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Farm Bureaulis 



Farm Bureau Is a 

 brotherhood where 

 fanners can en|oy the 

 friendship of their 

 neighbors. Shown at a 

 recent meeting In 

 Benton are I. to r.: 

 John Glauber, Emmett 

 K e i m , organization 

 director; William 

 Golle, Theodore Mill- 

 er, and Ben Tillman, 

 farm adviser, all of 

 St. Clair county. 



'. . . It Can Be Kept Great 

 by Being Close to the People' 



FARMERS in America have always 

 been called an individualistic lot. It 

 has been said over and over of them 

 that they cannot work together; that 

 they will not stick together. 

 The story of trials and errors that have 

 been made in the setting up of farm or- 

 ganizations in the United States is a ro- 

 mantic story. It has all led^up to a reali- 

 zation on the part of farmers that they 

 can organize in their own interest, and 

 they can stick together to get things done 

 for themselves through an organization 

 that they cannot do alone or individually. 

 Farmers of the United States are 

 rapidly becoming a minority group in 

 the country. In Illinois farmers now 

 represent less than one-tenth the total 

 population, and in numbers are therefore 

 definitely a minority group. 



Today I want to talk primarily about 

 the Farm Bureau in its national, state and 

 county aspects. Let us look first at the 

 national picture — the strength of the 

 American Farm Bureau Federation. At 

 the end of 1947, the American Farm 

 Bureau Federation had a recorded mem- 

 bership of 1,275,000, and that member- 

 ship is still growing. The Farm Bureau 



There's a place for young and old In Farm Bureau. At a recent meeting In Hamllteii 



county to welcome new members, the longest married and shortest married Form Bureau 



wives receive orchids. Left, are Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Ernst, married 44 years, and right, 



ore Mr. and Mrs. Franklin Johnson, married two months. 



is a family membership organization and 

 now represents about four and one-half 

 million farm people throughout the coun- 

 try. 



Let's look at the state situation. Illi- 

 nois now has more than 150,000 mem- 

 bers. We know, of course, that in 

 Illinois, men take leadership in the Farm 

 Bureau, since farm women have their 

 own organization, the Home Bureau. 

 Still, in general, there is only one mem- 

 bership in the Farm Bureau per family 

 and many families look upon it as a 

 family membership. 



There is a total of 210,000 farm fami- 

 lies in Illinois, of which three-fourths 

 are Farm Bureau members. Indeed, in 

 some counties, 100 per cent of the 

 farmers belong to the Farm Bureau. The 

 Farm Bureau and its state organization, 

 the Illinois Agricultural Association, are 

 thus even more representative of farmers 

 in the state of Illinois than the American 

 Farm Bureau Federation is of the farmers 

 of the nation. Without question it is the 

 greatest state farm organization of its 

 kind in the world. 



Many of the benefits of the Farm 

 Bureau can be counted in terms of dollars 



and cents, but the most important, the 

 most significant, and the most lasting 

 values of the organization cannot be so 

 counted. Let us look, however, at some 

 of the services performed by your organ- 

 ization. 



The commercial benefits of the Farm 

 Bureau are most easily counted in terms 

 of dollars. The cooperatives, which in- 

 clude grain, livestock, dairy, fruit, co- 

 operative locker, serum, wool, cream, 

 milk, insurance, supply, and other service 

 cooperatives, pay rich dividends in pat- 

 ronage and in stock. 



Those of you who have stock in these 

 cooperatives know that they pay at least 

 six per cent. Thus a $15 investment, 

 which is the cost of a membership in the 

 Farm Bureau, can mean $150 to $300 re- 

 turns in dividends alone to the average 

 tractor farmer in central Illinois. 



Public and legislative services are 

 harder to count in terms of dollars and 

 cents. Some of them can mean much 

 greater differences than returns on the 

 basis of patronage or investment in stock. 

 Legislative representation in Washington 

 and in Springfield can mean real savings 

 and protection. 



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L A. A. RECORD 



