and the coordination of their activities 

 with the general program of the Farm 

 Bureau of Illinois were never better. 

 The purpose of these service organiza- 

 tions is to serve Farm Bureau members 

 and that they are measuring up fully to 

 this responsibility is proven by their 

 steady and substantial growth in vol- 

 ume, in earnings and in the steady 

 improvement of their financial posi- 

 tions. All observations seem to indi- 

 cate that the valued service they are 

 performing is gaining attractiveness 

 and is contributing materially to the 

 increase in the membership of the 

 County Farm Bureaus and the Illinois 

 Agricultural Association. 



Illinois Milk Producers Association 



Illinois Fruit Growers Exchange and 



Illinois Cooperative Locker Service 



Relationships with the Illinois Milk 

 Producers Association, Illinois Fruit 

 Growers Exchange and the Illinois Co- 

 operative Locker Service continue on a 

 very cooperative and satisfactory basis. 

 While these organizations are not oper- 

 ated or managed by the Management 

 Service provided by the Illinois Agri- 

 cultural Association, their interests and 

 activities are closely associated with 

 those of the I. A. A. and are generally 

 regarded as being a definite part of the 

 Farm Bureau program in Illinois. Re- 

 ports of their respective activities dur- 

 ing the year appear to be very satis- 

 factory to those they serve and one 

 could not ask for more cordial under- 

 standing and relationships than those 

 existing between these companies and 

 the Illinois Agricultural Association. 



While the Farm Bureau members 

 in Illinois appear to be rightfully 

 proud of the outstanding success the 

 Farm Bureau service organizations have 

 made, and I find great personal as well 

 as official satisfaction in their outstand- 

 ing achievements, yet I feel that the 

 enlarged Farm Bureau membership re- 

 quires some improvement, some ex- 

 pansion and strengthening in at least 

 some of these business operations. 

 Thoughtful people and forward look- 

 ing institutions are laying plans so as 

 to better meet some of the acute prob- 

 lems that seem to lie ahead. This is 

 particularly true in the fields of grain 

 and livestock marketing. The appro- 

 priate Boards of Directors have given 

 a great deal of thought to these two 

 subjects during the past year. 



Studies seem to reveal the desirability 

 of organizing and developing a grain 

 merchandising program. Such a pro- 

 gram should supplement, but in no 

 wise displace, any of the merited serv- 

 ices performed by the Illinois Grain 

 Corporation. Any worthwhile grain 

 merchandising program will require 



very substantial capital, a large portion 

 of which must, of necessity, come from 

 the farmers within the interested areas 

 of the State. Experience discloses the 

 hazards as well as the opportunities in 

 this field of operation and I admonish 

 very careful investigation and consider- 

 ation of aiU factors involved before 

 launching upon such a program. There 

 must be adequate interest in a sufficient 

 number of areas to assure at least the 

 minimum volume of grain necessary 

 for a successful State-wide merchandis- 

 ing operation. Plans are fully developed 

 for such a program if and when a 

 sufficient amount of local interest is 

 manifested in a very definite and ma- 

 terial way. 



Study Marketing Problems 



Problems in livestock marketing call 

 for effective coordination of all coop- 

 erative livestock marketing operations 

 serving Illinois farmers. A Special 

 State-wide Livestock Marketing Com- 

 mittee was selected early in the year 

 to study this problem and to make rec- 

 ommendations to the Illinois Agricul- 

 tural Association on policies necessary 

 to accomplish this purpose. There is 

 yet some difference of opinion regard- 

 ing the essential features necessary to 

 assure volume of livestock, economy in 

 operation and the type of bargaining 

 power an organization must have to 

 fully protect the rightful interests of 

 livestock producers and feeders offer 

 ing their livestock for sale. To say the 

 least, the problems are difficult, as they 

 involve institutions as well as men. 

 My confidence in farmers generally and 

 the leaders who have been developed 

 in the field of cooperative livestock 

 marketing, as well as experience in the 

 development of business service cor- 

 porations, justifies my anticipating that 

 in the early future a program of the 

 character mentioned will be agreed 

 upon. 



Only when this is done can the live- 

 stock farmers of Illinois really expect 

 to secure the full value of their live- 

 stock in a highly competitive market 

 when the controls of government are 

 removed. 



Turning to the field of public rela- 

 tions, the record fully justifies my say- 

 ing that never before has the Illinois 

 Agricultural Association been more 

 effective in representing the interests 

 of farmers before the law-making body 

 of our State than during the recent 

 session of the 64th General Assembly. 

 Recognizing that little if any legisla- 

 tion is proposed that does not have 

 an indirect if not direct effect upon 

 rural interests, it was necessary for the 

 representatives of your Association to 

 review the 1,507 bills that were intro- 



duced during this Session. While there 

 is little glamour or appreciation re- 

 sulting from successful efforts to amend 

 or defeat legislation, yet I believe the 

 greatest value of the legislative effort 

 of organized farmers of Illinois lies in 

 that field. It would be impossible for 

 me to enumerate here the many bills 

 that were amended or defeated as a 

 result of I.A.A. influence. 



Support Gateway Amendment 



Among the most important legisla- 

 tion sponsored by the Illinois Agricul- 

 tural Association that was enacted into 

 law was the submission of the Gateway 

 Amendment to the voters at the next 

 general election, constructive rural 

 school legislation, a secondary road pro- 

 gram that for the first time places on 

 the State some responsibility for as- 

 sisting in the all-weather surfacing of 

 township roads, and legislation that 

 calls for a review and constructive 

 changes in regulations necessary to as- 

 sure better livestock disease control. 



As I feel sure you well know, the 

 Gateway Amendment provides that the 

 General Assembly may at one session 

 submit amendments to as many as three 

 articles of the Constitution instead of 

 one as permitted at the present time, 

 and of greater importance, is the pro- 

 vision that two-thirds of those voting 

 on a proposition to amend the consti- 

 tution will be sufficient for its adoption 

 instead of the present requirement of 

 a majority of all those who vote in the 

 election for candidates for office. It 

 will be exceedingly important for the 

 Farm Bureau in every county and every 

 township to become very active when 

 this amendment is before the voters, 

 because to secure its passage will re- 

 quire a majority of all those who vote 

 in the election. To meet this almost 

 insurmountable requirement, the Asso- 

 ciation supported the so-called "Party 

 Circle Bills". They were passed by the 

 General Assembly over the strenuous 

 opposition of a coalition of the State 

 administration with the Chicago City 

 Hall machine and certain of the metro- 

 politan newspapers, only to meet with 

 veto by the Governor. A full report 

 of this legislative issue was given to 

 all of the members in the I.A.A. Rec- 

 ord. If the Governor of Illinois and 

 the Mayor of the City of Chicago are 

 to be consistent in their support of 

 the Gateway Amendment, because of 

 their strenuous opposition to the Party 

 Circle Bills, they must accept the very 

 great responsibility of assuming leader- 

 ship in all efforts to secure the adoption 

 of the Gateway Amendment at the next 

 general election. The importance of 

 the Gateway Amendment is immedi- 



(Contlaueti on page 27) 



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