Newspapermen hear lAA President Charles B. Shuman (left) and lAA General Counsel Donald Klrkpatrlck discuss Issues of vital Im- 

 portance to farm people in separate press conferences during lAA meeting in St. Louis, left to right: Shuman, Thiem, Chicago Dolly 

 News; Woods, St. Louis Glebe-Democrat; Schuimon, St. Louis Star-Times; Schulman; Tendlck, Jacksonville Journal-Courier; Kearns, St. 

 Louis Post-Dispatch; Popkess, Dairyman's Journal; Scheer, Champaign News-Gazette, and Klrkpatrlck. Not shown Is Compton of 



the Chicago Tribune. 



the year. Illinois fanners may well be 

 proud of the sound legal advice and 

 guidance that they have had during these 

 years of rapid growth in all lines of co- 

 operative activity. 



Secretary's Division 



Paul E. Mathias, Secretary, also has 

 under his general direction the building 

 nunagement, general oflFice and person- 

 nel departments. The personnel prob- 

 lem alone is a huge responsibility. The 

 employment situation in Chicago con- 

 tinues to be rather critical. With more 

 than 628 employees in the Chicago of- 

 fices of the Association and its associated 

 companies, replacement of the natural 

 turnover of employees alone is a large 

 task. 



General Services Division 



I. E. Parett came to the Association 

 during the year to head this division as 

 Secretary of General Services. This new 

 division includes the Rural School, Re- 

 search, Roads, Safety and Health, Prop- 

 erty Taxation, Soil and Fertility and Con- 

 servation Activities, and Veterinary Med- 

 ical Relations departments. These ac- 

 tivities are, in general, those dealing with 

 local county problems. The work of all 

 of these departments is already well 

 established and understood by the mem- 

 bership. Our present need is to help 

 the county Farm Bureau organizations 

 make most effective use of their services. 



A plan suggesting a uniform pattern 

 of county Farm Bureau committees has 

 been proposed, under which each phase 

 of the Association's service activities 

 would have a specific local committee 

 with which to work. This plan, if 

 adopted by the counties, will make pos- 

 sible an acceleration of the program of 



service by a definite delegation of re- 

 sponsibility. 



Plans are now under way to fill the 

 two important posts now vacant in this 

 division by the employmenb'^f a Direc- 

 tor of Research and a Director of Soil 

 Fertility and Conservation Activities. 



IWarketing Division 



The Marketing division was estab- 

 lished during the year. L. L. Colvis, 

 Secretary of Marketing, gives general di- 

 rection to the Departments of Grain, 

 Livestock, Dairy, Fruit and Vegetable 

 Marketing. Due to the rapid changes 

 during recent years in the methods of 

 marketing farm products, the current 

 problems facing this division are tre- 

 mendous. I am happy to report that 

 definite progress has been made during 

 the year. 



A coordinated plan for the future de- 

 velopment of a greatly expanded grain 

 marketing program has been approved 

 and first steps have been taken towards 

 its execution. A chain of cooperative 

 river front grain elevators together with 

 a statewide blanket of local and county 

 grain cooperatives closely affiliated with 

 the organization will be the foundation 

 for a great marketing development 

 through Illinois Grain Corporation and 

 Illinois Grain Terminals Company. It 

 will soon be necessary for Illinois Grain 

 Terminals Company to start active op- 

 eration. 



The operations of Illinois Livestock 

 Marketing Association have expanded 

 greatly with the addition of nine new 

 local organizations. Definite progress 

 has been made toward the development 

 of a coordinated program in livestock 

 marketing for Illinois. It is to be hoped 

 that within the next year a plan can be 

 agreed upon which will permit more ag- 

 gressive action. 



Continued progress has been made in 

 the fields of milk marketing, fruit mar- 

 keting and frozen food locker service. 

 Equipment shortages and building costs 

 have prevented even more rapid expan- 

 sion in these activities. 



Other Problems Ahead 



As has already been reported, all of 

 your affiliated cooperatives and organ- 

 izations have completed another very suc- 

 cessful year. The insurance companies 

 set many new records despite serious per- 

 sonnel shortages. Due to this condition 

 and the large number of new employees, 

 there have been frequent instances of 

 error and behind-schedule operation. 

 Much improvement has been made, but 

 it will require the continued cooperation 

 of all of us through this difficult period. 



Illinois Wool Marketing Association 

 is faced with an important decision. Un- 

 der the present government controlled 

 marketing plan, the system followed by 

 the Association in the past is imprac- 

 tical. The organization must either cease 

 operations or be prepared to inaugurate a 

 marketing program including Handling, 

 grading ana warehousing of wool. The 

 Farm Bureau members in Illinois must 

 make this decision, as this proposed new 

 operation would require greatly expanded 

 volume and capital. 



Illinois Farm Supply Company is faced 

 with major decisions involving major 

 changes in policy and involving huge 

 capital expenditures. Month by month 

 the task of securing adequate supplies of 

 petroleum products and fertilizer mate- 

 rials for an ever-growing membership has 

 become more difficult. It now appears 

 that we will be required to enter the 

 field of production and manufacture if 

 we are to meet the demands of Illinois 

 farmers for a dependable supply of high 



(Continued on page }8) 



14 



i 



I. A. A. RECORD 



