ff 



../AS FARMERS 

 FORWARD GO 



ORGANIZATION NOnS 

 By O. 0. Srlttenden 



LA SALLE county, after a successful 

 membership drive, estimates cur- 

 rent membership Feb. 1 as over 3300, 

 which, subject to latest figures from 

 other big counties, may put LaSalle in 

 first place in total membership. COD 

 Earl Hayes and the organization com- 

 mittee predict further gains in 1946. 



Whiteside county passed the 2,000 mark in 

 membership on Dec. 12, when former Air 

 Force navigator Ronald Bradley was signed 

 as a member by Claire Gsell, also a former 

 navigator. Current membership at year's 

 •end was 2015. 



Marion county reports 81 contraas signed 

 in the north-south competitive campaign that 

 ended Jan. 10. E. L. DeLay and Glen Jones 

 were the respective captains. 



Champaign, another of the state's large 



counties, launched the "Battle of the Bucks" 

 January li, with membership then standing 

 at 3100. No report on them as of Feb. 1. 



Effingham county's drive ended Dec. 4 

 with 75 new contracts. Wood Ley and 

 Salvester Zerrusen led the two teams in a 

 19th-20th century contest. 



Jan. 1, 1946, was another memorable day 

 for lAA organization workers, for it marked 

 the attainment on a statewide basis of the 

 long-range goals set in 1944. As of that 

 date, membership stood at 118,845, or 441 

 over the total of the county goals. 



Hiese goals were set in membership main- 

 tenance conferences in 1944, shortly after 

 the successful conclusion of the drive for 

 100,000 members. Each county organization 

 committee, in consultation with key execu- 

 tives of the county and the lAA director of 

 sales service and assistant organization di- 

 rector, determined for itself what the goal 

 should be. 



At this year's membership maintenance 

 meetings, the goals are being reconsidered 

 and new objectives set. It looks as if the 

 total goals for attainment this year in the 

 state will add up to well over 125,000 mem- 

 bers. 



Membership maintenance meetings, as of 

 Feb. 1 had been held in 21 counties with a 

 total of 40 counties participating. Attend- 

 ance and interest are both running ahead of 

 last year's successful series. According to 

 schedules, nearly 90 counties will participate 

 this year. 



Eleven new county organization directors, 

 nine of them World War II vets, have 

 started work in District II, presided over by 

 L. Burl Hornbeck. A brief account of each 

 follows : 



Henderson County — Don Allison, for sev- 

 eral years an employee of the Henderson 

 County Service company. 



.Stark County — Louis Bogner, former or- 

 ganization director, and a veteran. Louis 

 will also manage the cold storage lockers. 



Winnebago^Eugene Stadel, veteran, and 

 former COD and assistant adviser in Mar- 

 shall Putnam, and former 4-H club worker 

 in Winnebago. 



Schuyler — Lymal E. Ransom. He will 

 also act as a special agent under GA Earle 

 Derrv. 



Adams— Ward Buzzard, to be COD aad 

 special agent. He is a veteran of several 

 years' service. 



Pike — Carrol Johnson, a veteran, hired «» 

 COD and also to assist the Farm Adviscf. 

 He is a Pike county native. 



Marshall-Putnam — Paul Laffey, to be COD 

 and Assistant Adviser. He is a veteran, and 

 a native and former 4-H club member of 

 Hancock county. 



Scott — Earl Gathman, formerly a farmer 

 and special agent in Sangamon county, will 

 be COD and general agent. 



Whiteside— Claire Gsell, Air Force vet, 

 started to work as COD December 1. 



Brown — Nelson Workman, veteran, aod 

 former teacher, to be COD and Geoeial 

 Agent. He began work Nov. 15. 



Tazewell — Charles Masching, veteran, for- 

 mer General Agent in Tazewell, to be COO 

 and special agent. 



With the presenutioo of 90 new members 



to retiring President Lester S. Davison at 

 the 31st annual meeting of the Woodford 

 County Farm Bureau, Jan. 19, membenhip 

 in the organization reached the all-time hich 

 of 1522 members — above the goal of 1500 

 set by the organization committee headed by 

 Peter R. Schertz two years ago, when tbc 

 membership stood at 1214 members. At 

 that time a long-time goal of 1500 members 

 by annual meeting in 1946 was recommended 

 by the organization committee and adopted 

 by the board of directors. 



Attainment of the goal was the result d 



a last-minute campaign starting Jan. 1 with 

 the membership at the 1472 level, and endiaf 

 Saturday when Ed Sutter, organization di- 

 rector, presented 26 contracts to President 

 Davison, as the results of the efforts of his 

 membership workers and insurance depart- 

 ment while George Ludwig turned in 24 

 contracts secured by his employees, directors 

 and membership workers. 



Mr. Sutter also announced that as a result 

 of the campaign the new member goal for 

 1946 set by the Illinois Agricultural Associa- 

 tion had also been reached. 



Add Field Man To 

 Organization Staff 



John C. Howlett, 34, who had been 

 associated with Farm Bureau for nine 

 years prior to entering the army, has 

 been employed as a 

 field man in the lAA 

 organization depart- 

 ment. 



Organization Di- 

 rector O. D. Bris- 

 senden said Howlett, 

 who was reared in 

 Edgar county, would 

 devote most of his 

 time to assisting the 

 three district organ - 

 I. C. Howleti ization directors — 



Harry Claar, John C. Moore and L. B. 



Hornbeck. 



Howlett attended Indiana university 

 and started his association with Farm 

 Bureau in 1933 when he worked at an 



Edgar County Supply Company service 

 station. In 1934 he became a special 

 agent for lAA insurance companies in 

 Edgar county and three years later went 

 to Fayette county as organization direc- 

 tor and general agent. 



In 1938-39 he was organization direc- 

 tor of Iroquois county and in 1939-42 

 served as general agent in Christian coun- 

 ty- 

 He entered the army air forces in 

 1942 and spent 21 months in the Pacific 

 from New Caledonia to Tokyo. Most of 

 his time was devoted to radar and the 

 direction of night fighters. He went on 

 terminal leave Dec. 1 when he was dis- 

 charged as a Captain. Howlett's wife* 

 and 1 8-months-old son live on a farm 

 near Paris, Edgar county. 



"Free enterprise means the right to en- 

 gage in business, to own my own business 

 and to run my own business — but not to 

 infringe upon the rights of others or to 

 jeopardize the common good." Secretary 

 Clinton P. Anderson. 



Country Life Hat 

 Vi Billion Coverage 



Successful conclusion of Country Life 

 Insurance Company's campaign to h*Te 

 a quarter billion dollars worth of insur- 

 ance written by Jan. 1 has been an- 

 nounced by Manager Dave Mieher. 



After a well-organized campMugn 

 which saw Country Life agents write 

 $30,500,000 during the calendar year 

 1945, final results showed total business 

 of $250,500,000 as of Jan. 1. 



The $30,500,000 gain was the great- 

 est acquisition of business in the 17-ycar 

 history of the organization. Gain in 

 force for 1945 amounted to $24,000,000, 

 also the greatest gain in force for any 

 year in the company's history. 



Country Life Insurance Company is 

 an afiPiliate of the Illinois Agricultural 

 Association and operates within die 

 boundaries of Illinois. It sells almost 

 exclusively to farm people. 



FEBRUARY, 1946 



13 



