FORWARD 

 STRIDES 



OF 



ILLINOIS 

 AGRICULTURE 



1 



EXCERPTS 

 FROM THE ADDRESS OF 



GOVERNOR DWIGHT H. GREEN 



AT THE 



lAA ANNUAL MEETING 



NOV. 30 



Governor Dwight H. Green 



DURING the last four years I have 

 learned, first-hand from farmers 

 themselves, some of the problems 

 involved in the agricultural industry, 

 which, by virtue of its production of 

 more than a billion dollars worth of 

 food and fiber annually, is by far the 

 largest single business in Illinois. I have 

 marveled at the splendid war food pro- 

 duction job of the Illinois farmer who, 

 despite extreme shortages of labor and 

 machinery and other handicaps, has, 

 since Pearl Harbor, produced the greatest 

 crops in history. 



I have seen the Illinois farmer, often 

 laboring from before sunrise until long 

 after dark, producing record-breaking 

 herds of cattle and hogs, bumper crops 

 of grain, millions of gallons of milk and 

 tons of milk products. To these must be 

 added Illinois production of fruits and 

 vegetables, poultry and soybeans, fats 

 and edible oils — all of which play a 

 vitally important part in winning the 

 war. 



The importance of Illinois agriculture 

 to the well-being of all the citizens of 

 our state becomes even greater when we 

 realize that many of our greatest indus- 

 tries are wholly dependent upon the 

 products of our farms for their raw ma- 

 terials. Our meat packing and soybean 

 processing industries are the largest in 

 the world. Our distilleries, canneries, 

 flour mills and hundreds of other busi- 

 nesses depend upon the farm for their 

 basic materials. And such industries as 

 these which manufacture farm imple- 

 ments, in which Illinois also leads the 

 world, depend upon a prosperous agri- 

 culture for their markets. 



Activities of Department 



During the last four years your state 

 government has greatly expanded the ac- 

 tivities of the Department of Agriculture. 

 Our program has been particularly out- 

 standing in the field of animal disease 

 control. In the fight against cholera and 



erysipelas, both of them a costly menace 

 to hog-raising, and in the battle against 

 bovine tuberculosis and Bangs disease, 

 which not only endanger the livestock in- 

 dustry, but which also menace human 

 health, our work is further advanced than 

 in any other state. Every request for as- 

 sistance in animal disease control has 

 been answered promptly by your State 

 Department of Agriculture. The per- 

 centage of infection in Illinois livestock 

 has been reduced sharply. And during 

 the next four years we will continue to 

 expand and develop this program. 



The greatest forward stride in the 

 fight against animal diseases will be the 

 establishment of a College of Veterinary 

 Science at the University of Illinois. This 

 school, which we plan to get underway 

 as soon as possible, will be submitted to 

 the next session of the General Assembly 

 as legislation which should mark a mile- 

 post in the progress of state govern- 

 ment's cooperation with agriculture. 



In a state which has nearly one billion 

 dollars worth of livestock and poultry on 

 its farms and which yet does not have 

 one single school for veterinarians, I 

 consider the establishment of this Col- 

 lege of Veterinary science to be agricul- 

 ture's most urgent need at this time. We 

 are determined that no Illinois rural com- 

 munity shall be without a veterinarian. 

 We are determined that the Illinois live- 

 stock and poultry industry, already strong 

 and prosperous, shall continue to grow 

 and expand unhampered by disease or 

 lack of proper protection. 



Praises lAA 



Illinois agriculture is extremely fortu- 

 nate in having an organization like the 

 Illinois Agricultural Association, whose 

 one hundred and seven thousand members 

 represent such constructive thinking and 

 such sound leadership in meeting and 

 solving the problems of the Illinois 



farmer. And after comparing the lAA 

 with similar organizations in other states, 

 I know I can say without fear of con- 

 tradiction that from the standpoint of 

 membership, of sound financial structure, 

 and of constructive policies and solid 

 achievements, the Illinois Agricultural 

 Association is the finest and most effec- 

 tive organization of its kind in the 

 United States. 



Here in Illinois, our cash reserve sur- 

 plus of a hundred and ten million dol- 

 lars in the state treasury saved during the 

 war years by economy and budget-limit 

 spending, will give us a head start on 

 our sister states if it is expended wisely — 

 used for the things of basic importance 

 to stimulate Illinois agriculture and in- 

 dustry and to help create jobs for all 

 workers. One of those basic improve- 

 ments which is most vitally important to 

 Illinois agriculture is transportation. And 

 I am happy to be able to tell you that 

 the blueprints for our multi-million dol- 

 lar postwar highway construction pro- 

 gram have already been prepared. That 

 work only awaits the "go" sign after 

 victory. 



More Postwar Plans 



The task of soil conservation — defi- 

 nitely a basic need of Illinois agriculture 

 — has received particular attention from 

 your state administration. The number 

 of conservation districts has been in- 

 creased in the last two years from twenty- . 

 five to forty-three, embracing something 

 like nine million acres. More districts 

 will be organized, and when these new 

 ones are added under our long range 

 plan, the technical resources of the state 

 in preserving soil fertility by the very best 

 methods will be extended to many new 

 sections. 



For flood control and drainage the 

 postwar program calls for an estimated 

 expenditure of approximately five and 

 one half million dollars, subject to leg- 

 islative approval. New levees will save 

 {Conlinued on pjge 35) 



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I. A. A. RECORD 



