B. Shuman, Sullivan, and Vice President 

 Floyd E. Morris also were re-elected. 



During a discussion on rural road con- 

 ditions at the meeting of Farm Bureau 

 presidents and farm advisers, President 

 Shuman asked for an expression of opin- 

 ion on whether the time was ripe for the 

 Illinois Agricultural Association to 

 undergo a survey of rural roads under the 

 direction of a State Rural Roads Survey 

 Committee, much in the manner of the 

 state committee which studied the rural 

 school situation several years ago. Several 

 speakers from the floor approved the 

 idea. 



Speaking on world rehabilitation in 

 his annual address. President Shuman 

 said: "Farmers are sympathetic with the 

 program to relieve the extreme distress 

 that is so widespread. However, they 

 realize that a price structure based upon 

 a charity program of exports of gift 

 goods to foreign nations is unsound. . . 

 Because of these convictions, farmers are 

 interested in the development of some 

 plan designed to rehabilitate the war- 

 torn units of the world economy. Trade, 

 not charity, could be a basis of economic 

 recovery in the world." 



President Shuman also reiterated his 

 previous criticisms of wasteful dupli- 

 cation by government agencies in their 

 soil conservation activities. "All of the 

 government soil conservation activities," 

 he said, "should be combined under one 

 agency." 



The lAA president also looked with 

 a critical eye on the high costs of distri- 

 bution of farm products. "The total cost 

 of marketing, processing, and distribut- 

 ing our products increases rapidly during 

 inflationary cycles, but remains practically 

 unchanged when prices fall." he said. 



Copies of talks made at die gen- 

 eral sessions of the lAA annual 

 meeting by Shuman, Burch, 

 O'Neal, Flanagan, and Schenck 

 may be obtained by addressing 

 the lAA RECORD, 43 East Ohio 

 Street, Chicago 11, Illinois. 



He pointed out that farm cooperatives 

 can do a more eflfective job or buying 

 and selling. 



Other speakers on the general session 

 program included Hassil E. Schenck, 

 president of Indiana Farm Bureau; J. W. 

 Burch, director of extension, University 

 of Missouri; the Rev. Edward J. Flanagan 

 of Boys Town, Neb.; and Edward A. 

 O'Neal, president of the American Farm 

 Bureau Federation. 



During the lAA convention. President 

 O'Neal held a press conference and was 

 quoted by newsmen as saying that he 

 planned to retire from the presidency of 

 the AFBF and return to his farm in 

 Alabama. 



"The eyes of the world," O'Neal said, 

 "are on the American farmer and his 

 record as a food producer. I hope and 

 trust that the reward for this achievement 

 will not be ruinous surpluses. I would 

 urge the planning of a long-range pro- 

 gram before we are faced with an agri- 

 cultural crisis. I condemn government 

 by crisis. 



"I don't believe the country will stand 

 for controls," O'Neal said. Speaking on 

 the Marshall plan, he announced his ap- 

 proval on principle but said he thought 

 100 good farm advisers in Europe would 

 do just as much good. 



Getting first look at the 1947 lAA annual reports at they were distributed In the lobby 



of the Municipal Auditorium In St. Louis ore, I. to r.: Louis Hertel, St. Clair county; Carl 



Guenther, Bureau; L E. Plumley, Bureau; Al Straeter, Clinton; Gus Sammons, Montgomery 



general agent; Ray Roll, Greene county; and S. M. Bechtel, Macoupin general agent. 



Speaking fervently on his trip to 

 Europe, Schenck said he was "appalled 

 at the inefficiency of German agriculture 

 especially when you compare it with the 

 efficiency of German industry and the 

 German army." 



Lacking machinery, Schenck said Euro- 

 pean farm practices are far behind those 

 of the United States. In England, for 

 instance, he said, an equivalent farm 

 with six workers has only two in the U. 

 S. In Germany, he said, farm land has 

 been cut up into such small strips that 

 farming on the efficient American scale 

 is just out of the question. 



Speaking on his experiences with boys, 

 the Rev. Flanagan said: "Few farm boys 

 are forgotten or neglected and few are 

 at Boys Town. We build character in 

 the boys by heaping love and responsi- 

 bility upon them. Their greatest punish- 

 ment, the one city boys feel most keenly, 

 is to deny them the pleasure of doing 

 their farm chores. 



Illustrating his belief that no boy is 

 inherently bad, he traced the behavior 

 of a boy who at first appeared hopelessly 

 bad but later developed into a worth- 

 while citizen because his teachers had 

 faith in his good qualities. 



Balanced Farming 



Burch explained that balanced farming 

 is just a dressed-up way of describing a 

 packaged system embracing all good 

 farming practices. This system, he said, 

 was suggested by an operating farmer and 

 has gained much headway in Missouri. 



Some 15,000 Missouri farm families, 

 he said, have enrolled in rings of 50 to 

 a community at a cost of $50 for each 

 family. The plan is drawn up by the 

 farmer, his wife, and with such help 

 from the farm adviser or others as may 

 be needed. 



The entire farming operation is then 

 blueprinted — soil conservation, labor and 

 time saving, crop raising, stock handling 

 and breeding, and home improvement. 

 Technical details are furnished by experts 

 from the college of agriculture. 



After long hours of discussion and 

 compromise, the 23-man lAA resolutions 

 committee presented 17 resolutions for 

 the endorsement of the delegate body in 

 general session. All were approved. 



Of immediate interest to Illinois farm- 

 ers were resolutions dealing with schools, 

 roads, animal disease control, sales tax 

 diversion, etc. 



The resolutions reaffirmed the lAA 

 policy of encouraging the improvement 

 of rural schools, and urged the prepara- 

 tion by the lAA, in cooperation with 

 other groups, of legislation necessary for 

 the solution of school problems. The 



(Continued on page 4}) 



L A. A. RECORD 



