RURAL YOUTH 



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Talkfesters and Drivers 



NEARLY 200 talkfesters and 

 skilled drivers took part in the 

 district activities — Oct. 18-28. 

 Not to be overlooked are the 

 loyal supporters who accom- 

 panied the participants and who cheered 

 them on. There 

 were 120 talkfesters 

 from 53 counties. 

 Most encouraging 

 was the high quality 

 of the speeches 

 given by the talk- 

 festers from all over 

 the state. 



The wel 1- pre - 

 pared talks indi- 

 *" ^^^ ^m cated much previ- 

 L ^V ^^H ous preparation 

 ft flnjl^^l through study and 

 "'^*"**^"*'^^^* practice. Both fac- 

 Virginia Jehnion tors are necessary 

 for clear thinking 

 and good speaking, and both result in 

 good leadership for agriculture. Vir- 

 ginia Johnson, Adams, stands as a good 

 example of one who spoke with great 

 emphasis upon her topic, "An Ounce 

 of Insurance Protection Prevents a Ton 

 of Grief." 



The skilled drivers' program on the 

 district level was supported by 75 

 drivers from 40 counties. This year 

 around 2,500 Rural Youthers took the 

 wsitten test in skilled driving and many 

 of these engaged in actual performance 

 and skill tests in the local counties. 

 These figures are an increase over last 

 year when there were 72 drivers se- 

 lected for district contests from a field 

 of 1,500 young people who engaged in 

 county contests. 



In driving their automobiles, as was 

 true in speech activities, practice helped 

 the participants. It was evident that 

 counties which had engaged in actual 

 driving contests had received practice 

 in various driving tests and made better 

 scores in the districts than participants 

 from counties which did not have 

 county contests. 



Program Planning 



Programs for county meetings are 

 always a timely topic for consideration. 

 Now that corn picking is being com- 

 pleted many Rural Youth members will 

 have more time for preparation for 



22 



By ELLSWORTH D. LYON, Director 



Young Peoples Activities 



Ricliard Belsley, iiigli point driver, Taze- 

 well, sliows liow difficult it was to maice a 

 perfect score in serpentine driving at tlie 

 Petersburg contest by not touching or 

 knoclcing over any standards wliich were 

 set In a line 24 feet apart. 



solid but interesting educational fea- 

 tures for future county meetings. A 

 source of help heretofore not available 

 is the newly formed county Public 

 Relations Committees which have been 

 organized under Farm Bureau in nearly 

 all counties of the state. These public 

 relations committees are made up of 

 "minutemen" who are wide awake and 

 alert upon issues effecting agricultural 

 life within the county, state, and the 

 nation. 



These five-man committees are made 

 up of farmers who can discuss with 

 groups or individuals preparing to lead 

 discussions upon such specific topics 

 as road improvement, taxation, safety, 

 animal health, rural schools, legislation, 

 and Farm Bureau cooperatives, as well as 

 topics of general interest to agriculture. 

 By contacting your Farm Bureau pres- 

 ident or Farm office. Rural Youthers 

 may find out who are the members of 

 the public relations committees. Re- 

 member, they are there to help you as 

 young farm people upon the problems 

 which effect your living. 



County Activities 



The Marengo Club of McHenry had 

 Farm Adviser W. H. Tammeus discuss 

 Bang's disease at their October meeting. 



He also presented a movie showing 

 how serum and virus are prepared. 



Brown heard Nelson Workman, gen- 

 eral agent of lAA insurance, in an 

 interesting talk on life insurance. 



Stephenson is rolling along at a good 

 rate. In a recent meeting with a number 

 of guests present, 15 new members 

 were received into the group. Elwood 

 T. Baker of Farm Bureau-Farm Man- 

 agement, showed slides relative to his 

 work. Also Miss Joyce Baltzer of 

 Dakota spoke on the United Nations. 



"The Whiteside of Rural Youth," 

 newsletter of Whiteside, carried a time- 

 ly full-page article just before Nov. 2 

 upon voting procedure, and a challenge 

 for every eligible voter to fulfill his 

 duty and exercise the democratic priv- 

 ilege of voting. Commendable work! 

 Keep it up! 



The county Rural Youth newsletters 

 are always welcome (and read) in the 

 office of Young People's Activities. 

 Special recognition goes to Montgomery 

 for their new "Chit Chat" and to 

 Sangamon's and Will's new, but as yet 

 unnamed, newsletters. ■ (■ 



National Rural Youth 



There are now 12 states in the Na- 

 tional Rural Youth Organization under 

 the American Farm Bureau Federation. 

 They are: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, New 

 Hampshire, Tennessee, Ohio, Michigan, 

 Nebraska, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Cali- 

 fornia, and Wisconsin. Minnesota and 

 Oklahoma are the new members re- 

 ceived in 1948. 



It is proposed by the agricultural 

 agent of the Gulf, Mobile, and Ohio 

 Railroad that his company be permitted 

 to give some form of recognition to 

 some of the Rural Youth county groups 

 in the 29 counties which the railroad 

 serves. Bases of evaluating the activi- 

 ties of counties have been suggested to 

 be upon administration, (constitution, 

 by-laws, minutes, parliamentary pro- 

 cedure), community service, and recrea- 

 tion. It is suggested by the G. M. and 

 O. that the project be carried through 

 the Rural Youth department of the Uni- 

 versity of Illinois College of Agriculture. 



Illinois is a long state, extending from 37 



degrees latitude in the south to approxi- 

 mately 42 degrees and 30 seconds in the ex- 

 treme north. 



L A. A. RECORD 



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