mal health and hygifne. Certainly we 

 have no intention to provide individual 

 technical or professional advice, but rath- 

 er to serve in the broad field of general 

 information and relations. The Associa- 

 tion also needs, on many subjects and 

 occasions, the services of a professionally 

 trained person in formulating legislative 

 programs. Several of our associated co- 

 operatives also require the part time 

 services of a technically trained man in 

 this field. 



Each year your Association has the 

 responsibility of sponsoring and organ- 

 izing a number of important special 

 events. It was logical, therefore, to 

 establish a Department of Special Serv- 

 ices. This department has carried much 

 of the responsibility for such difficult 

 organizational tasks as the Farm Sports 

 Festival, the Farm Bureau Tent at the 

 State Fair, the lAA Annual Meeting and 

 the trip to California for the American 

 Farm Bureau Federation Annual Meeting. 



Other departments of the Association 

 have found increased opportunities for 

 service during 1946. School survey com- 

 mittees have become active in most of 

 the counties of the state. The Depart- 

 ment of Rural School Relations has been 

 called upon by the County Farm Bureaus 

 to assist them in their work with these 

 official survey committees. This will 

 continue to be an important project as 

 the movement toward voluntary school 

 reorganization gains momentum. As a 

 result of the school survey legislation 

 farmers have an opportunity to organize 

 their rural schools on a community basis 

 into larger units, employing better teach- 

 ers and offering their children a better 

 educational opp)Ortunity. Farmers should. 



however, consider all proposals carefully 

 as there is danger from hasty action. 

 Some rural areas are permitting them- 

 selves to be drawn into districts includ- 

 ing a fairly large urban population which 

 would undoubtedly dominate school af- 

 fairs. Others may be combining on a 

 basis too small for maximum efficiency 

 and economy. 



The services of the Departments of 

 Property Taxation and Rural Road Im- 

 provement will undoubtedly be in great 

 demand during coming months. The full 

 effect of the change to 100% assessed 

 valuation will rightly result in demands 

 for local tax activity. 



The Research Department will be 

 called upon to furnish much of the sta- 

 tistical basis for our anticipated activity 

 in the whole field involving local gov- 

 ernmental problems. Research activities 

 in the field of marketing continue to ex- 

 pand as we move into new phases of 

 livestock and grain handling. General 

 economic research for the new Economic 

 Study Committee has already been under- 

 taken. 



Marketing Activities 



The development of a properly cor- 

 related program of cooperative marketing 

 activities continues to be a primary un- 

 solved problem of the Association. How- 

 ever, I am happy to report that sub- 

 stantial progress has been made during 

 the year just closed. In the fields of 

 grain, livestock and dairy marketing there 

 is still much work to be done. There 

 are two fundamental considerations from 

 which we must never allow ourselves 

 to deviate. First, we must always test 



President Shuman (center) is shown at the registration tobie during the lAA convention 



' with left to right: Byron Kline, McLean county; H. P. Ash, Macon; Reinard Boehie, Sr., 



Peoria, and Clark E. Wise, Champaign. 



every proposal as to whether it is in the 

 long time best interests of the farmers 

 of Illinois. All services and institutions 

 must be measured by this standard, 

 "What will in the end bring the highest 

 net returns and the best service to the 

 individual farmer.'" 



Correlation Necessary 



The second fundamental is that we 

 must not permit the great commodity in- 

 terests to be divided into competing 

 groups. Milk is milk whether sold as 

 fluid milk, or as some processed product. 

 Grain is grain whether marketed through 

 river points or rail stations. Livestock 

 is one commodity whether assembled 

 iocally or at the large terminals or proc- 

 essed by cooperative plants. Early action 

 to correlate all cooperative activities for 

 marketing each product is absolutely nec- 

 essary if we are to eliminate friction and 

 provide maximum returns to farmers. 



Despite material and equipment short- 

 ages, considerable orogress has been made 

 by cooperative marketing and processing 

 organizations of the state in expanding 

 their operations. The new cold storage 

 building of the Illinois Fruit Growers 

 Exchange is nearing completion and will 

 mark a step forward in the cooperative 

 marketing of fruits and vegetables. Sev- 

 eral new developments and expansions 

 in the operation of cooperative locker 

 plants and in the plants of the Prairie 

 Farms Creameries were completed during 

 the year. A new creamery plant at Henry 

 began operations during the year. 



In addition to this progress, there is 

 yet much to be done. Considerable areas 

 of the state, notably those producing 

 milk for cheese factories and condensaries 

 remain unorganized. 



With the organization of Illinois Grain 

 Terminals Company, progress has been 

 made in development of the framework 

 for an enlarged program of grain mar- 

 keting. A better understanding of ulti- 

 mate objectives of the Illinois Agricul- 

 tural Association program of livestock 

 marketing now exists. I feel confident 

 that real progress can be made towards 

 putting this program into action during 

 coming months. 



The Association must insist upon the 

 closest possible cooperation on the part 

 of everyone concerned if it is to suc- 

 cessfully accomplish its goal of establish- 

 ing an effective correlated cooperative 

 marketing structure in Illinois. 



Other Problems 



For a number of years the Association 

 has contemplated the establishment of a 

 Retirement Plan for employees. The 



(Continued on page 28) .' i. ' 



II 



L A. A. RECORD 



