agricultural credit under the administra- 

 tion of an independent non-political 

 board. I believe this to be essential for 

 the removal of duplication of credit 

 agencies as they exist in many areas to- 

 day, for the economic administration of 

 broad credit laws, and for their practical 

 application to farmers' needs. 



If the industry of agriculture and the 

 business 'of farming can be restored and 

 maintained at the levels essential for the 

 national good, the demands for credit of 

 many kinds will be lessened and admin- 

 istrative costs can, and should be re- 

 duced comparably. 



Serious Problems Ahead 



Among the more serious and difficult 

 problems that farmers must meet and 

 overcome are those resulting from war- 

 time subsidies that dairy farmers par- 

 ticularly, have been forced to accept as 

 a substantial part of their income. That 

 these subsidies will be discontinued when 

 the pressure of war is lifted, there can • 

 be little doubt. It is well to remember 

 that our organization recognized and 

 warned of these problems when aggres- 

 sively opposing the adoption of any gov- 

 ernment policy providing subsidies as a 

 substitute for any portion of farmers' 

 rightful income. We can be thankful 

 that those urging and supporting policies 

 of this character for other segments of 

 agriculture, did not succeed, and it will 

 be to the everlasting credit of middle 

 west dairymen that they fought the adop- 

 tion of subsidies, in lieu of fair market 

 prices, to the last, and yielded only when 

 forced to do so. It will be difficult, in- 

 deed, to secure proper readjustment in 

 market prices to compensate for the loss 

 of subsidies to the dairymen during a pe- 

 riod when general employment conditions 

 may not be as attractive as during war, 

 but the valiant and determined opposition 

 of middle west dairymen to the adoption 

 of subsidy policies entitles them to, and 

 they will receive," the wholehearted co- 

 operation of all other farmers in seeking 

 policies and programs necessary for the 

 protection of dairymen when subsidies 

 are removed. 



Farmers Have Responsibility 



A year ago I warned against over- 

 optimism resulting from statements com- 

 ing from men in public life and positions 

 of authority, that farmers would experi- 

 ence a period of prosperity in the postwar 

 world lasting for many years. At that 

 time farmers were being told that the 

 hungry world would require capacity 

 production on the farms of America for 

 many years after the close of the war. 

 Only a few months ago, we all witnessed 

 a rightabout-face by some of these same 

 men in positions of authority when they 



expressed publicly their concern over the 

 volume of food that was piled up under 

 government control, should the war come 

 to an abrupt close. 



The complex problems connected with 

 this important matter call for careful 

 thinking and planning, and the constant 

 vigilance of an aggressive organization, 

 so that production plans of thinking 

 farmers can be geared in a timely way to 

 conditions as they currently exist. 



We must, and we can, avoid a repeti- 

 tion of the conditions farmers experi- 

 enced following the last war. We can 

 do little as individuals, but in the ranks 

 of an organization of ever-increasing in- 

 fluence, organized farmers, with a sym- 

 pathetic Congress, can lay the ground- 

 work necessary to meet the many prob- 

 lems of agriculture. But policies alone 

 will not suffice. Through the influence 

 of your organization, Congress has pro- 

 vided for the maintenance of floors un- 

 der agricultural prices for two years after 

 the war. Let farmers not be lulled to 

 sleep by these assurances. Every individ- 

 ual farmer has a responsibility for the 

 successful administration of policies pro- 

 viding price floors. No one, not even 

 government itself, can long successfully 

 maintain these floors unless production is 

 kept in reasonable relationship to market 

 outlets. We must remember that in 

 providing these floors, the law stated "to 

 the extent appropriations are available." 

 Such appropriations will, and should be, 

 held to the minimum necessary for the ef- 

 fectiveness of this law, and it behooves 

 all farmers to appreciate fully this limita- 

 tion. 



All Must Work Together 



The United States is the only important 

 nation in the world that has held a na- 

 tional election during the present war. 

 Because of our historic independence and 

 inherited prejudices, and because of the 

 issues involved, it was inescapable that 

 many serious differences, and at times, 

 bitterness developed during the cam- 

 paign. But the election is now over and 

 the American people have made their 

 decision. It now behooves all worthy 

 American citizens to lay aside personal 

 views and partisan prejudices and to put 

 their shoulders to the wheel as real Amer- 

 icans, so that as a nation we can do our 

 utmost in speeding the day of final vic- 

 tory and of laying the plans for a perma- 

 nent peace. 



We have many problems within our 

 counties, within our states and as a na- 

 tion that must be met and solved. They 

 are not problems of Democrats or of Re- 

 publicans. They are problems of all the 

 American people, and it is as Americans, 

 and not as partisans, that we can and 

 will make our greatest contribution. 

 American farmers have a vast interest in 



seeing that these problems are squarely 

 faced and honestly solved. Throughout 

 the life of this country, farmers have 

 never been found wanting in meeting 

 every crisis this nation has faced. They 

 will be found doing their full part again. 

 Only by continuing to strengthen the 

 ranks of organization can farmers render 

 their greatest and most constructive serv- 

 ice. The American Farm Bureau Fed- 

 eration has set a goal of one million 

 members by the annual meeting of 1945. 

 This should not only be met, but greatly 

 exceeded. Throughout the years, Illi- 

 nois farmers have charted the course and 

 led the way toward this goal. I have not 

 the slightest doubt they will continue to 

 do so. 



We are starting upon the circuit of a 

 new fiscal year. Within its cycle, let us 

 hope and pray for a decisive victory to 

 our men in arms and for a clear outline 

 and promise of a lasting peace. 



In this report to the delegates and 

 members, I have sought to emphasize 

 anew my faith in the dominant place a 

 sustained agriculture can and should have 

 in our national economy and how a 

 prosperous American agriculture will re- 

 turn many-fold new strength and vigor 

 to the other segments of American life. 

 A strength and vigor not measured alone 

 in terms of bushels or bales or balances, 

 but in those finer things of life which, 

 rather than perish with their using, be- 

 come thereby more plentiful. 



I have tried only to keep proper em- 

 phasis upon the important place agricul- 

 ture occupies in our national economic 

 life. It is on this plane of opportunity 

 and responsibility that I ask and urge 

 all who are engaged in the business of 

 farming, to measure their individual in- 

 terests and responsibilities and to co- 

 operate with one another in the ranks of 

 a great, constructive, but militant, organ- 

 ization. I firmly believe that such an 

 organization provides the only means 

 through which farmers can make their 

 greatest contribution to the welfare of all. 



In these days of uncertainty and con- 

 fusion, and in our own moments of pass- 

 ing doubt, I would suggest to the Farm 

 Bureau folks in Illinois, as I do to my- 

 self so frequently, that if we will but 

 keep our purpose pure, if we will but 

 aggressively fear no evil, and if we will 

 but broaden our conscious trust in that 

 One who is not alone our Keeper, but 

 our Guide, we can look with assurance to 

 the fulfillment of His promise — "That 

 as thy days, so shall thy strength be." 



That the complexity and the serious- 

 ness of our national problems are almost 

 beyond the comprehension of the in- 

 dividual, no thoughtful person will deny. 

 That the road we must travel in solving 

 these problems will at times be rough, 

 and at others be clouded, there can be 





I. A. A. RECORD 



