PRODUCERS CELEBRATE 



Silver Inniversaries 



H. H. Parke 



THE silver anniversary of the Chicago 

 Producers Commission Association 

 ended a colorful era in livestock market- 

 ing last month with the retirement of 

 President Henry H. Parke of De Kalb 

 county. 



Succeeding to the 

 post held by Parke 

 for the past 20 

 years is the former 

 vice president, 

 Theodore Funk of 

 McLean county. 

 Funk is a large cat- 

 tle feeder, a prom- 

 inent Farm Bureau 

 member, and mem- 

 ber of the board of 

 directors of the 

 Funk Hybrid Seed 

 Company. He has been a member of 

 the Chicago Producers board for the 

 past nine years. 



Retiring President Parke, one of the 

 organizers of the Chicago Producers, 

 also is numbered among the giants of 

 the founding fathers of Farm Bureau and 

 Illinois farm cooperatives. As a young 

 man recently out of college he had a pro- 

 found interest in scientific agriculture. 



He suggested that the Farmers Insti- 

 tute at DeKalb county broaden its scope 

 to reach more farmers. Parke then or- 

 ganized farmers clubs and by the winter 

 of 1911-12 several of these clubs with 

 a membership of 700 were holding 

 monthly meetings at which authorities on 

 soils and crops were invited to speak. 



Parke suggested again that someone 

 work all the time with DeKalb farmers 

 to show them the best in scientific agri- 

 culture. Parke's enthusiasm for better 

 agriculture led to plans being discussed 

 to obtain an agricultural expert and on 

 March 27, 1912, the DeKalb County 

 Soil Improvement Association was 

 founded. 



Parke's enthusiasm and hard work had 

 resulted in the first forerunner of what 

 we know today as the county Farm Bu- 

 reau. As a result of his efforts, DeKalb 

 shares honors with Kankakee county as 

 the first in the U. S. to hire a farm ad- 

 viser — June 1, 1912. 



In a prepared speech which he was un- 

 able to deliver before the Chicago Pro- 

 ducers meeting because of ill health. 

 Parke, in spite of a difficult year, sounded 



a note of optimism: "The road ahead 

 looks brighter," he said. "The mem- 

 bers of the Chicago Producers have to- 

 day the strongest and best marketing or- 

 ganization in the world. We can now 

 go forward with greater confidence in a 

 large production and marketing pro- 

 gram." 



Only new member elected to the board 

 of directors was Carl Johnson of De- 

 Kalb county. He re- 

 places H. H. Parke 

 as representative 

 from the first dis- 

 trict. 



The struggle by 

 the Chicago Pro- 

 ducers to keep its 

 head above water 

 during the on again 

 off again days of 

 the OPA was out- 

 lined by Manager Dave Swanson in his 

 annual report to the members. 



Net operating loss in 1946 for Chi- 

 cago Producers amounted to $42,460.41. 

 Swanson pointed out, however, that the 

 association was back in the black with 

 the end of the OPA. During 1946, the 

 Chicago Producers handled 13,990 cars 

 of livestock valued at $50,186,897 or 

 one-eighth of all the livestock handled 

 on the Chicago market. 



Principal speaker was Dr. Raymond 

 W. Miller, president of the American 

 Institute of Cooperation. Miller con- 

 tended that too many people are ignorant 

 of the true significance of farm coopera- 

 tives. 



Ted Funk 



FITTINGLY enough, the Silver Anni- 

 versary meeting of the St. Louis Pro- 

 ducers was probably the most enthusiastic 

 ever held. Members were cheered by the 

 realization that for the first time in four 

 years they are selling on a free market 

 and that their cooperative, along with 

 other Producer agencies, played a big 

 part in having improper controls removed 

 from live stock and meat. 



Producers members, too, experienced 

 a sense of pride in the fact that their 

 association has reached an important 

 milestone and can look back on a quarter 

 of a century of splendid accomplishments 

 and faithful service. 



President RoyBurrus of Arenzville, 

 III., struck the keynote of the occasion 

 when he reminded members that they, 

 as live stock producers working through 

 their own agency, have helped realize a 

 higher standard of marketing service and 

 better live stock returns. "Our job now," 

 declared Burrus, "is to hold as much of 

 this improvement as possible." 



In 25 years, Burrus reported, the Pro- 

 ducers has handled the equivalent of 

 353,399 cars of stock having a gross 

 value of more than half a billion dollars. 

 The gross value of sales made last year 

 alone was placed at $30,714,243. 



Manager H. D. Wright pointed out 

 that again last year the agency was first 

 among some 40 firms on the market in 

 each of the four species of live stock, 

 cattle, calves, hogs and sheep. 



"Directors and management," Wright 

 continued, "have always been conscious 

 of the underlying purpose of the associ- 

 ation — to seek and use volume for bar- 

 gaining power, to effect savings as far 

 as possible and to render efficient serv- 

 ice in the selling of cattle, calves, hogs 

 and sheep and the buying and financing 

 of stocker and feeder material. The 

 Producers can look forward to opportu- 

 nities for even greater accomplishments 

 in the future." ■\ 



*'v 



•I 



Th< 

 col 

 It 





At a fou 

 wards ce 

 Hm* te 



-» k 



:-:5» 



-I 



A Kane county group hat lunch together during the silver anniversary meeting in Chicago 

 of the Chicago Producers. Left te right: Conrad Und, Arthur N. Heoly, Ralph Dugan, 

 Nelson Myers, Arthur Und, and Clement Vickery. i 



In a typic 

 feeds his 



Glenn 



20 



L A. A. RECORD 



APRIL 1 



