perhaps in 

 the lack of noisy demonstration, too, was 

 the thought that as builders of Farm 

 Bureau, they are working to make agri- 

 culture still a better way of life, for the 

 boys and girls who one day will return 

 to it from the frenzied battle fields, and 

 take over, to build in their own way a 

 better America. 



After all, that's what it's all for, isn't 



It? 



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