long be in force which they do not favor. 



Briefly stated, here are some of the 

 suggestions that seem to be gaining the 

 most support. Specific crop acreage con- 

 trols were neither popular nor effective 

 when used before; it is suggested, there- 

 fore, that they be used only for certain 

 specialized crops such as tobacco. A 

 comparatively low level support price 

 program is provided under present laws. 

 It is suggested that these support prices 

 should be on storable commodities only 

 and that they be graduated so that con- 

 tinued increases in production would re- 

 sult in a lower price support. Accumula- 

 tion of excess stocks might be checked 

 by use of plans to increase consumption 

 together with an export program. If 

 these measures did not meet the need 

 and the price collapse continued, a fur- 

 ther emergency program would be neces- 

 sary. Under these conditions, the nation 

 might well insist that farmers adopt a 

 drastic soil rebuilding program in ex- 

 change for continued price supports. 



Many other suggestions are being 

 made. One of them involves abandoning 

 all price activity in favor of a direct pay- 

 ment from the federal treasury for all 

 farmers. Many arguments for and against 

 all of these suggestions could be pre- 

 sented. I hope that farmers never com- 

 promise the dignity and integrity of the 

 oldest and most honored profession on 

 earth by going on the government dole. 

 Farmers are entitled to a parity price in 

 the market place for their products. 

 When we give up this right, we then take 

 the first step towards becoming perma- 

 nent wards of the state. 



International Problems 



Much of the world of today is sick 

 and near complete degeneration as a re- 

 sult of war and its aftermath — starva- 

 tion. Farmers are concerned that we 

 make every reasonable effort to relieve 

 suffering and assist other nations to be- 

 come self-sufficient. They know that we 

 in America cannot isolate ourselves from 

 the rest of the world. Farmers suffer 

 as much as any other group from the 

 effects of war, thus they are hoping and 

 praying that we may yet find a way to 

 international brotherhood and perma- 

 nent peace. 



World Rehabilitation 



Much of the present inflationary pres- 

 sure on farm prices is due to our heavy 

 exports of food to avert starvation 

 abroad. The duration of this period of 

 emergency exports will have much to do 

 with the future course of agricultural 

 prices. Farmers are sympathetic with 

 the program to relieve the extreme dis- 

 tress 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. 

 There is a limit to our capacity to pro- 

 duce and pay for these gifts. Because 

 of these convictions, farmers are inter- 

 ested in the development of some plan 

 designed to rehabilitate the war-torn units 

 of the world economy. Trade, not char- 

 ity, could be a basis for economic re- 

 covery in the world. 



The plan suggested by General Mar- 

 shall approaches the problem from the 

 rehabilitation standpoint. It entails a 

 huge responsibility and is probably be- 

 yond our capacities in some respects, yet 

 it seems to be the most realistic proposal 

 yet offered. In supporting the principle 

 of this plan, we must be vigilant lest we 

 cripple our own productive capacity by 

 commitments to be filled by exports of 

 critical materials and equipment. Farmers 

 are willing to make sacrifices, but we 

 should not deplete our material and 

 equipment supplies to such an extent that 

 the high level of domestic agricultural 

 production is threatened. 



The need for greater understanding 

 and good will between groups is not con- 

 fined to the field of international rela- 

 tions. We cannot expect the peoples of 

 the world to live as brothers unless the 

 various groups in America can live and 

 work in harmony. The very existence of 

 our democracy is threatened by the sus- 

 picion, distrust and practical state of 

 warfare which now exists between the 

 great economic groups in our own nation. 

 The cause of this situation is the selfish 

 determination of many powerful groups 

 to obtain special advantages without con- 

 sideration of the general welfare of all. 

 Although agriculture is a minority group, 

 we may, by precept and example, be of 

 considerable influence in restoring an era 

 of peaceful and sane thinking here at 

 home in America. 



Organized farmers will continue to in- 

 sist that the program for agriculture must 

 be in the best interests of the nation as a 

 whole. The most effective way in which 

 the farmers of Illinois and America can 

 act to oppose the forces of unrest and the 

 enemies of democracy is through the in- 

 crease in strength and power of their own 

 organization. 



PLANT MORE IN '48 



The government is asking farmers to 

 plant nearly 6.5 per cent more land to 

 livestock feed grains in 1948 in an ef- 

 fort to replenish supplies cut short by 

 the poor 1947 corn crop. Tentative 

 plans call for a corn-planting goal of 

 92,000,000 acres or 6.3 per cent higher 

 than last year. The corn production goal 

 is at least 3,000,000,000 bushels. The 

 corn crop in 1947 was 2,458,674,000 

 bushels. 



Eleven-Year-Old 

 Wins I AA Safety 

 Jingle Contest 



HE'S ONLY 11 years old, but that 

 didn't stop Ronald Humphrey of 

 Harrisburg in Saline county from win- 

 ning the lAA safety 

 department's jingle 

 contest in the No- 

 vember lAA Rec- 

 ord. Ronald won 

 the first prize of 

 115, W. W. Whit- 

 lock, director of the 

 safety department, 

 announced. 



In the opinion of 

 a board of six 

 judges, Ronald's 

 concluding couplet, 

 "Just remember while driving, Make 

 safety your aim," was the best of the en- 

 tries. 



The contest required concluding lines 

 to be added to the following: "In fol- 

 lowing these rules. Most wrecks we'll 

 avert: Make all the stops. Then no 

 one'll get hurt; Drive at a speed Both 

 reasonable and sane; Keep eyes on the 

 road. Not crops up the lane; With good 

 brakes and equipment. Few you will 

 maim " 



Other prize winners are: Second, 

 Jean Stavros, Lake, $10; third, Charles 

 E. Strode, Fulton, $5; fourth, Morton L. 

 Fowler, Vermilion, $3; fifth, Mrs. C. N. 

 Jamerson, White, $2; sixth, Daniel Vau- 

 bel, Tazewell, |1. 



Ronald Humphrey 



SCHMITT RE-ELECTED 



FARM cooperatives of Illinois, Mis- 

 souri, and Arkansas have re-elected 

 Charles Schmitt, of Beason, Illi- 

 nois, to a three-year term on the board 

 of directors of the Farm Credit Ad- 

 ministration of St. Louis. Schmitt is 

 actively engaged in farming in Logan 

 County and at present is president of 

 the Illinois Grain Corporation. 



As Farm Credit director, Schmitt 

 will serve as a director of the Federal 

 Land Bank, the Federal Intermediate 

 Credit Bank, the Bank for Coopera- 

 tives and the Production Credit Cor- 

 poration, all of St. Louis. 



Other members of the seven-man 

 farm credit board are: W. W. Martin, 

 St. Louis, Chairman; Dr. M. F. Dick- 

 inson, Little Rock, Arkansas; Rufus 

 Branch, Joiner, Arkansas; Fred A. 

 Groves, Cape Girardeau, Missouri; 

 Charles Klingner, Fair Grove, Missouri; 

 Enos Waters, Carlinville, Illinois. 



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42 



L A. A. RECORD 



