THE 



ILLINOIS AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIATION RECORD 



To advance the purpose for which the Farm Bureau was organized, namely, 

 to promote, protect and represent the business, economic, social and educa- 

 tional interests of the farmers of Illinois and the Nation, and to develop 

 agriculture. 



THt STATE FARM 

 ■UREAU PUMJCATKM4 



SATURDAY NIGHT AND A NEW PLATEAU 



V^u f-^redident C^harleJ l/S. ^h 



untun 



I AM glad that the towns and cities of the Midwest are 

 Saturday night towns. These Saturday nights in town 

 provide one of the few opportunities during the busy 

 crop season for us to visit with our neighbors, deter- 

 mine the state of the nation and hear the side of the 

 news that the local weekly doesn't 

 dare print. Saturday night is one of 

 our essential institutions — it is in a 

 sense a weekly "town meeting". 



On a recent Saturday night, I lis- 

 tened in on a lively sidewalk debate on 

 prices and price cycles. One man 

 quoted a news story based on the fore- 

 cast of a rather prominent eastern 

 economist, who predicted that we had 

 attained a new, higher level of prices. 

 Much of the argument hinged on the necessity of maintain- 

 ing a high price level in order to successfully manage our 

 huge federal debt. 



My thoughts went back some twenty-seven years to 

 a Farmers' Institute meeting in the court house where, as 

 a boy, I listened with great interest as another expert ex- 

 plained that our price level had reached a new and higher 

 "plateau". Many farmers at that time followed this rea- 

 soning and assumed heavy debt loads to purchase farm 



land. The "new plateau" later turned out to be, in reality, 



a mirage. 



Let us look critically at the plateau on which we now 

 stand. We are forced to conclude that agriculture is in a 

 very vulnerable position. Farmers are seriously concerned 

 with the extreme height to which the inflationary spiral has 

 carried prices. Public opinion is turning against us under 

 a constant barrage of propaganda. Many farmers them- 

 selves have forgotten, or never experienced, the 1921 to 

 1932 catastrophe. 



How soon we forget! In 1920 it was a 'new plateau", 

 in 1932, the farmers "never expected to see $1 com again". 

 In 1947, we cannot understand how prices could sink "be- 

 low a reasonable level '. 



If the experiences of centuries of economic history 

 mean anything, they should warn us against building upon 

 a mirage that appears to be a plateau. Rather, we should 

 draw our plans as individuals and as an organization to 

 anticipate the most unfavorable contingencies we can now 

 imagine. 



The higher the air castles, the more disastrous may 

 be the fall and the more we may need a good parachute. 

 In coming months, I hope that we can examine some 

 possible parachutes. 



X X X K 



%■::: y. X K 



K 



SEPTEMBER, 1947 • VOLUME 25, NUMBER 8 



lUINOIS AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIATION OFFICERS and BOARD OF DIRECTORS (By Congressieiral Districts) 



President. Charles B. Shumon Sullivan 



Vics-Prasidenl. Floyd E. Morris Buffalo 



Secretary. Paul E. Mathias .Jlinsdale 



Field Sec.. Geo. E. Metayer Chicago 



Treasurer, B. A. Cowles Bloomington 



Comptroller. C. C. Chapells Chicago 



General Counsel. Donald Kirkpatrick Chicogo 



1st to nth Earl M. Hughes. Woodstock 



12th C. I. Elliott, Streator 



13th _ Homer Curtiss. Stockton 



Uth. . Otto Sle&ey. Stronghurst 



15th Edwrin Gumm, Galesburg 



16th __ Bussell V. McKee, Varna 



I7th „ „ E. T. Culnon, Lincoln 



18th. loha T. Evans. Hoopeston 



19th MUlon W. Warren. Mansfield 



20th K. T. Smith. Greenfield 



21st _ _ Dan L. Clarke. New Berlin 



22nd „.. J. King Eaton. Edwardsville 



23rd _ Chester McCord, Newton 



24th „ _ Lyman Bunting. EUery 



25th _ _ Albert Webb. Ewing 



Editer, Creston Fester. Ass't. Editor, James C. Thomson. Field Editor, Lewis A. Relsner. 



The Illinois Agricultural Association RECORD is published monthly except August by the Illinois Agricultural Association at 1501 W. Washington Bead. 

 Mendota. 111. Editorial Offices, 43 East Ohio St., Chicago. 111. Entered as second class matter at post office, Mendola. HI.. Sept. II. 1936. Accept- 

 ance for mailing at speciol rote of postage provided in Section 412. Act of Feb. 28. 1925, authorized Oct. 27, 1335. Address all communications tor 

 Bublicotion to Editorial Offices. lUmois Agricultural Association RECORD. 43 East Ohio St.. Chicago. The individual membership fee of the 

 lineis Agricultural Association is five dollars a year. The fee includes payment of fifty cents for subscription to the Illinois Agricultural Association 

 RECORD. Postmaster: Send notices, on Form 3578. Undeliverable copies returned under Form 3579 to editoricd offices. 43 E. Ohio St.. Chicago U. U. 



SEPTEMBER, 1947 



