A RE - STATEMENT OF POLICY 

 WITH REGARD TO PRICES 



YOUR Farm Bureau Service Company and the 

 Illinois Farm Supply Company naturally view 

 the present situation in commodity prices 

 through the eyes of their farmer patron owners. 



When OPA became inoperative on July 1st 

 we passed from the war-time era of controlled prices 

 to free markets and free prices. Every one of you 

 is familiar with what has taken place. Some com- 

 parisons are in order: 



It is evident that your Farm Bureau Service 

 Company has not changed its prices on fuels, oils, 

 tires,* paints. Blue Seal feeds, on the other hand, 

 have been influenced by the terrific upsurge of the 

 prices of soybean and linseed meals, grains, and 

 other ingredients. Our handling margins, however, 

 on Blue Seal feeds have remained about the same 

 as pre-war rates. 



Here are some things that you want to know: 

 1) Farm Bureau member patrons in Illinois are 

 spending approximately $100,000.00 every day for 

 fuels, oils, greases, plant foods, feeds, and other 

 supplies. This is at an annual rate of $30,000,000.00. 

 You can readily see that every 10% increase in price, 

 therefore, would cost our patrons $3,000,000.00 an- 

 nually. 



2) Your Service Company organization is not 

 going out in the markets where products are scarce 

 and prices skyrocketing to buy just to keep "busi- 

 ness rolling." On the contrary, we are going about 

 our business, doing as we have been doing for the 

 past months and years. We have no designs on 

 trying to corner a market nor to pile up a lot of 

 profits. We will gamble in NO market. Nor will 

 we load any member up with high-priced merchan- 

 dise. If prices on some items "go out of sight" we 

 reserve the right to discontinue handling such prod- 

 ucts until such time as prices return to reason. 



3) During this period of seesawing and uncer- 

 tainty. Farm Bureau Service Companies are exerting 

 their influence to hold the line on prices. This pol- 

 icy is pressing handling margins down because raw 

 material prices have been going up. This may ulti- 

 mately have a marked eff^ect on Service Company 

 earnings at the year end. We believe, however, 

 that you will agree that this holding the line policy 

 is sound from your standpoint. 



4) Obviously, when raw materials and labor 

 costs go to higher levels we will have no alternative 

 but to raise prices accordingly, but when we do, our 

 customary handling margin rates will not be in- 

 creased. Furthermore, it is our intention to exert our 

 influence wherever possible through greater eff^i- 

 ciency in distribution. 



Farm Bureau as an organization has traditionally 

 stood for fair prices. Fair prices in the market place 

 for things farmers produce — fair prices in supplies 

 which farmers need in farm production. Parity and 

 equality have become synonymous and have been 

 the key word of the Farm Bureau struggle for the 

 past 25 years. The present situation is dangerous, 

 but it is here. It is real. No single person is re- 

 sponsible for it. No one person can relieve it, but 

 as a group of 128,000 Farm Bureau members owning 

 81 Service Companies, doing $30,000,000.00 business 

 here in Illinois, we can exert a tremendous influence. 



*A SOc Increase per tire was allowed by the OPA effective 

 June 17, 1946. TkJs increase was general in the tire industry. 



ILLINOIS FARM SUPPLY CO. 



Chicago 5, III. 



608 South Dearborn Street 



14 



I. A. A. RECORD 



