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Show Volume XVII Issue XXIV The Ogden Valley news Page June 1, 2010 Memories of Huntsville and Its People Note: This is the sixteenth in a multi-series of articles that is from the above titled compilation. It is being reprinted by permission of the McKay family. The information was initially printed in 1960. The State Farm Bureau I have before me a letter dated Salt Lake City, December 5, 1916, signed by C.G. Patterson and telling me that he had seen “in this morning’s paper” that I had been elected President of the “State Farm Bureau.” I also have a letter dated January 12, 1917, with the words “Utah State Farm Bureau” printed on it in large letters. I am told by the writer that he is writing to the County Agent, W. Preston Thomas and Dr. R. J. Evans for the names of County Agents, County Bureau officers, and State Directors of the Bureau, so he can advise them of forthcoming special state meeting I have asked him to call. The letterhead indicated that the writer is President, R.W. Creer of Spanish Fork is Vice President, and Howard V. Alston of Riverton is Secretary. And thus the State organization began. I assume committees of various kinds had been appointed, but I have no record of them except in the case of the Sugar Beet Committee. That committee had met in October, 1917, and had arrived at a price for beets for the 1918 season. On December 31, 1917, a call was issued for a statewide meeting of the Farm Bureau to be held in the Hotel Utah on January 15 and 16. “The first day will be given over to discussion of labor, sugar beets and kindred subjects. President E. G. Peterson of the Utah State Agricultural College, who is also Chairman of the Food Committee of the State Council of Defense, will probably call a meeting of the County Food Committeemen who will join our second day discussion.” On January 12, this meeting was changed because the President had been called to Washington. The new date was to be January 21 and 22 at the Agricultural College in Logan. There must have been a reorganization of the State Farm Bureau in December of 1917, because the letter of January 12, 1918 mentioned above was signed by Murray K. Jacobs as Secretary, State Farm Bureau. This meeting at Logan on January 21, 22, and 23 was a most remarkable one, the like of which there has probably never been since. It was the first try at selling cooperatively a farm crop in the history, not only in Utah, but in the U.S.A., so far as I know, and the whole field had to be argued and explored. A figure of $8.50 had been accepted at the previous meeting in October of 1917, but due to the war, the situation had changed completely by the following January. Then there was present a representative of the National Food Administrator and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Another thing of importance was that there were two or three new sugar manufacturing companies that were not too well supplied with money or experience. If they were put out of business by price fixing, that would be a calamity to the area they served, and finally, there were so many present and each one had an opinion that must needs express it. Members of the Sugar Beet Committee were Lee R. Taylor, J.W. Alleman, R.W. Creer, C.Z. Harris, J. Roskelly, Ephrium Burgansen, W.J. Chadwick, J.O. Anderson, D.D. McKay, James R. Beus, A.M. Cornwall, John Burton, Ephram White, W.W. Knudson, August F. Kotter, J.T. Waldron, W.B Ennis, H.W. Woodbury, and David Rigby from Madson County, Idaho, and Mr. Foster from Franklin County, Idaho. Representing the sugar companies were L.R. Eccles, Mark Austin, Joseph Quinney, J.S. Featherstone, James Ellison, George and John Stringham, Merrill W. Nibley and George E. Browning. The three-day debate was on costs per acre of sugar beets, the prevailing price of sugar, and whether to stay at the $8.50 fixed at the October 1917 meeting or go up to ten dollars. A compromise figure of $9.00 was decided on, and the meeting adjourned. This was later changed. The meetings of the Sugar Beet Committee of 1917 and 1918 attracted so much attention that it stimulated vigorous action in other committees. The Grain Committee of the State Farm Bureau, John F. Burton, Chairman, and Joseph F. Skinner, Secretary, arranged for a meeting at the Hotel Utah on August 4, 1920 for the purpose of investigating the situation affecting the marketing of grains. E.O. Howard, a well-known financier of Salt Lake City, was to be the main speaker. He pointed out that the country, because of war, found itself in debt to the tune of thirty billion dollars, crop failures, and the fact that the wool crop had not been sold. He felt there was three factors, therefore, affecting the selling of grains, namely: (1) Availability of Money, (2) Transportation Facilities; and (3) Export Outlook. Conditions, he felt, were abnormal, and he advised that farmers sell enough of their crops to pay their obligations and store the balance. The farmers had to take the risk, for neither the bank nor the buyer would. There were present U.S. Government Agencies, nine milling companies, State Agencies, livestock men, four Farm papers, and twenty-eight farmers from Utah and Idaho. Later on in that year (October, 1920) the same problem arose in the marketing of alfalfa seed. In Carbon, Uintah and Millard Counties, a large part of the seed supply of the whole country was grown, and like every other farmer in the state, the growers of this product had formerly sold it in the open market. Now committees had been organized in each of these counties to handle their own crops. This did not look to me like the best thing to do, and I suggested that they pool their crops and sell it on bids. This they did, and the Utah Seed Marketing Association came into being. H.E. Smith, N.A. Peterson, and E.D. Cody represented Millard County; W.G. Adams, C.W. Bodily, and L.D. Young represented Uintah County; and J.W. Burnham, J. Jensen and Isaac Allread represented Carbon County. Late in 1919 the financial situation had got pretty bad. The next spring we were unable to get more than ten cents for wool, so we stored ours in the barn. The market did not improve any during the summer. After the first of the year 1920, it appeared to me that something had to be done at once, if it were humanly possible, or the whole industry would be broken. One day in the late winter, I was in Salt Lake City, and I went in to the National Copper Bank to talk to W.W. Armstrong, the President, about the possibility of financing a cooperative organization for the handling of wool if we could get one going. He thought the matter should be taken up with the Clearing Houses in Salt Lake and Ogden, if such an organization were got into motion. He thought the initiative, so far as the financing of the deal was concerned, should be taken by someone else, for he felt that he had been a “prima donna” as he put it, too frequently recently. The next day I went into the Ogden State Bank to see A.P. Bigelow and talked the matter over with him. He felt that it was necessary to do something to help out the situation if a catastrophe in the wool business were to be averted. We mulled the matter over with the directors of the Farm Bureau and it was finally decided to form a co-op on a statewide basis. The bankers in Salt Lake and Ogden were giving the matter a lot of attention too. Finally, the details were worked out and agreed upon. The bankers wanted one change in the program. It seemed to be a wise suggestion and it was placed in the final contract. The orga- Celeste C. Canning PLLC Attorney at Law 2590 Washington Boulevard, Suite 200 Ogden, Utah 84401 Local: (801) 7 1-10 2 Office: (801) 612- 2 Email: ccanninglaw@aol.com Meeting the Legal Needs of Small Business and Their Owners FREE Initial Thirty Minute Consultation. Appointments in Ogden Valley upon request. nization was to handle wool on hand or produced during the present season “in the State of Utah and tributary territory.” The committee appointed to carry out the purposes of the organization were D.D. McKay, W.W. Armstrong, A.P. Bigelow, M.S. Marriott, U.T. Jones, W.D. Candland, and George Austin. This was done on the 2nd of April, 1921. On the 25th of April, a contract was signed with the National Wool Warehouse & Storage Co. of Chicago for the storage and sale of all wool consigned to the committee. Those authorized for the Farm Bureau Committee were D.D. McKay, W.W. Armstong, A.P. Bigelow, and George Austin. For the Warehouse Co., John S. Halladay, President, and M. Staff, Secretary. Besides the sale of wool, the committee provided credit and negotiated loans for all who applied for such service. There was not a large proportion of the wool crop handled for the simple reason that too many individuals and companies were already tied up on loans, but there wan an immediate increase in the price of the commodity to as high as twentyfive and twenty-six cents. Our own crop of One Hundred Thirty-Eight bags was shipped on May 23, 1921. It was estimated by woolmen outside the committee, who were familiar with the conditions and with the work of the committee, that its work had benefited the wool growers of Utah in an amount variously estimated at between Five and Seven Hundred Thousand dollars. It was hoped that arrangements would be made early for the handling of the 1922 crop. It is amazing to me now that the interest manifested in every phase of the Farm Bureau movement back in those days was so great. In our town there were nine times the membership in the local then as now. It is about the ratio in the county too. You will recall the variety of interest and the number and places represented at the Logan meeting. Recall the bankers, millers and grain elevators, the public officials and farmers at the grain meeting. The work done by the clearing houses of Salt Lake and Ogden in the wool marketing program. The Utah bankers wanted me to attend their Thirteenth State Convention at Provo to talk about cooperative marketing. The Coast Banker, a San Francisco paper, wanted a copy of my talk on the subject. A member of Montana Wool Growers Association wired me for information about wool marketing plans and reprinted a newspaper report of what I said about cooperative marketing and sent it to all the members of the Montana Wool Growers. The Wool-Storage companies of Chicago and Boston wrote the information. I often wondered if the membership and public interest is as great today as it was in the beginning. Out of all that pioneering there came wonderful and permanent improvements. The National Wool Market Association now handles all wool. The Utah Poultry and Farm Co-op is doing a fine job, and there are many other organizations of a like nature operating now and doing a fine job. Historical Photo Huntsville resident George Karup Madsen, father of Gordon Madsen, at Bingham Canyon where he worked between 1904 and 1910. Picture courtesy of Gordon Madsen. Now Accepting Most Insurances Kenyon Tew, Ph.D. Child, Adolescent & Family Therapy Dr. Tew has over 25 years of therapeutic experience working with children, adults, and families. His experience includes treating anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, Aspergers, A.D.D. and school related problems. OLD TOWN EDEN (801) 334-2431 Jeffrey D. 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