RURAL YOUTH LEARN 

 IMPORTANCE OF GOOD 

 PUBLIC RELATIONS WORK 



THE importance of good public rela- 

 tions with other organized groups in 

 labor, industry and agriculture was 

 stressed in an address before the Rural 

 Youth conference by L. J. Fletcher, 

 director of training and community 

 relations for the Caterpillar Tractor 

 Company at Peoria. 



The conference was held in conjunc- 

 tion with the annual convention of the 

 Illinois Agricultural Association held 

 Nov. 18-21 in Hotel Sherman, Chicago. 



Fletcher said that even Rural Youth 

 needs a good public relations program 

 to promote better understanding with 

 others and to promote the organiza- 

 tion's growth and welfare. 



"The greatest single problem faced 

 alike by agriculture and industry," 

 Fletcher continued, "is that of develop- 

 ing better understanding between these 

 two groups. Each must know more 

 of the experiences, the thinking and 

 problems of the other. 



"Many earnest and hard-working 

 people engaged in operating our farms 

 hold firm convictions concerning the 

 desirability or undesirability of the 

 actions of people engaged in industry. 

 Some of this lack of understanding is 

 due to different methods of accounting 

 employed in agriculture as compared 

 to business. 



"The same words, such as 'profit,' 

 for instance," Fletcher said, "means 

 different things. Representatives of 

 each group are inclined to look over 

 the fence into the other fellow's pas- 

 ture and see where his problems appear 

 to be so much more simple. 



"During the past three years a state 

 wide program whole-heartedly en- 

 dorsed by the Illinois Agricultural As- 

 sociation and the Illinois State Cham- 

 ber of Commerce has resulted in the 

 establishing of 97 committees in over 

 80 counties in Illinois. These com- 

 mittees numbering from 30 to 75 peo- 

 ple are made up of half people en- 

 gaged in the business of farming and 

 half in other businesses. These com- 

 mittees meeting from three to 10 times 

 per year include in their programs the 

 discussion of subjects of mutual inter- 

 est whether they are local, state, or 

 national. Personal acquaintanceships 

 and much better understanding are 

 automatically a most desirable by- 

 product of such meetings. In some 

 areas these groups are joined by repre- 

 sentatives of educational institutions, 

 labor organizations, and the clergy. 



SERUM ASSOCIATION 

 DECLARES BIG REFUND 



ILLINOIS Farm Bureau Serum Associ- 

 ation declared a whopping $70,244 

 patronage dividend this year and re- 

 turned $3,500 interest on preferred 

 stock to its 91 county members. 



In its annual report to the member- 

 ship, Secretary-Manager Sam F. Rus- 

 sell and President Russell 'V. McKee, 

 of Marshall-Putnam county announced 

 that sales of serum and virus totaled 

 $323,891. 



Refunds, they said, figured out at 

 18 cents for each dollar of sales. 



The company's records indicate very 

 clearly that over the years farmers have 

 done an excellent job in vaccinating 



hogs and controlling cholera, Russell 

 said, refuting claims of those not 

 friendly to the association. 



Only 21 serum and virus trouble 

 cases were reported and veterinarians 

 showed that in most cases these losses 

 were due to added complications from 

 such causes, other than cholera, as 

 worms, pneumonia, enteritis and erysi- 

 pelas. 



Next year the serum association will 

 have the benefit of the aid and advice 

 of Dr. C. D. Van Houweling, veterin- 

 arian recently employed by the Illinois 

 Agricultural Association. 



This year's volume represents sales 

 of 39.492,725 cubic centimeters of 

 serum and 3,362,900 c. c. of virus pur- 

 chased last year by the association for 

 distribution among county members. 



Since 1933 when the first dividend 

 was paid $823,663.53 has been re- 

 funded to counties buying serum and 

 virus from their state organization. 



No new member counties were added 

 this year. Massac county became 91st 

 member of the association in 1945. 



County Farm Bureau companies were 

 urged to transfer the serum account to 

 their commercial subsidiaries as some 

 60 counties have done this year. 



DR. VAN HOUWELING 

 NAMED lAA VETERINARIAN 



T| R. C. D. Van Houweling, 28, re- 

 ^ cently discharged from the army 

 veterinary corps, has been named head 

 of the Illinois agri- 

 cultural A s s o c i a - 

 tion's new Depart- 

 ment of Veterinary 

 Medical Relations. 



He will devote 

 much of his time to 

 activities related to 

 the veterinary pro- 

 fession in Illinois 

 and will serve as 

 veterinary technical 

 adviser to the Illi- ^ w h 

 nois Agricultural As- '' "" •*"*• *** 

 sociation and Associated Companies. 



Dr. Van Houweling was born on a 

 farm in Mahaska county, Iowa and was 

 graduated from Iowa State College of 

 Veterinary Medicine in 1942. 



He practiced in central Illinois be- 

 fore joining the army veterinary corps 

 in which he served three years. He was 

 last stationed at the Kansas City quar- 

 termaster depot. 



Married to the former Roberta Ol- 

 son of Kansas City. Dr. Van Houwel- 

 ing has two children: Douglas, 3, 

 and Donald, five months. 



DECEMBER, 1946 



