Name Topnotcbers for 1945 



FIVE speakers, four jroung men and 

 a young woman, were rated Top- 

 notcbers in the annual Rural Youth Talk- 

 fest held Nov. 27 in Chicago in con- 

 junction with the annual convention of 

 the Illinois Agricultural Association. 



Topnotchers and their subjects were: 

 Robert Temple, La Salle, "The Red 

 Cross on the Job;" L. D. El well, Peoria, 

 "115,000 Organized Farmers Have 

 Power;" Dale Lepper, Adams, "The 

 Ideal Life Partner;" Kenneth Cheatham, 

 Bond, "Good Recreation Creates High 

 Morale;" and Gladys Hasler, Richland, 

 "What is a Well-Balanced Rural Youth 

 Program is for My County.'" 



Enrollment at the Rural Youth meet- 

 ing in Chicago was 175 representing 47 

 counties. 



Besides the Topnotchers, the following 

 speakers took part in the Talkfest: Evelyn 

 Burger, Morgan; Walter Brockmeier, 

 Washington; Violett Rixmann, Wash- 

 ington; Juliafern Detroy, White; Glen 

 Sailer, White; Allen Wilson, Whiteside; 

 Estelle Jansen, Jasper ; Joe Trainor, Liv- 

 ingston; Dorothy Hoerner, Livingston. 



Robert Croxton, Schuyler; Winnie 

 Nadler, Will; Glen loder, Bureau; Rose- 

 mary Sharp, Woodford. 



Members of the 1945 State Rural 

 Youth Committee, who assisted with the 

 handling of attendance and who planned 

 the program for the annual meeting 

 were: Jewell Emmerich, Jasper; Bob 

 Croxton, Schuyler; Willis Ennle, Peoria; 

 Bill Thomas, Whiteside. Alternates 

 Wanda Bradshaw, Wayne, and Tom 

 Kerley, Brown, also were present and 

 lent a hand to the busy committee. Sing- 

 ing during the meetings was led by Mary 

 Ellen Pearman, Edgar. 



Named to the 1946 State Rural Youth 

 Committee were: John Rollins, Knox; 

 Alfred Mangold, Macon; Dick Williams, 

 Fulton, Bob Temple and Glen Sailer. 

 Alternates named were: Barbara Long, 

 Morgan; L. D. Elwell, Estelle Jansen, 

 Evelyn Burger, and Juliafern Detroy. 



Rural Youth members attended the 

 program of general entertainment, Tues- 

 day night, Nov. 27, provided for all 

 farm people attending the lAA conven- 

 tion. Rural Youth day closed with an 

 impromptu recreation period in the Crys- 

 tal Room of the Hotel Sherman under 

 the direction of Jewell Emmerich and 

 Tom Kerley. 



During the afternoon business session, 

 it was decided to make the State Rural 

 Youth Committee a part of a coordinat- 

 ing committee which was proposed at 



state Rural Youth camp last August. 

 The proposed committee set-up became a 

 reality with only a slight change in the 

 manner of selecting members from Illi- 

 nois Rural Youth to the National Rural 

 Youth Committee under the American 

 Farm Bureau Federation. 



Following are the rules for the com- 

 mittee set-up: ■"'; 



1. The committee would coordinate 

 activities of the present existing commit- 

 tees, which are composed of all members 

 of the lAA committee, three members of 

 the state camp committee, three of the 

 Farm and Home Week committee and 

 two of the fall conference committee, 

 making a total of 13. 



2. The committee would not super- 

 sede the present committees, but would 

 simply handle anything that could not 

 be handled by them. There would be a 

 revolving chairmanship with no chairman 

 serving at consecutive meetings. 



3. The National Rural Youth dele- 

 gates will be elected by the coordinating 

 committee from a group suggested by 

 the lAA. i: w ^ ^ 



4. The representatives of each com- 

 mittee will be elected from said commit- 

 tee by its own members. 



5. The present committees will be re- 

 tained and will not be required to con- 

 sult the coordinating committee. 



6. No constitution will be drawn up. 



7. Emphasis is to be placed on strong 

 cooperation with the lAA and extension 

 service rather than on a strong state or- 

 ganization. 



FRUIT GROWERS EXCHANGE 

 MARKETS 1,000 CARLOADS 



MORE than 1,000 carloads of straw- 

 berries, peaches, apples and veTJge- 

 tables were sold cooperatively for 

 Illinois growers during the year 

 through the Illinois Fruit Growers Ex- 

 change, according to the report of L. L. 

 Colvis, director of fruit and vegetable 

 marketing for the Illinois Agricultural 

 Association, prepared for the marketing 

 conference of the lAA annual conven- 

 tion in Chicago. 



Sales of fruit and vegetables by the 

 farmer-controlled cooperative totalled 

 464,307 bushels or packages, an in- 

 crease of 132,000 bushels or packages 

 over the previous year, which itself was 

 a record high. 



The Fruit Exchange Supply Com- 

 pany, which is a subsidiary cooperative 

 of the Illinois Fruit Growers Exchange, 

 is located at Carbondale and is man- 

 aged by Colvis. It was set up as a 

 purchasing cooperative as a convenience 

 in obtaining orchard equipment and 



supplies. *..■-. ; r ... .^: 



When the purchasing cooperative 

 was set up in 1942, purchases amounted 

 to $81,000. For the first nine months 

 of 1945, buying by the supply company 

 amounted to $330,000. 



With gradual release of wartime re- 

 strictions, Colvis predicted further ex- 

 pansion in cooperative fruit marketing 

 among Illinois farmers. Since the end 

 of the war, the Illinois Fruit Growers 

 Exchange has let the contract for a new 

 cold storage building at Carbondale. 

 It will cost approximately $100,000 

 and will have storage capacity for 

 60,000 bushels of fruit and vegetables 

 including facilities for quick freezing. 



Winners oi the title oi Topnotcher in the 

 annual Rural Youth Talkfeit held in Chi- 

 cago. Not. 27 ore leit to right: Bob Tem- 



ple. La Salle; L. 0. ElwelL Peorio; Gladya 

 Hasler, Richland; Dale Lepper. Adams, 

 and Kenneth Cheathom, Bond. 



DECB4BEB, 1945 



41 



