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RURAL YOUTH 



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Merle Miller Wins lAA Talk Fest But 

 Is Disqualified for National Meet; 

 Canadian Youth Visit Convention 



ILLINOIS Rural Youth activities got 

 oflF to a good start Monday night, 

 Nov. 15, with a large Rural Youth 

 party. Since there was a possibility 

 of less than 100 young people being 

 present on the eve of Rural Youth Day, 

 plans were made to hold the party in 

 one of the smaller rooms at the Hotel 

 Sherman, but when around 200 Rural 

 Youthers appeared a shift was made 

 to a larger room. Wc appreciate the 

 belp of E. H. "Duke" Regnier. 



The Talk Fest on Tuesday, Rural 

 Youth Day, held in the grand ballroom 

 of the Sherman Hotel, was attended by 

 approximately 1,200 people. The usual 

 18 talkers were present and the talks 

 were on a high level of excellence. 

 High point speaker was Merle Miller, 

 16, of Clinton, DeWitt county. 



His talk, "Should Illinois Continue 

 the Fly-Free Program in 1949.'" was 

 delivered in real top-notch style and 

 packed with good content. Due to a 

 new regulation of the AFBF as to age 

 limits, 18-28, for participation in the 

 National Talk Meet, Merle will be too 

 young to take part at Atlantic City, N. 

 J. His high rating among 17 other 

 farm youths, all older than he, points 

 to his outstanding ability at such an 

 early age. 



Mary Alice Roser, who placed second, 

 will be the only representative from 

 Illinois in the National Talk Meet at 

 Atlantic City. Her topic was "Getting 

 Along with the Family." Her rating 

 •was just two points below Merle's. The 

 other top-notch speakers were : Norma 

 Allen, Marion ; Udell Wehling, Alham- 

 bra; and Fremond Settles, Macomb. 

 Those receiving honorable mention 

 ■were: William McDonald, Winne- 

 bago; and Virginia Johnson, Plainville. 

 One member of the new state com- 

 mittee who is also a member of the na- 

 tional committee, Doreen Marti, Green- 

 ville, and Ruth Huser, Morton, who is 

 retiring from both the state and na- 

 tional youth committees, will represent 

 Illinois Rural Youth at the Atlantic 

 City youth conference. The four other 

 new members of the state committee 

 are Janet Jacobsen, Sheffield; George 

 Johnson, North Henderson; Ray Eich- 

 elberger, Rantoul ; and Bob Sievers, Mi- 

 lan. 



Of outstanding interest to both 

 young people and adults who attended 



By ELLSWORTH D. LYON 



Director, Youth Peoples Activities 



the afternoon Rural Youth conference 

 on Tuesday was the address by Bert 

 Vandervliet, director, department of 

 taxation, lAA, upon the theme "De- 

 mocracy at the Local Level." Vander- 

 vliet stressed seven main points bearing 

 upon this important theme. 



Illinois Rural Youthers were again 

 favored by visitors from another 

 country. This year four visitors were 

 present from the Junior Farmers" Asso- 

 ciation of Ontario, Canada. They 

 were: Miss Dorothy McLaughlin, Miss 

 Olive Maltby, Comrie Ward, and 

 Ross Beattie, president of the Junior 

 Farmers' Association. 



Their talks before the Rural Youth 

 conference, their association with the 

 assembled Rural Youthers, and the tour 

 to various points of interest with our 

 state committee in northern and central 

 Illinois, will be remembered as a warm 

 and friendly return of a visit by our 

 state committee to the Junior Farmers' 

 Association Annual Meeting at Guelph, 

 Ontario, in April 1948. E. D. Lyon 

 and Clareta Walker accompanied the 

 Illinois tour. 



Extracts from the short talks of our 

 visitors will be of interest to the 

 readers of the Record. Beattie gave an 

 over-all picture of the youth program 

 which includes an organizatioa in size 

 equal to Illinois Rural Youth, around 

 10,000 members, covering an area four 

 times as large as Illinois. The province 

 is divided into 16 districts made up 

 of two to five counties each. Each dis- 

 trict sends one delegate to the provin- 

 cial board which elects the president 

 from this group. 



He said, "Our work corresponds very 

 closely to yours. Our aims and objectives 

 are almost identical and I would say to 

 you as farm boys and girls of Illinois and 

 to you as farm boys and girls of Canada 

 that we should be proud to be boys 

 and girls from the farms of two great 

 countries, and the destiny of these two 

 great countries will be determined from 

 the way we accept our responsibilities 

 as rural youth in the years to come by 

 the training we receive." 



Ward's short talk was built around 



the Junior Farmers' slogan "Self-Help 

 and Community Betterment". "The 

 slogan is being carried out in such 

 studies as banking, municipal, county 

 and provincial government, taxation 

 and laws by which we live. Activities 

 receiving much emphasis are speech, 

 in which both prepared and impromptu 

 speaking is emphasized as well as 

 entertainment, field days, scheduling 

 baseball, track and other athletic events. 



"In winter hockey and skating are 

 held. Choir festivals helped in de- 

 veloping some good choirs. These 

 choirs are used mostly in our church 

 services planned by Junior Farmers." 



He said further, "I feel that both our 

 organizations, the Rural Youth of 

 Illinois and our Junior Farmers at 

 home, are working along the same 

 lines and toward the same goals." 



Miss McLaughlin spoke of the help 

 which local groups in Ontario receive 

 from the home economists who are 

 sent out through the Women's Institute 

 branch of the Department of Agri- 

 culture to teach leaders in the local 

 groups who, in turn, go back to their 

 groups with helpful information. She 

 spoke especially of the garden projects 

 that are carried on by the girls. She 

 said that home economists point out 

 that as they travel through the coun- 

 ties they can tell where the girls live 

 by the beautiful gardens and attractive 

 home grounds. This fact. Miss Mc- 

 Laughlin thinks, is a good recommen- 

 dation for the garden projects. 



Miss Olive Maltby said, "Our asso- 

 ciation as Junior Farmers with our 

 Senior Women's Organization has been 

 likened unto a mother-daughter rela- 

 tionship and we enjoy our association 

 with our senior organization and we 

 get a great deal out of it. The girls' 

 section of our local Junior Farmer 

 groups are known as Junior Institutes. 



"We carry on programs of interest to 

 the girls. It may be grooming, the 

 care of clothes, or perhaps leadership 

 training, book reviews, music apprecia- 

 tion and home economics, or anything 

 that we ourselves are interested in, and 

 the girls in the clubs carry on these 

 programs themselves. We prepare the 

 papers and give demonstrations." 



The Junior Farmer representatives 

 from Ontario and the lAA state com- 

 mittee of five members toured the 

 offices of the lAA following the annual 

 meeting of the lAA. From there they 

 went to the Curtiss Farm at Cary, 

 Illinois, to see the pure bred livestock. 

 On Thursday evening the Rural Youth 

 group of Mercer County sponsored a 

 party at Viola in honor of the visiting 

 Canadians. 



The words "Welcome Canadians" 

 made of large letters stood out as a 

 warm handshake to our friends from 



across the 

 was enterta 

 homes of 

 county. 



Thursday 

 home of Mi 

 Ropp is a 

 president of 

 Bureau. T 

 the McLean 

 planned a 

 of Illinois I 

 and the yc 

 which slide 

 Matthews 

 in connectio 

 of the 

 which Illinc 

 early this 

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L A. A. RECORD 



lANUARIf 



