•<l 



FRED HERNOON 



L. R. LANGFORD 



AT THE 20th annual meeting of the 

 Illinois Farm Supply Company at 

 the Morrison Hotel, Nov. 19, dele- 

 gates and members heard C. H. Becker, 

 manager, report that the company had 

 closed its most successful year with sales 

 totaling J21, 178,614.45 (wholesale 

 value), a gain of 14.9 per cent over last 

 year, the previous record. 



The Illinois Farm Supply Company, 

 affiliated with the Illinois Agricultural 

 Association, is the state purchasing asso- 

 ciation for 96 member companies and 74 

 other Farm Bureau cooperative organiza- 

 tions. Among these members, 81 are 

 engaged in the distribution of petroleum 

 and related supplies, 70 are authorized 

 distributors of feed and related supplies, 

 75 are authorized to distribute plant 

 food, and 100 are in the seed inocjlant 

 business. 



New Director Elected 

 During the election of directors, Harley 

 R. Neal, Lawrenceville, retired and was 

 succeeded by J. P. 

 Redman, Cairo, in 

 District 8. The rest 

 of the board was re- 

 elected, as follows : 

 Glenn Geiter, Da- 

 kota, District 1 ; 

 Charles Keslinger, 

 LaFox, District 2 ; 

 George Chappie, 

 Dwight, District 3; 

 John P. White, 

 Washington, D i s - 



J. p. Redman tfj^ 4. Fred E. 



Herndon, Macomb, District 5 (presi- 



dent) ; Frank J. Flynn, Murrayville, Dis- 

 trict 6 (secretary) ; Jesse L. Beery, Cerro 

 Gordo, District 7 (Vice-President) ; R. 

 H. Monke, Litchfield, District 9; F. E. 

 Morris, Buffalo, director at large; and 

 Otto Steffey, Stronghurst, director at 

 large. 



Committees appointed for • the day 

 were: 



Resolutions: William H. Sheffner 

 (Stephenson) chairman; L. W. Roberts 

 (Champaign); L. R. Langford (Edgar). 



Credentials: Harry Strelluf (Ford) 

 chairman; Ivan E. Hill (Christian); 

 Louis J. Hertel (St. Clair) . 



Main speaker of the day was Leonard 

 J. Fletcher, director of Training and 

 Community Relations at Caterpillar Trac- 

 tor Company, Peoria, and a director of 

 the Illinois State Chamber of Commerce, 

 as well as past chairman of the Agricul- 

 ture-Industry Committee. 



Fletcher stressed the need for a public 

 relations department on behalf of agri- 

 culture and the farmer who represents 

 one of the minority groups. 



"We must develop understanding and 

 get at the facts," the speaker advised, 

 "because most people get their ideas of 

 the farmer's life on their sunny summer 

 afternoon drives into the country. People 

 have no understanding of the things that 

 farmers are up against — their problems, 

 their costs, their hard work." 



Fletcher advised that we could better 

 develop understanding and confidence 

 between other groups and ourselves if we 

 would 1) Listen to the other fellow 

 when he's giving his ideas on Agricul- 



C. H. BECKER H. STREUUF 



ture, and tell him "I'm interested in why 

 you think the way you do." 2) Talk 

 when he's through, and in the same 

 friendly vein tell him the truth about 

 cooperatives, about the farmer's life, and 

 don't argue with him. 3) Leave him as 

 a friend. Tell him that you're glad to 

 have known and talked with him, glad 

 you had the opportunity to share view- 

 points. 



Petroleum Division Makes Spectacular 

 Gains 



In the annual report of the Board of 

 Directors as presented by Manager 

 Becker, the Illinois Farm Supply Com- 

 pany was reported as being in a stronger 

 position than at any previous time "by 

 any standard of measurement." The 

 Petroleum Division, it was pointed out, 

 had made spectacular gains, and last year 

 gallonage hit an all-time high with the 

 largest increase in the company's 20-year 

 history. 



Total sales of this Division amounted 

 to 114,131,007.32 involving 152,460,834 

 gallons of petroleum products. This is 

 a gain of 15.3 per cent over last year. 

 During the year, Becker related, two new 

 and vastly improved products, lUini 

 Premium and IFS Heavy Duty motor oils, 

 were introduced and found wide accep- 

 tance. Both products were brought about 

 through wartime scientific development 

 within the Petroleum Industry and find- 

 ings of the company's own research lab- 

 oratory. According to Becker, sales of 

 the two new products for the five-month 



1946 IS BEST in 



32 



L A. A. RECORD 



