Volume 27 



Number 6 



June, 1949 



The Record 



OFFICIAL PUBLICATION 

 THE ILUNOIS AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIATION 



To advance the purpose for which the Farm Bureau ivas organhed, namely, 

 to promote, protect and represent the business, economic, social and educa- 

 tional interests of the farmers of Illinois and the nation, and to develop 

 agriculture. 



OFFICERS 



CHARLES B. SHUMAN, Sullivan, President 



FLOYD E. MORRIS 

 Vice-President 



PAUL E. MATHIAS 

 Secretary 



ARTHUR F. SCHUCK 

 Treasurer 



GEORGE E. METZGER 



Field Secretary 



CLARENCE C. CHAPELLE 

 Comptroller 



DONALD KIRKPATRICK 

 General Counsel 



BOARD OF DIRECTORS 



Lyman Bunting, Ellery ; Thomas H. Lloyd, Girard ; Lester S. Davison, 

 Minonk; Homer Curtiss, Stockton; J. Kmg Eaton, Edwardsville : C. J. 

 Elliott, Streator ; John T. Evans, Hoopeston ; Edwin Gumm, Gaiesburg ; 

 Earl M. Hughes, Woodstock ; Chester McCord, Newton ; Russell V. 

 McKee, Varna ; K, T. Smith, Greenfield ; Otto Steffey, Stronghurst ; 

 Frank L. Simpson, Farmer City ; and Albert Webb, Ewing, 



DIVISION HEADS 



George E. Met2ger, Organization & Information ; L. L. Colvis, Market- 

 ing; I. E. Parett, General Services; Paul E. Mathias, Building, Records, 

 and Personnel ; Arthur F. Schuck, Treasurer's office ; C. C. ChapcUe, 

 Comptroller's office ; and Donald Kirkpatrick, General Counsel. 



DEPARTMENT HEADS 



Frank M. Atchley, Research ; O. D. Brissenden, Organization ; G. W. 

 Baxter, "Transportation-Claims ; John K. Cox. Rural School Relations ; 

 C. J. Foster, Publicity; R. E. Gish, Soil Conservation Activities; George 

 H. Iftner, Grain Marketing ; Roy P. Johnson, Special Services & OSice 

 of the Building ; C. E. Johnston, General Office ; Donald Kirkpatrick, 

 Legal ; Ellsworth D. Lyon, Young People's Activities ; Judson P. Mason, 

 Dairy Marketing ; Cullen B. Sweet, Rural Road Improvement ; S. F. Rus- 

 sell, Livestock Marketing ; W. E. Scheer, Personnel ; John A. Lake, Safety 

 and Public Health ; and Bert Vandervliet, Property Taxation. 



ASSOCIATE COMPANY MANAGERS 



C. H. Becker, Illinois Farm Supply Company; Sam L. Hassell, Illinois 

 Grain Terminals Company ; Forrest C. Fairchild, Prairie Farms Creameries ; 

 Darrell L. Achenbach, Country Mutual Fire Company ; Judson P. Mason, 

 111. Milk Producers' Assn. ; R. S. McBride, Illinois Fruit Growers Ex- 

 change ; Howard McWard, 111. Grain Corporation ; C. F. Musser, 111. 

 Farm Bureau Serum Assn.; J. L. Pidcock, 111. Co-op Locker Service; A. 

 E. Richardson, Country Life Insurance Companjr ; Dale Rouse, Illinois 

 Wool Marketing Assn. ; C. E. Strand. Illinois Agricultural Auditing Assn. ; 

 H. W. Trautraann, Illinois Livestock Marketing Assn. ; and F. V. Wilcox, 

 Country Mutual Casualty Company. 



EDITORIAL STAFF 



Creston J. Foster 

 Editor 



James C. Thomson 

 Ass't. Editor 



Editorial Office 



43 East Ohio, Chicago 11 



The Illinois Agricultural Association RECORD is published monthly 

 by the Illinois Agricultural Association at 1501 W. Washington Road, 

 Mendota, 111. Editorial Offices, 43 East Ohio St., Chicago 11, 111. Entered 

 as second class matter at post office, Mendota, 111., Sept. 11, 1936. 

 Acceptance for mailing at special rate of postage provided in Section 412, 

 Act of Feb. 28, 1925, authorized Oct. 27, 1935. Address all com- 

 munications for publication to Editorial Offices, Illinois Agricultural 

 Association RECORD, 43 East Ohio St., Chicago. The individual mem- 

 bership fee of the Illinois Agricultural Association is five dollars a year. 

 The fee includes payment or fifty cents for subscription to the Illinois 

 Agricultural Association RECORD. Postmaster: Send notices on Form 

 3578. Undeliverable copies returned under Form 3579 to editorial offices, 

 43 E. Ohio St., Chicago 11, III. 



THE STATE FARM BUREAU PUBLICATION 



BLUE HAZE 



C. B. Shumon 



THE beautiful greens of early spring were a pleasant 

 sight to view through the Pullman window as our 

 train hugged the banks of the Potomac and pushed up 

 through the wooded mountains to the historic Cumberland 

 Gap. Sunset came and with it the blue haze for which 

 these mountains are famous. Within a few minutes the 

 details of distant slopes that were so clearly visible in the 

 bright sunlight faded away under this mysterious blanket. 



MY thoughts turned to the day just ended — a Con- 

 gressional committee hearing on the farm program. 

 There had been plenty of "blue haze" spread in that 

 committee room during the hearing 

 with the intention of clouding the real 

 issues at stake. The spectators and 

 newspaper reporters had witnessed a 

 rare spectacle that day. Representa- 

 tives of the farmers' own organization 

 had appeared to resist the insistent ef- 

 forts of some Congressmen and gov- 

 ernment officials to force farmers to 

 accept federal subsidy payments and 

 excessive price guarantees. It re<juired 

 clear thinking to pierce the "blue 

 haze" and point out that the real issue 

 was whether or not we were ready 

 to turn completely to a government administered agricul- 

 ture. 



^'^ARMERS are in better position than any other group 

 I in America to think clearly about national problems. 

 It is true that agriculture has from time to time turned 

 to government for some degree of assistance in educational 

 and self help programs. However, even the farm price 

 support programs we have had so far have been largely 

 devices to partly match the government protection and 

 subsidy aids so commonly granted to industry and labor. 

 Self improvement, not government gifts, has been the 

 foundation of our progress. 



THE Land Grant College Act, which was signed into 

 law by Abraham Lincoln, has been of untold value in 

 helping to open up vast new areas of new agricultural 

 knowledge through scientific research. Yet all of this 

 wonderful knowledge was very difficult to put into practice 

 on the farm until the coming of the Extension Service in 

 agriculture. We have a wonderful team in Illinois — the 

 County Farm Bureaus cooperating with the College of 

 Agriculture Extension Service. This cooperative arrange- 

 ment is an example of a proper, healthy relationship be- 

 tween private citizens and their government in which the 

 farmers themselves pay a large share of the total cost of 

 the program. 



THE Extension Service program and particularly its 

 close relationship with the local farm organizations is 

 now under attack. Some of the same people who are 

 trying to lead agriculture toward socialism are most vicious 

 in their efforts to cripple the effectiveness of the Extension 

 Service. These people are trying to set up a farm program 

 which will encourage farmers to lean more and more on 

 government subsidy payments rather than on their own 

 efficiency and ability to produce. 



President, Illinois Agricultural Association 



JUNE, 1949 



