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../AS FARMERS 

 FORWARD GO" 



ORGANIZATION NOTES 

 By O. D. Brissenden 



THE splendid membership ot' 111,001 

 as of April 30, 1945 is only -4,4-13 

 short of the total of the county lonj;-ran^'c 

 ^oals. In most counties it was contem- 

 plated that these ^oals would be achieved 

 by September 30, 19-15. 



The lon^-range county ^'oals are beintj 

 taken seriously by the county organiza- 

 tions as evidenced by the intense interest 

 shown by representatives from the 92 

 county Farm Bureaus in attendance at the 

 district meetings just completed. These 

 goals are important and impressive when 

 it is remembered that they were set up 

 and approved by the county organization 

 committees after careful consideration ot 

 not only the possibilities of membership 

 within the counties, but also the rtspon- 

 sibility of the organization in the future. 



It is recognized that some county com- 

 mitttees were more optimistic than others, 

 but the goals do represent their best 

 thought as to the number necessary to 

 carry the program for agriculture in the 

 respective counties. 



The lonji-ran.ne jjoal for your county Farm 



Bureau is carried on a poster which is prom- 

 inently displayt-J in its office. ^'ou can 

 help attain it by si);nin}< your neighbor. 



POINTED REMARKS AT COD MEET- 

 INGS (The following art only a few of the 

 uood thinfis said by CODs and others at the 

 meetings at St. Charles. I'rhana, Hillsboro 

 and Effin.qham). 



Those who receive our services should he 

 our best salesmen." Leo Mosher. 



"I am interested in or>;anization because 

 it is the life blood of Farm Bureau." la- 

 coK Ouwcnga, president. Cook county. 



Plans mean nothini; unless we get out 

 anj work." lim Hart. Vermilion county. 



To get a man to be a Farm Bureau mem- 

 ber should be easy, for it s only good citizen- 

 ship. Agriculture is the foundation of our 

 government." Bert Downey, Piatt county. 



Farm Bureau membership in I(>w'a gained 



approximately 28(X) during the month of 

 April, swelling the total paid membership 

 to 8",()6:. 



BUTCH WANSTREET, star personal 

 soUcitor in Franklin County Farm Bureaus 

 recent membership drive, is the new general 

 agent of insurance and county organization 

 director in Hamilton county. 



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JAMES POTTER has taken charge of the 

 organization and insurance work in Gallatin 

 county, succeeding Dan Collins, who re- 

 signed as of June I. 



JUNE, 1945 



Richard O'Dell, Piatt county organization 

 director and general agent, leit. and Bert 

 Downey, right, special organization work- 



er, show lAA Organization Director O. D. 

 Brissenden. their campaign map used suc- 

 cessfully in signing new members. 



Piatt's 100% Membership Plan 



IT'S NO ordinary goal that the Piatt 

 County Farm Bureau has set for it.self 

 — every farm in the county represented 

 by a Farm Bureau membership. What's 

 more the goal is in sight. 



This is the way it started. Back in No- 

 vember, 19-44, the proposition was put 

 up to 'the organization workers. They 

 were asked if they thought it could be 

 done. Forty of the organization workers 

 said they thought it could be accom- 

 plished. 



Richard O'Dell, county organization 

 director and general agent, enlisted the 

 aid of Bert Downey, a well-known tann- 

 er in the county who has been acti\e in 

 farm programs and had served on the 

 county AAA committee, to work with 

 the -10 volunteers. 



First step was to make a map of each 

 township in the county listing every tarm 

 with the name of landlord and tenant. 

 If either the landlord or tenant was a 

 Farm Bureau member, a red star was 

 placed on the township map where his 

 farm was located. 



Armed with his maps, Downey us- 

 ually was accompanied into each township 

 by a worker from that locality. Most 

 of the prospects showed an interest in 

 the map of their particular township and 

 asked what the red stars ineant. 'VX'hen 

 informed that they designated Farm Bu- 

 reau memberships, the prospect often 

 times was surprised to discover that his 

 neighbor or a number of his neighbors 

 were Farm Bureau members. How did 

 Downey convince prospects that the)' 

 should join their neighbors in belonging 

 to the Farm Bureau? His story was 

 simple and direct. 



We believe, Downey said, that agri- 

 culture is the foundation of America, 

 and when we say agriculture we mean 

 the farmers. Then if agriculture is going 



to do its part in biiildmg a better Amer- 

 ica it means that farmers should be or- 

 ganized — if we are going to do the job 

 we ha\e to stick together. Also if we 

 believe that we as farmers are the touii- 

 dation ot America we should do some- 

 thing about building our government and 

 shaping its policies. Vi'e can do that 

 through the I'arm Bureau because it is 

 set up to do the )ob. 



Using these basic facts. Downey 

 worked every day from the first ot the 

 year up until March 1, and was assisted 

 by the -10 volunteer workers. 



I'irst township to be 100 per cent I'arm 

 Bureau was Downey s own - Monticel- 

 lo. There are eight townships in Piatt 

 countv. Now there are two that have 

 100 per cent representation, one town- 

 ship has only one farm not represented 

 by a membership, and several of the re- 

 maining townships only lack seven or 

 eight of the 100 per cent goal. In Piatt 

 county. O'Dell estimates that tln-re are 

 about 30 farmers not represented by 

 farm Bureau memberships. 



Yes, it looks as though Piatt County 

 Farm Bureau will make its 100 per cent 

 goal. 



But this is not the end. The Farm 

 Bureau board in Piatt county plans to 

 set up an organization with a leader 

 representing each tour sections in the 

 county. It will be the responsibility of 

 this leader to correlate the membersliip 

 in his territory and through a series of 

 educational meetings, in which the 

 leaders are called together, pass on to 

 the farmers in his vicinity pertinent in- 

 formation. This, of course, would also 

 work in reverse. Any problems or criti- 

 cisms farmers in these four sections may 

 have are to be carried to the I'arm Bu- 

 reau board and these leaders. 



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