ffl 



|WT WAS the most successful year 



^ I in our history," C H. Bedcer, 

 I manager of Illinois Farm Supply 

 I Company, told the audience as- 

 Jl. sembled for the company's an- 

 nual meeting at the Statler Hotel 

 in St. Louis, Nov. 18th. The Farm Sup- 

 ply meeting was held in conjunction with 

 the annual convention of the Illinois 

 Agricultural Association and Associated 

 Companies. 



"In round numbers," he reported, 

 "total wholesale volume jumped from 

 121,000,000 to $31,000,000. Petroleum 

 gallonage increased from 150 million to 

 171 million; fertilizer tonnage from 11,- 

 000 tons to 180,000 tons; feed from 

 45,000 to 64,000 tons." 



According to Becker, Farm Supply's 

 petroleum business increased about 28 

 million gallons during the four war years 

 and in the two post-war years gains ap- 

 proximated 40 million gallons, culminat- 

 mg in a total this year of 171,146,650 

 gallons. 



Manager Becker told of important 

 events in the feed division during the 

 year, chief among them the completion of 

 the Benton feed mill which has an annual 

 capacity of from 20,000 to 25,000 tons, 

 and the purchase of the Mattoon elevator 

 which guaraqlpes a supply of quality 

 corn to the Benton mill. 



"It does not appear that we have in- 

 surmountable problems in the feed busi- 

 ness," he advised the membership, "al- 

 though naturally it will take several years 

 to build a complete program. The im- 

 portant point is that we seem to be on our 

 way." 



In the plant food division, Becker re- 

 ported that important plans had crys- 

 tallized shortly after the company's fiscal 

 closing. He referred to the purchase of 

 a one million dollar phosphate reserve in 



southwestern Idaho by the Central Farm- 

 ers' Fertilizer Company, a farmer co- 

 operative wholesale organization of 15 

 Midwestern cooperatives, of which Illi- 

 nois Farm Supply Company is a member. 

 Other plans formulated during the year 

 culminated in the authorization of a large 

 phosphate acidulating and fertilizer mix- 

 ing plant to be built at Fairmont City in 

 St. Clair county, which will have a total 

 annual capacity of 30,000 tons of mixed 

 goods and 20,000 tons of superphosphate. 



"One hundred and three Class "A" 

 member companies and 58 other Farm 

 Bureau cooperative organizations were 

 served throughout the year," Becker said. 



"The cooperative is the farmer's only 

 logical answer, and those who view with 

 alarm the rate at which farmers' coopera- 

 tives are displacing private, small busi- 

 ness had better take another look. They 

 had better look and see what kind of an 



Headline llluitratlen shows the annual 

 meeting of the Illinois Farm Supply Com- 

 pany in session during the lAA convention 

 In St. Louis 



* • • 



America they are living in today. We 

 are living in a nation, not of small in- 

 dividual enterprise, but of economic 

 giants. Small business, as we know it 

 today, is largely confined to local serv- 

 ices and as agencies or appendages of 

 big business. As a part of this trend the 

 organizations of labor and government 

 have grown equally large and powerful. 



"There is no need to fear this America 

 of today. No such combination before it 

 ever has produced so bountifully. The 

 one danger, of course, is monopoly, and 

 the antidote for monopoly is competition. 

 No one believes with more conviction 

 nor practices with more diligence the 

 principle of free enterprise than the 

 American farmer. His cooperative or- 

 ganizations are his way of meeting the 

 challenges of this age of organizations. 

 He knows very well what he is doing, 

 and there seems little likelihood of his 

 changing his course. 



"We who serve as directors, oflFicials, 

 and employes should consider seriously 

 and carefully the enormous responsibil- 

 ities placed upon us by farm people. It 

 is all too easy for us to get "off the 

 beam" .... to mistake rules and reg- 

 ulations for objectives .... to place un- 

 due emphasis on volume, on earnings, 

 on the procedure of organization. 



"During the coming months important 

 decisions must be made. We must not 

 consider them lightly. Even though we 

 are successful in bringing out the best 

 thought in the organization, no one can 

 know what is exactly right. Our de- 



(Conlinued on page 43) 



An Illinois Farm Supply caucus for a northern Illinois district is shown in session at St. 

 Louis. Left to right: James Holderman, Grundy county; Wayne Hoffman, Grundy; Stanley 

 Church, McHenry; John Sjostrom, Boone; and Ebb Harris, Lake. Man with bacic to camera 



is unidentified. i 



10 



I. A. A. RECORD 



