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ORGANIZATION NOTES 

 By O. D. Brissenden 



THE Million Member campaign 

 of the AFBF is proceeding ahead of 

 schedule, reports Roger B. Corbett, 

 secretary-treasurer of the national organ- 

 ization. As of March 1, 1945, there were 

 433,535 reported in to the AFBF com- 

 pared with 339,455 on the same date in 

 1944 — a lead of 94,080. States have 

 raised their quotas from 960,927 to 990,- 

 308 so that when these are attained only 

 9,682 will have to be made above quotas 

 to reach the million members. "This is 

 one more indication that we are going 

 over the top this year," Corbett con- 

 cludes. 



Zooming along toward the long- 

 range county goals totalling over 117,- 

 000, Farm Bureau membership in Illi- 

 nois stood at a new high of 110,838 as 

 of March 1. Record-smashing drives in 

 every section of the state were reported 

 between March 1 and March 23, and the 

 outlook was for another very substantial 

 increase as of April 1. The record since 

 last September shows that this is THE 

 YEAR to build Farm Bureau to new 

 levels of strength. This is esjsecially 

 true of drives held since Jan. 1, which 

 have produced amazing results. Several 

 counties who "drove" early in the fiscal 

 year are now planning additional cam- 

 paigns. 



Forty-nine Membership Maintenance 



meetings had been held by March 30, 

 covering the personnel of 63 counties, 

 W. P. Sandford, lAA sales service direc- 

 tor, reports. Total attendance has been 

 over 2000. Eleven meetings in April 

 will probably conclude the 1945 series. 

 For one recently-employed Farm Bu- 

 reau secretary's reaction to the meetings, 

 we quote part of a letter by Betty J. Ras- 



mussen, McHenry county: "You've 

 shown me that I, through helping in a 

 small way to develop an even stronger 

 agricultural association, can help to pro- 

 tect our American democracy I 



want to say thanks, especially, for show- 

 ing me a way to be part of the home 

 defense, which is just as important a fight 

 as the one going on in Europe." 



Apparently Betty "got her sights ad- 

 justed" on the real importance of organ- 

 ized agriculture. We thank her for writ- 

 ing- 



gotten," adds Lloyd enthusiastically, and 

 he says that each new member will re- 

 ceive two visits from Farm Bureau de- 

 partment heads in the near future, "not 

 for the purpose of selling any item, but 

 for a 'good-will' visit to let the new 

 member know that we know he is a 

 Farm Bureau member and to offer him 

 our services at any time he wishes to use 

 them." 



Good reports continue to come into 



the office from the March membership 

 drives. One of the good ones is from 

 Mason county, where 81 members were 

 signed on a recent drive. 



Hancock county joins the "over 100" 



club with a sterling drive which netted 

 103 new members, COD Walter Scott 

 reports. 



Lee county went on a contest drive 

 captained by Les Ullensvang, general 

 agent, and L. S. Hill, Service company 

 manager, and when the smoke of battle 

 had subsided there were 166 new mem- 

 bers. 



Age defeated youdi in Shelby county's 

 contest drive, COD Roy Kelly wires. 115 

 contracts was the stirring total that Roy's 

 co-workers turned in. partly in honor of his 

 recent marria>;e. 



Richland county hit impossible road con- 

 ditions and missed the 100 mark temporarily. 

 Otto Schafer, COD, says, but with a score 

 of 38 for the youn/; men and 28 for the 

 elders, they rang up a two-thirds mark of 

 66. More will follow, they promise. 



Tazewell, where COD Lloyd Ummel 



and his co-workers have done a pains- 

 taking township-by-township job, with a 

 training school for volunteers in each 

 township, reports the splendid total of 

 160 new members as a result. "These 

 new members are not going to be for- 



Tlie DeWitt County Farm Bureau office 



is a happy place these days, for a sensa- 

 tional contest brought in 1 1 1 new members. 

 Youth beat Age by just one contract. 



Kankakee, not to be outdone by some 



of its neighbors who ran up tremendous 

 scores, went out and did likewise last month, 



(Continued on page 9) "- > 



Here ore some of the top men in the Ful- 

 ton county membership campaign. Left to 

 right are: Dean Depler, Scott Rowley. Clor- 



ence Cox, Everett McCan, D. K. Sweney, 

 R. V. Roberson. Floyd CMailey, Arthur 

 Abbott and Henry Zumstein. 



This picture typifies the many successful 

 membership drive report meetings. More 

 than 116 workers attended this Fulton 



County Farm Bureau meeting which 

 marked the close of one of the best cam- 

 paigns ever held in the county. A total 



of 131 new members were secured in the 

 drive by the above group. 



A - ■ : - L A. A. RECORD 



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