AT 33RD ANNUAL MEETING 



ADOPTED BY BOARD OF DELEGATES 

 IN ST. LOUIS, NOVEMBER 20, 1947 



FOREWORD 



THE two years ot peace which have 

 followed the most devastating war 

 the world has ever seen have not 

 yet produced a peacetime economy. 

 American agriculture is being 

 asked for maximum production to 

 meet the needs of a war-torn and yet 

 unreconstructed world. The task ahead 

 is a challenge which the farmers of Il- 

 linois will accept in a spirit of demo- 

 cratic cooperation for the sake of those 

 whose needs are so great. 



American democracy is being critically 

 tested. Traditional concepts of work, en- 

 terprise and the rewards thereof to her 

 citizens are threatened with submergence 

 by an attitude of much for little, an em- 

 phasis on high pay rather than on pro- 

 ductive service. 



The Illinois farmer believes that a 

 sound prosperity and abundance will 

 exist only when agriculture, labor and 

 industry eliminate unnecessary costs, re- 

 strictive practices and prices unrelated to 

 service rendered or the useful value of 

 commodities produced and products man- 

 ufactured. 



Let us be diligent in reviving our great 

 and fundamental American ideals. 



I. PRICE CONTROL AND 

 RATIONING 



Congress has been recjuested to author- 

 ize the reimposition of price ceilings and 

 rationing on farm products and other 

 commodities in short supply. The As- 

 sociation supported price control and 

 rationing during the war as an emergency 

 measure but insisted that such controls 

 apply to all commodities and to the wages 

 of labor. Experience has demonstrated 

 that this type of program cannot succeed 

 unless all phases of our economy are 

 rigidly controlled. While these control 

 measures were somewhat successful dur- 

 ing the war even then many exceptions 

 were made. Experience after the end of 

 the war demonstrates that the American 

 people will not accept or support this 

 type of regimentation in peacetime. Re- 

 cent experience proves that maximum 

 production cannot be obtained under a 

 system of price controls and rationing. 

 We militantly oppose the reimposition of 

 price controls and rationing. 



11. FOREIGN AID PROGRAM 



A Christian, humane people cannot 

 ignore the need and distress of the peo- 

 ples of the war ravaged countries of 

 Europe and Asia. We must endeavor 

 to relieve their want, distress and suffer- 

 ing. However, the United States pro- 

 duces only 12^f of the world's food 

 supply. We must recognize that our 

 country cannot indefinitely support and 

 provide for distressed peoples all over 

 the world. Our efforts must be directed 

 toward the rehabilitation of thise dis- 

 tressed peoples and the restoration of 

 their economic ability to support them- 

 selves. We mu.st be realistic and deny 

 aid to those nations which, through eco- 

 nomic or trade barriers, refuse to co- 

 operate in the economic rehabilitation of 

 other distressed countries and areas. We 

 must deny aid to those countries that 

 would destroy our free enterprise sys- 

 tem. Recognizing that we cannot pur- 

 chase good will, nevertheless we must 

 insist that the persons to whom aid is 

 extended know the source of this aid. 



We must require that the goods and 

 commodities furnished be distributed in 

 a manner which will safeguard against 

 profiteering and black market operations. 

 Our assistance to others must not un- 

 duly deplete our natural resources, great- 

 ly increase our national indebtedness or 

 impoverish our own people, thereby ren- 



Observers at the lAA annual conven- 

 tion in St, Louis were Kenneth Os- 

 borne, 31, (left) young English farm- 

 er, and Miguel Bechara, 30, (right) 

 of Brazil. Both are in the U.S. to study 

 American farm organizations. 



dering our nation and our people unable 

 to respond to future calls upon their gen- 

 erosity. We will support a realistic pro- 

 gram of assistance for rehabilitation of 

 distressed peoples, conforming to the 

 foregoing principles. 



III. LONG RANGE FARM 



PROGRAM 



Present agricultural legislation was en- 

 acted under the stress and demands of an 

 extreme emergency. Considering this 

 fact, it is remarkable that the many 

 phases of this pattern for action have 

 fitted together into a program that was 

 in general accepted and used by farmers. 

 Today in retrospect we see a number of 

 mistakes, yet we also know that many 

 instrumentalities of proven value to agri- 

 culture were developed as a result of this 

 legislative program. It would be unwise 

 to repeal this existing basic legislation. 

 We should give careful study to ways in 

 which needed improvements in our basic 

 farm program may be made by modifica- 

 tion and amendment. 



It would not be advisable to press for 

 the extension on a permanent basis of 

 war emergency programs designed to pro- 

 mote exceptional production by high level 

 price supports. We will give careful 

 study to all proposals for modification of 

 our agricultural legislation to determine 

 not only their impact upon agriculture 

 but also their effect upon the nation as a 

 whole. 



IV. SOIL CONSERVATION 



We favor continued and increased em- 

 phasis on conservation of the soil in all 

 its phases. However, there has been con- 

 siderable duplication of soil conservation 

 activities by Government Agencies, espe- 

 cially at national and state levels. This 

 has caused considerable confusion and 

 waste. All of the Government soil con- 

 servation activities should be combined 

 under one agency at these levels. Re- 

 search projects should be assigned to the 

 recognized research institutions — the 

 experiment stations. Educational and 

 promotional activities should be admin- 

 istered by the Extension Service, which 

 is the agency best fitted to do this work. 

 These changes would not hamper the 

 good work being done by local soil con- 

 servation agencies. A more efficient and 



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L A. A. RECORD 



