Chas. Chester left Monday for Indianapolis to take a hand in the framing of laws in which the farmers are interested or not interested. He will probably be there all week.With that "interested or not interested" comment, the Valentine's Day issue of the Gazette took a swipe at the farmers of Hobart Township, who had proven themselves slackers when it came to organizing the new Farm Bureau.
At a meeting in Crown Point on February 1, 1919, several hundred farmers had come together to dissolve the Lake County Farmers' Association and in its place to formally organize the new Lake County Farm Bureau. They elected officers (Alex Boyd of Ross Township being Second Vice President) and directors, and each township reported on its membership figures. The Bureau now boasted a total of some 800 members, but a mere nine of those were in Hobart Township. It was the second-lowest membership in Lake County, beat out only by Calumet Township's six. Other nearby farming areas had done much better; for example, Ross Township had 120 members, West Creek 135, Winfield 65.
The next week's Gazette carried a short article by Hobart Township drive chairman John Larson, Jr., titled, "What's The Matter With Hobart?" — a question he claimed was asked over and over at the organizational meeting, especially since only one of Hobart Township's nine members (presumably John himself) showed up at that meeting. John was given the task of corralling enough of Hobart Township's slackers to elect a township director, hence his Gazette article. He chiding his fellow farmers and urged them to redeem themselves at a meeting in the Hobart library on the evening of February 7.
"A rather small number of farmers" came to that meeting, but they managed to elect themselves a director: William Bach. By the time Charles Chester left for Indianapolis, the Lake County Farm Bureau's total membership had risen to 1,000, Hobart Township's to 15.
I do not know exactly what Charles intended to lobbying for or against. He may have been helping the three Farm Bureau officers who reportedly planned to go to the capitol to "protest against the establishment of a criminal court in Lake county and … against the tuberculosis bill." No, I don't know why the farmers would be against a criminal court, unless it was a matter of higher taxes, nor do I know what the "tuberculosis bill" was — I can only guess that it involved stricter requirements for tuberculin testing of cattle.
Out of Washington, D.C. came some good news for the farmers — the House agricultural committee was making plans to guarantee the price of wheat for 1919 at $2.26.* If the market price fell below that, the consumer would pay the lower price and the federal government would pay the farmer the difference.
Lake County agricultural agent Virgil Place was making himself useful. He offered advice about the planting of spring wheat, and pointed out that Farm Bureau members could get limestone fertilizer at a reduced price. He also began to urge methodical steps toward improving the dairy cattle of Lake County; with their advantageous location — in the heart of good agricultural land, but also near Chicago's large and thirsty population and its transportation facilities — Lake County's dairy farmers need only organize themselves to improve the breeding, testing and management of their cows "to become noted nationally as a county where exceptionally good, pure bred Holstein cattle are produced."
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*Per bushel, I presume. A newspaper addressing a farming community does not need to specify such things.
Sources:
♦ "Hobart Farmers Elect Directors." Hobart Gazette 14 Feb. 1919.
♦ "Lake County Farm Bureau Organized at Crown Pt. Saturday." Hobart News 6 Feb. 1919.
♦ "Local Drifts." Hobart Gazette 14 Feb. 1919.
♦ "News from the County Agent." Hobart News 20 Feb. 1919; 27 Feb. 1919.
♦ "Spring Wheat." Hobart Gazette 7 Mar. 1919.
♦ "What's The Matter With Hobart?" Hobart Gazette 7 Feb. 1919.
♦ "Wheat Price to Stand — Gov't to Pay Difference." Hobart News 13 Feb. 1919.
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