Members Start Own Library

Hello, folks! The Farm Bureau Executive Board attended a district meeting Jan. 27 at Janesville. Mrs. L. O. Gustafson, Doug Vadegrift, Cora Torgerson and myself drove to Janesville for the day. Henry Iwerks conducted the meeting. Those in attendance from the state office were Mrs. Lewis Minnion, Delbert Wells, and A. C. Mereness. They gave us some very interesting information and help that will make our county Farm Bureau a better organization if we follow through on it.

Lewis Larson had intended to go along to the meeting, but when the time came to leave Albert Lea he was not there. He told me later that he forgot about it until it was too late.

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At the January meeting of the Farm Bureau directors we decided to start a library for use of the members in the county. Mansfield township is the first to contribute toward it. Henry Schmidt is director from Mansfield. By the way, the next meeting will be Wednesday, Feb..4. Yours truly plans to attend.

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A good slogan for the dairy industry —"A milk dispenser next to every Coca-Cola dispenser."

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The average corn yield in Minnesota is 40 bushels per acre. This may seem pretty low for us here, but includes a lot of marginal areas.

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John —My hair has a lot of electricity in it.

Jim —Do you know why? Because it is connected to a dry cell.

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And then that old one about the Moron who took a saddle to bed with him — so he could ride his night-mare.

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Roy Little and his Little Green Valley Gang are going to entertain at the swine institute at the Albert Lea Armory Feb 27. You won't want to miss hearing them. They really do a bang up job of entertaining what with songs, accordions, guitars of all sorts and colorful costumes.

Don Paarlber of Purdue University, assistant to the Secretary of Agriculture, will be the guest speaker at the Barrow Show. Your Farm Bureau is sponsor for the Institute. 

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Continuing on our discussion of farm policy the question might be asked, "Well, why a farm program at all?"

Here is the reason. Under a completely free economy prices often fluctuate so wildly that the poor man was often forced to sell his crops or produce when the prices were at their lowest. Often he was fleeced by unscrupulous men who got rich just playing the market.

I remember Dad telling about one year corn was so cheap that a number of foolish framers were burning it for fuel. The next year a drought hit, and corn prices soared to unreasonable heights. Even if there had been no drought, there was not enough corn planted to keep prices in line. It is to eliminate these extremes that farm programs were started. 

The idea of all sensible programs is to satisfactorily harness the law of supply and demand to the benefit of consumer and producer alike. Under the completely free economy prices perhaps averaged parity, but statistics don't show the guys that are getting hurt somewhere between the two extremes. The man with heavy commitments had a hard time making ends meet and the fellow that once got ahead and sold wisely got rich. 

Nearly all farmers believe that a program is necessary. Most of them believe it should be a government sponsored program but a few believe it could be handled better by organization. 

Next week we will discuss one of the major farm views —perhaps the 90 per cent of parity view. Our standard for evaluating them is: Moral —30 points; Loyalty —30 points; Financial —20 points or Parity; Foreign relations ——20 points.

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 Your Farm Bureau will hold a rural - urban conference Feb. 22 at Albert Lea. Plan now to attend. Delbert Wells, secretary of the Minnesota Farm Bureau will explain the farm program in relation to the Consumer. A question and answer period will follow the speech.