Lake County Crop Improvement Association 
Jack Peters 
Mr. Peters: Mr. President, Ladies 
and Gentlemen : I was a little bit disap¬ 
pointed in the course that I should pursue 
this afternoon in this discussion. Having 
been given the subject “The Work of the 
Lake County Crop Improvement Asso¬ 
ciation,” I naturally thought that I would 
discuss the work that I was doing more 
particularly. But I learned since my ar¬ 
rival here that possibly some explanation 
about this organization, and how it came 
about, would be more appropriate. 
Explaining it as well as I can, I would 
say this: The National Grange Ex¬ 
changes, of Chicago, have appropriated 
a million dollars for the purpose of dif¬ 
fusing information and advice among the 
farmers. Their proposition goes to the 
county unit in something of this wise: 
The county organizes itself into a Crop 
Improvement Association, and they must 
raise a sum equal in amount to the sum 
donated, or possibly double the amount 
that is donated by the National Grain 
Exchanges. Now, Lake County was the 
first county in this State that accepted 
their proposition, so they proceeded; 
first, the county commissioners gave to 
this cause $1,000.00 per year for two 
years; and then by public subscription 
there has been also put into this fund an 
equal amount by the leading citizens, and 
citizens generally of Lake County. 
But the Association also consists of a 
membership, and for anyone to become 
a member of the Association requires the 
paying in of a fee of $1.00. So that the 
$1,000.00 that is appropriated by the 
county commissioners, and the $1,000.00 
appropriated by the National Grain Ex¬ 
change, and the $2,000.00 added by sub¬ 
scription and the membership fees—and 
at this time I do not know how much this 
aggregates—creates a fund that has been 
raised to carry on this work of crop im¬ 
provement for two years’ time. 
The National Grain Exchange, through 
its Secretary, Mr, Bert Ball, feels sure 
that once an adviser is employed in a 
county and operates for two years, the 
people will clearly see that much good 
has been done, and that much good can 
be done through this line of work, and 
once established it will be kept up for 
years, and possibly indefinitely. 
As your President has said, other 
States in the Union have long ago adopt¬ 
ed this plan, and there are many States 
in the West and Middle West that today 
have their Agricultural Adviser, or pos¬ 
sibly known by another title, operating in 
counties there, just as Lake County has 
a man operating in Lake County. 
After they had completed their organ¬ 
ization, according to the dictation of 
Mr Bert Ball, it was necessary to em- 
