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L RECORD 



lose Rcanon Quinones, colorful delegate 

 from Puerto Rico, gestures as he talks be- 

 fore session of AFBF convention. 



on a business basis it was necessary to 

 get rid of farm subsidies and roll backs 

 on farm products. 



President Edward A. O'Neal, in his 

 annual 'address, had this to say about 

 parity: "The parity concept has served 

 agriculture well ... It is natural that, 

 as conditions change, there will be real 

 need for adjustments of the formula, 

 and I'm for that. But before any 

 changes are made, let's be sure that the 

 changes are sound. 



. . ."The most promising proposal I 

 have seen is to take the actual average 

 price for the 10 preceding years and 

 then adjust it to reflect the economic 

 balance that existed between agriculture 

 and industry during the base period 

 of 1910 to 1914. For 1945, the years 

 1935-44, inclusive, would be used. 



"Using actual average prices for the 

 preceding 10 years would automatically 

 allow for the changes that are con- 

 stantly taking place in agriculture. It 

 would have the further greater advan- 

 tage of maintaining a fair relationship 

 between basic feed crops and the live- 

 stock products into which feed is con- 

 verted. . . 



"It would be folly in my opinion, 

 to discard the 1910-14 period as a base, 

 because there has been no other period 

 during the past 50 years, in which 



prices were so stable, and in which 

 economic relationships between groups 

 were so equitable. 



"By using the 10-ye'ar moving aver- 

 age of prices, as I have suggested, we 

 in eflFect modernize the formula and 

 still keep the 1910-14 base for its 

 overall relationship between groups. " 



In the AFBF resolution on parity, 

 the Farm Bureau announced that it 

 would support the present parity for- 

 mula as now applied to the six basic 

 crops ftorn, wheat, cotton, tobacco, rice 

 and peanuts) until such a time as a new 

 formula is developed that is fairer and 

 more defensible than the present parity 

 formula for any or all basic crops. 



"We insist, however," the resolution 

 stated, "that steps be taken to develop 

 immediately a plan for livestock, live- 

 stock products, dairy products, and any 

 other agricultural commodity not fairly 

 treated under the present parity for- 



Allon B. Kline of Iowa thanks the delegates 



alter being elected AFBF vice president to 



succeed Earl C. Smith oi Illinois. 



mula that will give the respective com- 

 modities equitable treatment. 



. . ."In any consideration given to a 

 revision of present parity, we recom- 

 mend that care be taken that no frra- 

 tional steps be effected that will nullify 

 the government's guarantee of con- 

 tinued support prices." 



The national fertilizer program was 

 another topic covered by guest speakers 

 at the AFBF sessions. 



Robert Temple. 19, (leh) LaSalle county, 

 receives trophy from President O'Neal after 

 winning National Rural Youth Talk Fest. 



Congressman Flannagan and Senator 

 Lister Hill from Alabama outlined the 

 National Fertilizer Policy Bill which 

 they are sponsoring in Congress. Sen- 

 ator Bankhead and Senator Hill are co- 

 sponsors of the bill in the Senate and 

 Congressman Flannagan sponsored the 

 bill in the House of Representatives. This 

 bill is the key to the fertilizer program 

 based on scientific facts prepared by the 

 American Farm Bureau Federation. 



Both Congressman Flannagan and 

 Senator Hill warned that there would 

 be considerable opposition to the bill 

 in Congress, with most of the opposi- 

 tion coming from the National Plant 

 Food Council, which they said, repre- 

 sents the fertilizer interests. 



According to Hill, under this bill 

 the goal would be to make it possible 

 for farmers to buy the plant food they 

 need for their own soil. It would also 

 modernize the formulas for farm fertil- 

 izers and eliminate the wasteful proc- 

 essing of unneeded inert matter. 



"But the tragedy," Senator Hill said, 

 "is not alone that present fertilizer 

 production and practices are as out-of- 

 date as a 1925 automobile. The greater 

 tragedy is that we are removing twice 

 as much plant food from our soil 

 through cropping, erosion, and leech- 



Seven members of the Illinois delegation 

 to the American Farm Bureau Federation 

 convention Dec. 17-20. in Chicago are 

 shown during a general session in Hotel 



JANUARY, 1946 



Sherman. All members of the lAA board 

 of directors, they are, left to right: C. I. 

 Elliott, Lyman Bunting, K. T. Smith, Vice 

 President F. E. Morris. Chester McCord, 



President Charles B. Shuman and Otto 

 Steffey. Elliott substituted at the final ses- 

 sions for August Eggerding who was 

 taken ill. 



