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YEAR after year as the Illinois Agri- 

 cultural Association has grown 

 in size and prestige, our annual 

 meeting has increased in importance. 

 Today, in welcoming you to this 

 34th Annual Meeting, I want to emphasize 

 the magnitude of your responsibilities as 

 members and delegates to carefully review 

 the activities of the last year and to es- 

 tablish policies for the future guidance 

 of your Board of Directors and staff. 



With a membership of 155,791, with 

 affiliated organizations serving directly 

 practically every farm family in Illinois, 

 and with millions of dollars in assets in- 

 vested by these farmers in their own or- 

 ganizations, we, assembled at this con- 

 vention, as well as every other member 

 throughout the state must realize the 

 powers we have developed and thus must 

 weigh our decisions with increasing care. 

 A strong organization cannot afford to 

 make serious mistakes. The impact of 

 our decisions affects not only our own 

 membership, but to some degree the en- 

 tire society in which we live. Let us 

 weigh each action carefully to be sure 

 that we cast our influence on the side of 

 justice and equity for all. 



The Illinois Agricultural Association 

 is primarily a service organization. The 

 Association and its activities have grown 

 in scope and size as farm people have 

 turned to it for the solution of more and 

 more of their problems in our increasing- 

 ly complex modern civilization. 



Farmers are rapidly becoming a minor- 

 ity group in a great urban industrial 

 society. Under these conditions it is 

 imperative that we in agriculture be repre- 

 sented by a single, strong voice. Build- 

 ing this single, strong voice is the central 

 objective of your organization. We must 

 constantly examine our various service 

 activities to make sure that they support 

 this objective of one voice for Agricul- 

 ture. 



Last year I discussed the work of your 

 Association from the standpoint of the 

 seven divisions of the organization. This 

 year I have attempted to classify our 

 activities as to function. Of the seven 

 divisions of the Illinois Agriculture As- 

 sociation: organization, marketing, legal, 

 secretary, treasurer, comptroller and gen- 

 eral service, all are concerned with each 

 of the functional operations. 



This voice of Agriculture can be power- 

 ful if it is supported by sustained numeri- 

 cal strength. We can serve farmers best 



lAA President Warns Public That a Heaitiiy Economy 

 Requires a Healthy Agriculture, and That 

 A Sick Agriculture Eventually Will I 



Drag Industry Down With It 



by providing the kind of organization 

 that merits their continued support and 

 then having the machinery to make cer- 

 tain that every farmer has the opportunity 

 to become an active, loyal and conscious 

 member. 



That we have this kind of machinery 

 in successful operation is demonstrated 

 by the increase in I. A. A. — Farm Bu- 

 reau membership to the all-time high 

 mark of 155,791 at the close of the cur- 

 rent fiscal year. This is 9,940 more mem- 

 bers than we had at this same time last 

 year or an increase of 6.82 per cent. 



An analysis of the financial report of 

 the Association reveals the fact that a high 

 proportion of the annual expenses are 

 chargeable to the maintenance of the 

 organizational machinery. This cost is 

 amply justified if we succeed in main- 

 taining an informed, participating mem- 

 bership and an adequate leadership train- 

 ing program. The strength of the Voice 

 of Agriculture depends upon numerical 

 strength and capable leadership. 



The early history of farm organizations 

 in America discloses that farmers have 

 long realized the necessity of having 

 strong cooperative marketing, purchasing 

 and service agencies. These cooperatives 

 have, in fact, become essential farm tools 

 that serve both by providing needed 

 competition for the huge corporations 

 and by providing entirely new services 

 for farm people. Farm organizations 

 have long accepted their responsibility 

 of assisting in the formation of these 

 cooperative associations. 



On this and succeeding pages we 

 are publishing excerpts from the 

 speech delivered by President 

 Shuman at the lAA annual meet- 

 ing. The full speech may be ob- 

 tained by writing to the LAA 

 Record, 43 East Ohio, Chicago 

 11, IIL 



It remained for the early leadership 

 of the Illinois Agricultural Association 

 to conceive of the idea of one voice for 

 agriculture and to develop the plan which 

 has united many of our Illinois coopera- 

 tives with our general farm organizations 

 to form this one voice. Once the idea 

 was adopted, it was not too difficult to 

 follow this successful pattern when new 

 cooperatives were organized. 



During recent years much time and 

 thought has been given to the problem 

 of closer coordination between the older 

 cooperatives and our organization. The 

 voice for agriculture will continue to split 

 into a conflicting and ineffective babel 

 unless a greater degree of unity is ob- 

 tained. I am glad to be able to report 

 that definite progress has been made in 

 Illinois during the past year. 



The Illinois plan of coordination is 

 based upon the premise that the general 

 farm organization should be the sole 

 spokesman and representative of farm 

 people in the fields of legislation, social 

 action and national policy making. Our 

 cooperatives are rendered of no less im- 

 portance by confining their activities to 

 the fields of service and business and by 

 being directly affiliated with the County 

 Farm Bureaus and the Illinois Agricul- 

 tural Association. On the contrary, both 

 the Farm Bureau organization and our 

 affiliated cooperatives have benefited by 

 this "one voice" approach. 



With the close working relationship 

 which comes with the Illinois plan of 

 coordination there exists a definite re- 

 sponsibility upon the Illinois Agricultural 

 Association to see that there is a true 

 unity of action and purpose. This is, 

 in part, the function of the Illinois Agri- 

 cultural Service Company which is wholly 

 owned and controlled by the Illinois Agri- 

 cultural Association. The Service Com- 

 pany is a corporate management operation 

 and its success in turn depends upon the 

 efficiency and capacity for growth of the 

 Illinois Agricultural Association itself. 

 In other words, we must move forward 



together if th 

 to be well bals 



Farmers ha'N 

 trust in the A 

 companies. 1 

 the Associatio 

 of the huge 

 on them as a 

 investment wl 

 own organizal 

 magnitude of 

 fleeted by the i 

 19 total asset 

 $64,350,525.9 

 Insurance Con 

 ments totaling 



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 itself is in es 

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 income must 1 

 deemed essent 

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