Iowa Union Farmer, The (Newspaper) - September 3, 1924, Columbus Junction, Iowa In Union There Is Strength VOLUME YII COLUMBUS JUNCTION IOWA WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 3 1924 NO 16 The Presidents Column PRESIDENT MILO RENO The chief of chaplains of the U S Army John T Axton in a sermon delivered in a Methodist church at Washington D C took occasion all citizens who courage rto de that monumental farce called Defense Day with boot leggers and violators of the Volstead The Reverend gentleman of course fat salary and is ready and of course will back up any program that tends to fas ten Militarism upon the people I have paid my respects to the Defense Day proposition in previous issue of the Iowa Union Farmer but I could not allow to go unchallenged such ical the Divine word The Reverend gentleman assumes that war has divine sanc tion because Moses said Lord is a man of war and David said Blessed be the Lord my strength who teacheth my hands to war and fingers to If Moses is to be accepted as authority today the Reverend gentleman could have gone justified of virgins and he could applying the same rule justify the dividing of the virgins among the victor ious officers and men If the Reverend gentleman had cared to be even decently honest with God and the people he would have told them condemned David as a man of blood just as he condemned him for seducing wife He would also have told his hearers that God winked at this time of ignorance but now commandeth all men every where to It is to decent thinkers that men who pro fess to teach the gospel of and lowly Christ should de grade themselves by misconstruing and juggling the Divine word Annual M F A Convention A Big Success The writers and boosters for Silent Cal are the rise in grain prices They very cheerfully predict it will save the agricultural west for the Republican party They have another guess comings The farmers of the middle west are not fools by a longshot and they are question If the Republican party is responsible for the raise in grain prices why didnt they raise them before we all went broke It will take argument with more sense in it than has been used so far to effect the western farmer Dont forget we are to have the best convention we have ever had Come and help us make it one to be remembered I had the pleasure of state convention of the M F A of Missouri at Sedalia and it pleasure The at tendance was 8000 The convention in the stock pavilion at the state f air grounds The tents used at the state fair were left for the use of the delegates and visitors and they were fully occupied I was sorry I hadnt the time to have stayed the three It would have been worth while and I hope will have the Union of Iowa represented through the entire meeting The Eighth convention of the Missouri Farmers was opened Monday morning August 25 at the State Fair grounds in the coliseum with about four thousand delegates visitors and members of the Womens Progressive Farmers Association in President W of New Haven Frank lin county presided Following opening selection America rendered by the associa tions band of Forrest Green invocation was delivered by the Rev C G Fox rector of the Calvary Episcopal church A short address welcoming the visitors to Sedalia was then given by Dorothy Mae Earth small daughter of E W Barth of Clinton Major Judd L Babcock then ad dressed the convention extending to them a wholehearted welcome on behalf of the Sedalia He declared it that anyone greet them as the visitors knew their convention was always welcome to this city but expressed gratitude for the opportunity to ap pear before them The Missouri Far mers association he stated is one of the biggest factors in the state improvement of agricultural condi tions In bettering the farmers econ condition the whole business strengthened he said The association provides strength for its members by collective bargaining and assures him of just return for his labor he added The delegates were welcomed on behalf of Pettis county by Mrs G R Heck a member ofthe Pettis County Progressive Farmers as sociation To the welcoming address a reply was delivered by Al ford of Atlanta Macon county chair man of the executive committee of the association An interesting address was deliv ered by President Steiner near the conclusion of the morning session he giving a brief resume of the work accomplished during the past year the difficulties overcome and the prospects of the future of the or An extensive building and organizing program has been effected new members taken in and the association invaded ter heretofore untouched he said However declaring the speaker there is yet work to be accomplished bythe Missouri Farmers association justice to the far mers the producers contract is our ammunition and we must continue securing more The real purpose of any convention Mr Meiner stated was to instill into the delegates to carry on in their work A resolution committee composed of twelve directors and field agents N J Ball William Hirth Aaron Bis w T H DeWitt R M Wood J S Weathers George M Kelley Chris Ohlendorf W S Miller R T Pence and Al J Craw ford appointed by President Steiner by the convention During interludes in the meeting the farmers band from Forrest ureen Chariton county rendered selections andj were heartily ap plauded The band members are uni formed in overalls and blue cotton H bandmaster P F adjourned Shortly after the opening of the con the Educational building where they conducted a business meeting The session this afternoon was op ened at oclock with a brief con cert by the Farmers band The first speaker was T H DeWitt field ag ent who made an address on What ir VTA Contract Means to the JP Governor Carl Gunderson of bouth Dakota talked on marketing wheat on the cooperative address the subject of which was jWe Have Come a Long Ways Congressman Thomas L Rubey of Sixteenth Missouri district ad Farmers Association on the Club day report State Reno of the Iowa Farmers Union and other not ed Readers are in attendance and will appear on the program a further report of which will be given in the next issue State Convention Call The 8th Annual Meeting of the Farmers Educational and CoOperative Union of Division w n Des Momes September 17th to 19th for the of such The convention will be held in the Street Railway Mers Mild Reno President Geo D Secretary Stockholders Meeting Of The Farm ers Union Exchange The annual meeting of the Stock Holders of the Fanners Iowa will beheld 19th at 9 in Railway Mens Auditorium at 8th and Plum Streets for the transaction of such business as shall properly oome before the stockholders meean urged to be present and in deliberations of this annual meeting Baker President Business Going Fine At Chicago Junior Farmers Union That fighter who has done perhaps more than any other man in Missouri to the farmers William Hirth has promised to talk to us at cur convention and I know he will a message worth while Reduced Rates To The State Con vention Read Carefully V We have again made arrangements for reduced fare for our delegates and members to the State Convention of the Farmers Educational CoOperative Union of America Iowa Division to be held m Des Moines September 17th to 19th and are printing below the directions submitted to us by the Western Passenger Association which you will please follow put in S The following directions are submitted 1 Tickets at the normal oneway tariff fare for the going journey inay be bought on any of the following dates but not du any other September 14th to 20th 1924 V 2 Be sure when purchasing your going ticket to ask the tiCKet agent for Do not make the mistake of asking for a receipt If how ever it is impossible to get a certificate from the local ticket agent a re will be satisfactory and should be secured when ticket is purchased See that the ticket reads to the point to be held and no other See that your certificate is stamped with the same date as your ticket Sign your name to the certificate or receipt in ink Show this to the ticket agent 3 Call at the railroad station for ticket and certificate at least SO before departure of train 4 Certificates are not kept at all stations Ask your home station whether you can procure certificates and through tickets to the place of meeting If not buy a local ticket to nearest point where a certificate and through ticket to place of meeting can be bought 5 Immediately on your arrival at present your certificate to the endorsing officer as the reduced fare for the return journey will not apply unless you are properly identified as provided for by the certifi cate 6 No refund of fare will be made on account of failure to either ob tain a proper certificate or on account of failure the certificates validated 7 It must be understood that the reduction for the return journey is not guaranteed but is contingent on an attendance of not less than 250 members of the organization members of their families at the meeting holding regularly issued certificates from ticket agents at starting points showing payment of normal oneway tariff fare of not less than 67 cents on the going trip 8 If the minimum of 250 regularly issued certificates are presented to the 7oint Agent and your certificate is validated you will be entitled to a return ticket via the same route as the going journey at one half of the normal oneway tariff fare from place of meeting to point at which your certificate was issued 9 Return tickets issued at the reduced fare will not be good on any limited train on which such reduced fare transportation is not honored WHERE ARE THESE MEMBERS The postmaster at Iowa says that H C Simons does not re his mail at that postoffice The postmaster at Davenport Iowa says that there is no one by the name of Max Kummelfeldt who re mail there Will the secretaries of the locals to which these two men belong please send us their correct poet office address Local 708 Breda Iowa W J Dreesen This amount included in the total published in the last issue but inadvertently missed in the liet of The total received to date in the Kennedy Car Fund is B H SkeW LESSON X THE AMERICAN FARMER Necessity has driven the American farmer to study the possibilities of cooperation for him A century ago when the farmer madea large num ber of the things necessary for the use of the family there was little need for cooperation With the dev of modern industry came a new age an age of cooperation New forces were brought into ser vice for the advancement of the in of the Industrial and the Commercial railroad has obliterated distance and the tele graph has made one second of time count for years under conditions as they were one hundred years ago These changes have multiplied the power of the man a million fold and learned to adjust himself more readily to these new forces to work in harmony with them and to adopt them for his own special use and benefit Likewise the rural route with the mail delivered at the farmers front the telephone on the wall in his home and the automobile have eliminated the distance farmers and are bringing them near er and nearer to the front with the business part of the world But des pite all these advantages he has ac little because he has that he has I ailed io see that cooperation is as essential to him as to the rest of the world While most of the Amer ican farmers of today still sleep still plod still ride in the stage and move and work in the same old way a few strong minds on the farm realizing that the worlds conditions have changed have seized the oppor and are attempting to estab lish harmony between the tural and industrial world For more than 50 years they have been promoting farm organizations of one kind and another One of the first organizations was the Grang ers sometimes called the patrons of industry This organization was brought about by O whom WHAT IS A CREDIT UNION A credit union is a cooperative association organized under the pro vision of a specific state law forthe twofold purpose of promoting thrift and creating credit at legitimate rates of interest for its members for provident purposes It will be noted that the method of organization and operation the limitation of powers and the method of state supervision generally by the State Department of Banking are outlined in the law The plan of saving calls for the is suance of shares of a small par value generaly five dollars payable in regular generally and preferably weekly installments The install ment unit must be small it is rarely more than 25 as the funda mental purpose of the credit union is to provide a method of saving which makes it possible for the individual least able to save and that something apprecia Pu creating in that individual the habit of weekly The money ta QMX for to the mem President Johnson sent to the South immediately after the Civil war to It came a powerful order and at one time had a membership of nearly a quarter of a million It still survives but largely as a social institution Another order of great power was the Farmers Alliance organized in Texas in 1876 for the purpose of land and cattle thieves The Louisiana farmers about the same time had an organization known as the Farmers Union These two organizations were united in 1887 name of the Farmers Alliance and Cooperative Union of America Another organization known as the Agricultural Wheel which was ef in Arkansas united with the Alliance in 1889 These and other states met at Ocala Florida in 1890 and adopted a platform It is said that various branches of the Farmers Alliance had a membership of During the depres on from 1893 to 1900 the Farmers Alliance became in volved vin politics and split into fac tions losing some of the influences from united effort The Farmers Union of today however is the successor of the Farmers Al liance and it is one of the mcst powerful organizations in the coun try v Questions 1 Why there little need for cooperation among the farmers one Hundred years ago 2 What changes have multiplied the power of the people in the In world a million fold 3 Give several changes that have brought the farmers nearer to gether was the of one of the farm organizations in Amer Hello for our report again Well this section of the great big FARMERS UNION family has been behaving mighty good and the boys themselves proud the past two weeks Business is going along in fine showing a nice Wealthy increase over last year We have just printed handsome new folders containing a brief his tory of the business with details of been accomplished by the FARMERS UNION LIVE STOCK COMMISSION and these were passed out down at the big fair in Des Moines from our booth in the Shaver Our President and General Manager Milo oh hand all weekand Charlie Satterfield Secre of the Farmers Union Credit Association shook hands with about half the State of Iowa Budd the big chief salesman of our cattle department was there for IT Aeres some of you folks had the good luck to win a smile from the golden girl who pass fine points he FARMERS UNION LIVE STOCK iii IWe han the writer ever could do Down here at Chicago the hos market has held pretty close around cent mark for the past two weeks Trade is steadier than lateen m seldom been more than 15 to 25c any depending on the mar these 1S sel1 On mar ket and thats what the hog sales men are doing whenever possible In at Wi of corn at the stock yards it costs lOc to 20c a hundred to carry hogs over in fhe Sow D 1S a Sample just this week we had a pleasant visit with Mr C R Ver Ploeg of who just joined He hld been Umid about shipping to his own firm but finally decided to split his two car shipment one to the UNION Hne Habbard sold his hogs at the top of the market and he was mighty pleased as these hogs were not as good as the car which went to the old line nrm according to Mr trom now on he promises to be one hundred percent booster and patron of the FARMERS UNION All our sales have been good lately but include Robert H Moore West Branch M B Caving Fairfield C E Carnahan of Mt Pleasant and almost without number The we sell more any other firm but one speaks for itself You are safe when Now while the hog market looks to be on a firm basis with an upward trend if receipts continue moderate nobody can guess the cattle day ahead The safest and wisest thing we urge you boys to do have good cattle on feed is write a line down here and ask Budd Hoi comb about the market before ship Give the weight what kind of cattle fed and how are fixed for feed The trouble that Wilson Company had came at a bad time because the run was pretty heavy but it looks now like this big packing house is all will continue to be an active factor on tne market There is a gradual im provement evident this week the for yearlings weight steers is still good but the heavy cattle look right around a dollar to a dollar and a half a hundred lower and sale is slow Butcher stock is showing ah improvement for good corn finished stock The movement of range cattle is showing an influ ence and outlet for grassy of all kinds As I said before you can always get first hand and re liable information on your cattle for a two cent stamp or postal card is your own firm write in as often as you want make yourself to home Lynch down in the sheep nouse has enough friends to run for Governor of Missouri It is surpris ing how fast good news among sheep men Our sheep run has been principally from the hills of Missouri with ten to fifteen loads of Iowa lambs and quite a string from Washington State If you know any folks feeding sheep around your home just sit down and drop us a line so we can get in touch with them Ion will be doing your neigh bor areal favor and boosting for the FARMERS UNION atone and the same time Our office manager Dan was born lucky Sweet corn is a mighty scarce article around Chicago n showing a good fill on a generous supply which he received from one of our friends and cooperators W C Boyle of Morning Sun Iowa One of the worries of running a big office like this is keep ing the mailing list up to date and addresses correct so Mr Bross would appreciate it if any of you folks who have moved lately would just drop us a line with your new post office This will save postage on missent letters and in return we will send you one of the folders which were mentioned above con a history of your own v com mission house In fact we will send these to any of the boys who are in if you didnt get a copy down at the fair Goodbye till next issue Reason for organizing Ce i of Bread And Batter Problems caused the downfall the Farmers Alliance 7 What organization is the suc cessor of the Farmers Alliance bers for provident and productive purposes all loans being payable within a year in weekly installments tke rate of interest being legiti mate The second purpose of the cre dit union therefore is to eliminate usury by creating rural districts for small farmers and in cities for wage with out normal bank credit in time of credit necessity must have recourse to the usurer The credit union has a third important of educating its members in the man agement of money and is about to assume a fourth necessary function that of waging continuous warfare against wildcat speculation by af fording its members some sort of investment advisory service The Farmers Union Live Stock Commission at the Sioux City yards again led the field at the Sioux City for the week ending August 29th The Farmers Union handled 103 cars or per cent of total following article published in The Cooperative News Bread and Butter Problems by C A Moon can be applied to our Eastern states and their attitude to Agriculture in the Middle West The average town dweller or industrialist gives no heed as to where his daily bread comes from whither hte knows not and cares less whether the producer received any recompense for his la bour whether his food is produced by slaves peons or freemen suffi cient for today is about as far as his thoughts E C People will always find money for luxuries says the cynic even when can find none for necessities This may or may not be true of in but it is certainly true of communities The present distribu tion of wealth is more responsible tor this than any aberration of that strango human nature which is the cynic s favorite butt It is certainly true that civilized society the world over has been developing in an un balanced fashion refinements of life for the few have taken precedence of the radical re of life We find too many people today organized for the pro duction of motors and few organized for production of bread and butter Put in another way too many people are struggling for a living in the towns and too few are able to find a decent liveli hood on the land The figures quoted Mr Wheatley as to the high per centage of people living in towns even in countries such as Australia are startling enough evidence of the top heavy nature of the worlds economic development Man does not live by bread alone we are told and no one wishes to disparage the service of those who minister to the comfort and enter of the community or of those whose function is to organize and inspire But after all the pri mary needs of the human beings should come life in the last resort comes from the land and its agriculture in its various forms which must always be the most im portant industry CHANGED ROLE In Britain we have so long been accustomed to regarding ourselves as the worlds traders and our coun try as the worlds work we have come to regard the production of food as 4tnot our has been a hobby rather than a call ing that was good enough so long as other countries were content to be mere areas for our convenience That timi however is quickly passing and we have to face now not so much the Continued on page 4 column 5
