One of Three Use Blue Cross Plan

Hello Folks — Minnesota was one of the first states in which Hospitals and doctors sponsored the Blue Cross-Blue Shield Plan.

Seven hospitals in St. Paul contributed $800.00 toward establishment of the plan, This was considered as borrowed funds and later paid back to the hospitals.

It was found that an enabling act was necessary. This was passed by the Minnesota legislature, without a dissenting vote in the Senate and by 7 dissenting votes in the House of Representatives.

The Blue Cross Symbol, which is now being used by all plans, was designed in Minnesota by Mr. E. A. Van Steemwyk.

Today over one million people in Minnesota are covered by Blue Cross — in other words, over one third of the population. It has paid out to hospitals for subscribers, approximately $72,000,000.

Blue Cross is available to farmers through Yarm Bureau. Nearly 100,000 farm people are covered by it.

One of the things that has spurred Blue Cross-Blue Shield is the threat of socialized medicine.

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Heads are like teakettles — the emptier they are, the quicker they boil.


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The higher a man gets in life, the more humble he must walk.


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A fact that many Americans do not understand is that the profit and loss system is as necessary to the American constitution as the pulse is to the body. Destroy that system and you destroy America just as surely as if you stopped the heartbeat of a man. If you try to take out the loss, you also take out the profit.

The enemies of America are fully aware of that fact, which is why they are so anxious to see a controlled system in America. America stands almost alone as the bulwark of freedom — without her the rest of the nations would soon crumble under the weight of aggression and slavery.

The profit and loss system places a man at his best, and therefore, develops character, fore thought, industry and thrift. These things, in turn, create a high standard of living.

One thing the enemies of the capitalistic system fail to tell us is that even at the ebb tide of the cycle, we still enjoy a higher rate of prosperity than can be gotten by a controlled system.

We should not try to stop the pulse beat of our economic system, but even it out, so it will not work too unevenly.

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Voice on phone: "John Flanders is sick and can't attend class to day. He asked me to notify you."
Professor: "Al right, who is this speaking?"
Voice: "This is my roommate."

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"All of you men who are fond of music", the top sargeant called out, "step forward two paces."
Six men responded.
"Now then," said the sargeant, "you six men get busy and carry that piano up to the top floor of the officers' quarters."

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Dave: "Why are the snowflakes dancing?"
Betty: "They're preparing for the snowball."

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Surpluses Are Killing Our Markets
LET'S LOOK AT THE FACTS: During the war, the government helped stimulate needed production for defense. By not removing these factors at the end of the war, overproduction in SUPPORTED farm commodities was invited and surpluses grew, Since the government cannot consume. . .(can only store) huge surpluses accumulated.

These heavy surpluses in the hands of the federal government depress the normal market by lightening consumer demand. Government, under law, was required to purchase supported farm commodities. . .  and government storage bins began to replace usual markets.

As these surplus bins filled, a price support formula approved by Congress in 1949 should have gone into effect. This formula called for dropping price supports 1 per cent for each 2 per cent over normal supply acquired by the government. Congress did not do this — with resulting surpluses.

These surpluses bring acreage controls and allotments. For example, the wheat and corn farmer must take acreage cuts with penalties imposed under law, if they are not obeyed. This limits the basic American freedom to produce and places GOVERNMENT IN YOUR BUSINESS OF FARMING.

Remember, farmers pay taxes, too! Cost of supporting artificial markets comes high, plus the cost of federal supervision on all acreage and marketing controls.

America has grown strong by being able to adjust itself to the changing needs of its own people . .and those of the world. Agriculture will weaken itself if it insists on producing without regard to effective market demand, and WITH government support. The consuming public is aware that surpluses cost the government (us) $7,000,000.00 DAILY to store. . .another $400,000.00 DAILY for handling and spoilage. .totaling $1,100,000.00 DAILY just to keep these things!

Misleading Statements

HELLO FOLKS! — The father of a rapidly - growing youngster mumbled to a friend on the bus:

"He's getting too smart to outargue and too big to spank. I can hardly wait for him to fall in love so's some little girl will take him down a notch"

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THERE ARE a lot of false notions going around that if not corrected are going to be used by self - interested parties to forward their own interests.

One of them goes something like this: "The farmer is the only businessman who buys at prices someone else sets and sells what others offer." Or they say, "Everyone else's prices are set but the farmers. They take what they can get."

Without much thinking such words seem to have some truth to them. On the other hand — are they true?

A man said to me, trying to prove his point, "If you go and buy a sack of tankage you pay what they ask, but when you sell the pig that ate the tankage you take what they offer."

Tankage is no different than any other item. The manufacturers get all they can for their product just as the farmer gets all he can for his hogs, or what ever it be. There is plenty of competition in protein feeds. If tankage is too high priced, we buy soybean meal and fortify it with vitamins. Or we may go to another dealer who has another brand of tankage at a lower price. Surely the price they are asking is probably marked on the bulletin board. And the hog prices they will pay are marked, but that doesn't mean they aren't competitive.

Then they will tell you that the auto manufacturers set their own prices. I have bought several cars and I shop around and get the best deal I can. There is plenty of competition in the auto industry. The salesmen are constantly at each other's throats to get that sale and the lowest offer usually sells.

The same is true of the manufacturer. He knows what the car costs him to produce. To that he adds the necessary profits and any other that he thinks the "traffic will bear." If he feels that he has an especially good seller he will add a few dollars to it. The opposite might also be true. He may have to take off a few dollars for the [time] being.

There are [plent]y of manufacturers who have gone out of business because they couldn't meet the competition in the long haul the car producer also takes what the buyer offers just as the farmer takes the highest offer he gets for the animal. And there is of course no law that says the farmer can't cooperate with other farmers and butcher the hogs themselves if they feel they aren't getting enough for their products.




Tankage - a fertilizer or animal feed obtained from the residue from tanks in which animal carcasses have been rendered.

Farms Cut Food Cost

Hello Folks !

An indication as to how agriculture is progressing; consider the advance in the broiler industry. Ten years ago it took 15 weeks to grow a bird to three pounds. That was gradually shortened to eight weeks and now a new process of feeding and breeeding has been able to get that bird to three pounds in seven weeks.

That means that the same facilities can now produce twice as many chickens as they could 10 years ago. The profit from such progress has been passed on to the consuming public which is a big factor in our increasingly high standard of living.

This efficiency added to the efficiency in production of the feed raised for the broilers, plus the efficiency of other industries accounts for most of the reason the average worker today gets twice as much for his food dollar today as he did 20 years ago.

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Next to being shot at and missed there is nothing quite as satisfying as an income tax refund.

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My wife says figures don't lie but girdles certainly condense the truth.

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A baby is born each eight seconds in the U. S.

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The most valuable time a man has are the hours he spends beyond what is necessary for earning a living. They can be frittered away at nothing; spent on hobbies; used to the disgrace of society or put to the service of one's fellowmen.

My deepest respect go to those who spend these extra hours in service to one's neighbors. We have many such people around about us and could use many more. There is no more satisfying work than that.

I think that success in life can be counted more in time thus spent than it can be in financial gain or social standing.

The one business of life is to succeed. I can't believe that the Lord placed us here to waste our lives. The greatest tragedy in the world is not the devastation that goes with war, nor the cost that goes with crime; nor both of these put together. The greatest tragedy in the world is that human beings, you and I, live so far below the level of our possibilities. It is the lack of this positiveness that causes most of our woes. We can all look hack and see things we should have done that we did not do. These are the seed bed we make for future evil.

We have the basis of this belief from the words of The Great Teacher who gave one of the bitterest denunciations. He ever uttered to the one who hid his talents in the ground, he said "Thou wicked and slothful servant".

In our efforts to better the lives of ourselves and others we need to plan carefully and work our plan. Our efforts have to start at home we can't be at our best if we allow our health, (both mental and phys, cal) to deteriorate, or permit slip shod ways to clutter our lives.

frittered: waste time, money, or energy on trifling matters.

slip shod: (typically of a person or method of work) characterized by a lack of care, thought, or organization.