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LIBRARY OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN

630.7
UGlt

1948-52

AGRICULTURE

Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2011 with funding from
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

http://www.archive.org/details/itsayshere194852urba

630. 7

Extension Editorial Office

University of Illinoi s

College of Agriculture

Two Interesting; Characters...

Little Archie and "big Eddie stopped in
and put their feet on our desk without
waiting for the fuss and feathers of
formal introductions.

"Know what's wrong with you guys?"
Archie started out,

Eddie said, "Yah, know what's wrong
with all of you guys?"

We said ve knew several things that
were wrong. What did they have in mind?

"You ain't got a good system of gettin'
news stories and radio stuff to yer farm
and home advisers, that's what," Archie
said,

Eddie said, "Yah, that's what.'"

We said we would like to hear more
about our faults — the visitors obvious-
ly were experienced.

"Okeh," Archie said, "first thing is
that farm and home advisers are busy
people. Ya know that, doncha?"

We said we were aware of that.

"Then, look whatcha do," Archie went
on, ,:ya preach about deadlines and send-
ing stuff regular and the next minute
turn around and send your stuff out to
the counties any time you feel like.
What kinda system is that?"

Eddie said, "What kinda system is
that?"

"Why doncha get wise and send all yer
news stories and radio stuff in one
package once a week?" Archie asked.
"That way the farm adviser and home ad-
viser will know that they got ALL the
information dope right there in front of
them. If they want to use it, they can
use it. If they want to file ib, they
can file it. If they want to throw it
away, they can throw it all away at one
time. Sounds pretty good, don't it?"

We said it sounded real good.

"Okeh, why doncha get started?" Archie
challenged. "Why doncha start this
week?"

"Yah, why doncha get started?" Eddie
said.

So — we are getting started,

* * *

All In One Package...

Following the suggestion of Archie and
Eddie, this mailing marks the birth of a
new information service for you. The
detailed explanation is on the attached
sheet. We think it's a good way to
start 19^8, and we'd like your ideas and
suggestions.

The main idea is to keep all of our
information material in one package,
mailed once a week. We hope it will
make it easier for you to organize and
prepare your weekly releases for news-
papers and radio stations.

Press and Radio...

During the fall conference, many of
you requested a digest of some of the
remarks made about using press and radio
in building a strong county information
program. Your request flattered us so
that we finally got around to making a
summary of the remarks.

The outline is enclosed in this week's
package. PRESS AND RADIO FOR BUILDING
A STRONG COUNTY INFORMATION PROGRAM.
You'll note we had the nerve to punch
holes in the outline, with the thought
that perhaps seme of you would want to
file this type of material. A 10-cent
notebook would do the Job.

Extension Editorial Office University of Illinois College of Agriculture

Report From You...

How many counties send all their news
to all the papers in the county? How
many have farm or home "bureau publica-
tions? How many farm advisers have pro-
grams on the radio? How many home ad-
visers?

We asked those questions during the
fall conference. And we asked some
others. The answers are in this week's
packet— FARM AND HOME NEWS — Report From
the Counties. There's quite a variation
from good to not so good.

A Farm Page "by Broom. . .

One of the better farm pages we've
seen is the one fathered by Les Broom
in the Cairo Citizen. We asked Les to
send us copies so we could pass them a-
round. And he did. Your copy is in the
packet, a double page spread (in farm ad-
viser's packet only). Note the mixture—
local couple wins trip, a top-notch
human- interest story on dairying, news
about k-E and rural youth events.

Les reports, "We try to get as much lo-
cal news as possible. . .about farmers who
are doing a good Job... also like to use
as many pictures as possible. Coopera-
tion with the newspaper is excellent."

U-H Helps Coming Up...

Youth editor Jack Murray is hard at
work putting the finishing touches on a
first-rate editorial and advertising mat
service which should be in your hands
soon after the first of February, It
will have illustrated ad layouts promot-
ing k-H enrollment and the camp program.

Tribute to Fred...

We expect you've seen Prairie Farmer's
tribute to Marion county's Fred Black-
burn for "Farm Progress in 29 Years."
It's in the Jan. 17 issue, and a deserv-
ing tribute not only to Fred but to all
farm advisers in Illinois.

Incidentally, the new editor, Paul
Johnson is plugging the Extension
Service. He would appreciate your tips
on good farm and home stories. Better
yet, he would appreciate the stories.

Grain Conservation. . .

The grain conservation program should
be hit hard the rest of the year. Pegs
for stories are easy to find— cull the
laying flock, feed cows according to pro-
duction, market hogs at lighter weights,
use a maximum of roughage. Get the dope
from the farmers who are following a
good feeding program.

Editors Are Busy..,

But they are not so busy that they
don't like a special invitation to
attend your county meetings. What do
you have coming up this week?

Check the Mat File...

We've mentioned this before, but it's
still a good idea to check your list of
visiting specialists with your mat file.
We'd like to get the requests for mats
in early... at least a week or 10 days
before you need them for your first re-

lea8e# UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

Extension Editorial Office University of Illinois College of Agriculture

Farming Is Biff News.,,

"Agriculture is the biggest news in
any farming country."

That's the first sentence in the story
FABMENG IS BIG NEWS which appeared in
Capper's Farmer a while hack. The story
is ah out the hang -up J oh a Texas news-
paper is doing in playing up farm and
home news. It's also about the coopera-
tion of the newspaper with the farm and
home agent.

The story made such good reading that
we wanted to pass it around. So, we
asked Capper's if they could furnish us
a thousand reprints — one for each of you
and one for each weekly and daily news-
paper in the state.

They did, and your copy is enclosed.
Copies also will be mailed this week to
your weekly and daily newspapers. Next
time you see them, you might get their
opinion on the article. And we would
like yours.

Advertising Helps for k-E

Going out in a separate package this
week are copies of your editorial-adver-
tising "clipsheet" aimed at helping you
promote both the U-H enrollment and U-H
camp fund-raising drives.

As far as we know, this will mark the
introduction of an Illinois educational
advertising service. There's a copy for
each newspaper in your county. And there
are few country newspapers that won't
welcome an opportunity to make use of the
ad layouts and the mat illustrations.

Suggest lone for handling the material
are included in the package. If you
would like more of this kind of stuff in
the future, give us the word.

Headlines to Farm Advisers...

How many of you noticed the Prairie
Farmer story about the Piatt county Farm
Plan? It '8 on page 6 of the Jan. 31 is-
sue. That's Farm Adviser Kamm looking
happy in the middle.

On page 10— same issue—the story on
lime stockpiling in, Fayette county. And
friend J. B. Turner receives Just credit
for his direction of the program.

Hard-working Adviser Tammeus shows how
weed control boosted corn yields in his
county. The story is on page 18 of the
Feb. Country Gentleman.

Have we missed anyone? We only get to
look at the magazines after midnight.

Attention to U-H Leaders...

There's a place for "advance" and "fol-
low-up" stories on the district confer-
ences for local U-H leaders. It's an
opportunity to give a pat on the back
for the good work these folks are doing.
They deserve the attention.

A Question Is Answered...

From Macon county, assistant farm ad-
viser Kent Alverson writes, "Is it cor-
rect that the weekly and daily press re-
leases are mailed directly to the news-
papers and that there is no need for our
sending them on?"

Kent has the right information. The
releases with the printed mastheads are
sent directly from here to the news-
papers and stations. Copies are sent to
you for reference purposes. Your out-
lets should be receiving the material.
If not, drop us a note.

Extension Editorial Office University of Illinois College of Agriculture

Response Rolls In...

Requests have started to roll in for
the U-H clipsheet mats. We've ordered
more mats so that the supply will be on
hand when your newspapers order.

Your newspapers will he looking for
ways and means of increasing advertising
space during the next few weeks, so it
would he a mistake not to get the mate-
rial to them Just as soon as possible.
Many of the mats will he good the year
round. For that reason, you'll proba-
bly want a supply in your office.

On the Fire...

Coming up within the next few weeks
will be the "Illinois Fly-Free Program"
under the direction of Mr. Petty. This
program, as many of you know, is being
sponsored by the Extension Service and
the IAA in cooperation with the Illinois
Natural History Survey.

Special promotion material will in-
clude another editorial-advertising clip-
sheet, kits of news stories and radio
material, two special leaflets on fly
control on the farm and in the city, and
a special circular. There also will be
suggestions for promotion material that
can be produced in the counties. Some
of that may be furnished by the IAA.
Bob Walker is riding herd on the promo-
tion end of this program.

Spring C lean-Up...

Another cooperative program with the
IAA is Spring C lean-Up Week. A letter
was mailed this week from Mr. Whitlock
and Mr. Murphy. There will be special
promotion material to support this pro-
gram too.

Yellow - But Not Yellow Journalism

Favorable comment is heard about the
office each week as the Iroquois Farm
News copy rolls in, Kenneth Imig, farm
adviser, sends hie weekly farm newspaper
copy out to his county papers on yellow
paper. It's bound to get attention in
any newspaper office,

This week's batch of stories numbered
nine and in addition had a number of
shorts, all newsworthy. He cites Na-
tional U-H Club Week, carries a number of
locals about club work in the county, re-
views suggestions on controlling roaches,
repairing farm machinery, using pastures
in cattle feeding and the importance of
gardens this year.

The office also receives weekly
stories from Kenneth Flake's office in
Henry county. From the copy we can tell
he is keeping the farm editors informed
in that area.

We would like to have our name on
other mailing lists for copies of week-
ly material going out. It will help us
to know what is going on in your area.
Much of it can be used on our radio pro-
grams.

Radio on the Wall. .

Several county offices are using the
weekly and monthly advance radio sched-
ules of the University to advantage. As
the schedules are received they are
placed on the bulletin boards, Ed
Barnes, Richland county, for one, says
that not infrequently half a dozen folks
at the same time are observing the farm
and home economics programs over W-I-L-L,

Extension Editorial Office University of Illinois College of Agriculture

Notes On U-H Mats...

We've been going over the orders for
the ^-H advertising mats. You'll "be in-
terested to know that nearly 100 orders
have "been received. But we have these
suggestions :

1. If you are planning special atten-
tion during ^-H Week, make sure every
paper in your county gets a copy of the
"Advertising Helps."

2. If you can't find the time to call
on the editor, send him a copy of the
material with a personal letter. He'll
appreciate it. Means more business for
him.

3. Don't order more mats than you can
use. One mat can be cast a number of
times if it is to be used in the same
publication. Extra mats of the same il-
lustration should be ordered only if
they are to be used in different publi-
cations.

U, If you are planning to use the mat
service later in the year, we would like
to know so that we can order a supply of
mats.

5. As mentioned before, the newspaper
will sell ads to local business firms
and everyone benefits.

Exclusive To You...

While the U-H layouts were designed
for all newspapers in your county, this
week's packet contains another editorial
mat from soils expert C. M. Linsley. And
this is exclusive to you for your use.

The title is "Clover Made the Dif-
ference." And there is some good copy to
go with it.

You may have suggestions for topics or
types of subject matter that could be
illustrated. If so, let us know.

Also in the Packet...

The 8th in the series of pictorial
charts from Dr. Roland W. Bartlett also
is in the packet this week. This chart
shows how much goes into the city price
of milk besides the payment to the farm-
er. It makes interesting "looking," as
well as interesting reading.

Anderson Makes a Point...

Farm adviser W. C. Anderson mentions
that good use is made of the illustrated
mats but asks why the copy is included.
The big reason has been so that the copy
won't get lost from the illustration.
But it does make a bigger, more expen-
sive mat.

We would like your vote as to whether
educational mats of the future should or
should not have the copy matted along
with the illustration.

News Services Too Late...

A collective thanks to all of you who
have reported on the "late arrival" of
both the news package to you and the new
news services to newspapers and radio
stations.

We are growing grey-haired trying to
figure out the right answer. But we
still hope to find it. Any suggestions?

Stories On Safe Homes..

There are good local stories on the
Illinois "Safe Homes" program. Our top
home reporter tells us that so far more
than 61 counties have enrolled this year
and more to come. Last year 10,000 farm
and city families in 50 counties took
part in the program.

Extension Editorial Office

University of Illinois

College of Agriculture

Orchids to Jackson. . .

In This Week's Packet...

This week's orchid "bouquet goes to the
energetic Ruth Jackson, youth assistant
in Marion and Clinton counties, for an
outstanding Job of promoting h-E club
work in the two counties.

So far we've seen full pages of ads
and editorial copy in the Salem Republi-
can and the Breese Journal promoting the
enrollment drive. We'd guess that Ruth
has given the other papers in the county
similar attention.

In the packet this week is another mat
illustration to go along with a story by
Professor Wilcox of the ag, economics
department .

The story and illustration show how
farmers have increased production per
man during the past 30 years. Wilcox
will have more material along the same
line in the future. Copies of the mat
also were sent to all newspapers in the
state.

More Orders , More Orders . . .

Here's a March 1 report on orders for
mats from the k-K clip sheet. Requests
have come in from newspapers and the
farm adviser's office in 38 counties. In
11 counties requests have been received
from the farm adviser's office only.

This makes a total of k9 counties that
we've heard from. No word from the re-
maining 51. But Jack Murray says the or-
ders are still coming in as counties get
lined up on their camping program.

Still on U-H...

Just two other mentions on the impor-
tant topic of U-H club work.

If you haven't already seen it, take a
look at the nice job Prairie Farmer did
on the camping program. Page 5 of the
Feb. 28 issue. Same issue, page 8, the
editorial on club work.

Also, here is a fine sprig of alfalfa
blossoms to Kent Alverson, Macon county
assistant farm adviser for the U-H club
mention in their Feb. farm bureau publi-
cation.

Copy to the Printer...

Special promotion material to support
the "Illinois Fly-Free Program" went to
the printer this week.

A story for your use in announcing the
program is in this week's packet. And
we are sending out a state -wide story to
all weekly and daily newspapers.

This program should get a lot of pub-
licity if it is handled right. I'd make
sure your local editors are informed a-
bout the program just as soon as possi-
ble. They will carry a lot of the load
if they are brought into the planning
phases of the program.

Ideas for News Messenger...

From time to time we receive sugges-
tions for improving, changing or revamp-
ing the News Messenger. In the future,
we want to give the publication more at-
tention. So again we would like your
ideas. What should the publication be?
What should it contain? Who should it
be written for? Should it be written
at all?

3AA8

From Fulton County, J. E. Watt writes
to ask about possible policies covering
the use of radio material on commercial
stations and sponsored programs. Thought
there might be others with the same ques-
tions. Here's as much as we know:

There are no restrictions on the use
of news material from our office or from
your office on sponsored programs. Much
of the news from here is picked up by
the wire services and made available in
another form anyway. We trust the sta-
tions will use good Judgment in their
use of the material.

What about appearances on sponsored
programs? So far as the state office is
concerned, there are no policies that
prohibit appearances of staff members on
sponsored programs. A number of special-
ists appear occasionally on such shows.

These are the guide lines: The spon-
sor should be a respectable business and
the product should be reputable. The
appearance of a staff member should in
no way indicate endorsement of the prod-
uct and should be separated from the
commercial announcement by music, some
other announcement or a disclaimer
statement.

If you have other questions, shoot
them in and we will try to find the an-
swers .

Spring Clean-Up and Fly Control...

There is a natural publicity tie-up
between the spring clean-up campaign and
the Illinois Fly -Free Program. Clean-up
and sanitation are the first steps in
any program to control flies.

You might make a note to take a look
at the May issue of McCall's magazine.
We've had a report that k-R club work
will be one of the featured stories. A
group of Kansas ^-H delegates to Wash-
ington last summer will be pictured.

Most of the national magazines are on
the lookout for good youth stories. We
should be keeping them informed on what
we have to offer in Illinois.

Farm Policy Series...

In this week's packet is the first of
a series on problems of a long-range ag-
ricultural program prepared by Dr. Case.

As you will note, the series is being
sent to all weekly and daily newspapers
in the state. You may want to use the
series, or at least some of the articles
in your publications.

It seems extremely important that we
generate as much discussion as possible
on agricultural policy questions. This
should give us a good start.

Lee County Scores...

Lee county's C. E. Yale and June Pil-
grim can take a bow for a nice job on
the LEE COUNTY FARMER. The March 1 is-
sue carried the portrait picture of Dean
Rusk. And there was a good mixture of
local and subject-matter stories.

Newspaper size and style, the publica-
tion is delivered bi-monthly by the Am-
boy News. In this issue were stories on
the local k-R fund committee, the new
DHIA tester, SCS meeting, care of baby
pigs and so on.

3-11-U8

Extension Editorial Office University of Illinois College of Agriculture

Plant Food Needs...

In this week1 s packet is another in a
series of illustrated mats prepared "by
soils expert C. M. Linsley. The chart
shows the amount of plant food removed
by corn, soybeans, oats and clover.

We think there's too much copy on the
mat, but here's a suggestion. You can
have the printer saw off the copy, and
it can be reset as a separate story, or
you can condense it. In the future we
will try to keep the amount of copy much
smaller and have it set in larger type.

Help With Radio...

Home bureau members in Sangamon county
are getting all set to do a bang-up Job
with radio over station WCDS. Jessie
Heathman reports that home bureau member
Mrs. Loyd Jacobs has been named director
of radio for the county and each unit
has a radio chairman. These women will
work closely with home adviser Ruth
Skaggs in developing the weekly radio
program which goes on the air every Sat-
urday morning from 9:15 to 9:30. Those
of you who would like more information
on the Sangamon setup may want to get
in touch with Miss Skaggs. Jessie will
be glad to answer any questions you have
too.

In Our Office...

Shake hands with a nev staff membrr in
our editorial office. Helen Chamberlain
Joined the family this month in the role
of editorial assistant. She will get
the blame for the editor's mistakes.

3/17A8

A Batch of Orchids...

There's a batch of orchids to be hand-
ed out this week for the fine Jobs being
done on k-E promotion,

Henderson county gets the first one.
Farm adviser A, J# Rehling sent us a
copy of the Stronghurst Graphic, and the
k-E symbol was sticking out all over.
Most of the businesses in the town used
ads from the clip sheet to promote the
k-E program. Just for fun, we made a
count. This is what we found out. More
than k2$ of the total advertising space
in the paper was devoted to k-E promo-
tion. More than 28$ of the editorial
space was about k-E. And a total of 39
business firms sponsored k-E ads. That
is what we call community cooperation.
And the newspaper editor must have a
warm spot in his heart for h-E work.

McDonough county gets orchid number 2,
and it should be shared with the Macomb
Daily Journal. We didn't make a count,
but we would guess that more than 25$ of
the total space in the paper was devoted
to k-E editorial and advertising materi-
al.

Number 3 goes to LaSaile county, where
the >i?rch issue of The Organised Farmer
was dedicated 100$ to k-E club work.

We know there are other good Jobs, and
we purely would like to have copies of
publication:; which have made use of the
special promotional material. And we
would like to have any comment s or sug-
gestions you have for improving this
type of material in the future.

Extension Editorial Office University of Illinois College of Agriculture

Frankly Flabbergasted, . .

You'll appreciate the fact that we were
proud of the k-E advertising-editorial
clipeheet. But frankly we were flabber-
gasted by the way you folks took hold of
the thing.

Copies of newspapers using the materi-
al are coming in from all sections of
the state. Can't mention them all here.

One of the best was Ralph Broom's copy
of the Marion Evening Post. Eight smack
in the middle of the Saturday issue was
a double-page spread devoted exclusively
to the ^-H membership drive. That's
about 280 column inches of editorial and
advertising space. There were Ik local
firms sponsoring ads. The lead story
starts out: "Williamson county k-E Club
members have set their sights on 129 new
members in 19^8...." The story goes on
to explain the local program.

From Sullivan, Paul Krows sends a copy
of the Bethany Echo with k-E ads and ed-
itorial copy spotted on almost every
page.

And we can't let k-E promotion go by
without mentioning the top-notch leaf-
let put out by the folks in Ford County
on the k-E Camping Program. In the let-
ter to "Friends of k-E" which was sent
with the leaflet, the observation is
made that "It costs $5 to feed one pair
of rats for a year on the average farm.
Can you afford to spend as much on youth
work as it costs to feed two pairs of
rats?"

We hope your copies of k-E promotion
material are on the way in. We're get-
ting set to make quite an exhibit.

Too Late --Too late...

Farm Adviser Clinton Cutright spikes us
severely for getting some stories out
too late. And he has convincing examples
to prove his point. Our heads are hung
in shame.

We will do better. But we want to
mention a couple of small points in meek
defense. To do the most effective in-
formation Job, material should break as
close as possible to the time farmers
are thinking about the problem. If you
get ahead of their thinking, you can't
catch their interest. Too late, of
course, is worse.

Illinois stretches long from north to
south. So it's a little rough to catch
the right psychological time for all
farmers in all sections.

The best policy in the future will be
to catch the "early birds" and trust
that you men in the north will hold the
stuff for the "right time."

Win Friends — etc...

One way to win friends is to bring
local people into your information pro-
gram. And it will increase readership.

A phone call to the local elevator
will give you the dope needed to local-
ize a story on moisture content in corn
coming to market. Let the local hatch-
eryman add his comments on the story
covering the care of baby chicks. The
local veterinarian could contribute to
any story covering his field. And the
major effort would be a phone call.

The best comments, of course, come
from your own farmers and homemakers.

3/2ivA8

Extension Editorial Office

University of Illinois

College of Agriculture

The Power of the Press...

Office Calls Make News . . .

This week you received special pro-
motion material pointing out the dangers
of "get -rich- quick" custom spray opera-
tors. You may be interested in some of
the background.

For several weeks, H. B. Petty has re-
ceived reports about questionable custom
spray operators soliciting Illinois bus-
iness. At least one concern had worked
in Iowa last year- -and claimed the co-
operation of the Iowa Extension Service.

Their Iowa claims were checked by Pete
last week and found to be false. In
fact, Iowa farmers were being warned to
be on the lookout this year. Wallaces'
Farmer had run a story attacking their
practices .

Saturday morning, Pete and the Editor-
ial Office got together. A call was put
in to Wallaces' Farmer in Des Moines.
Editor Murphy agreed to send reprints of
their article. Rough outlines for sug-
gested stories were put down. These
were written over the week end.

Monday the stories were checked. First
with Pete and then with representatives
of the IAA.

Monday afternoon the stories were
checked with Fred Siebert, director of
the School of Journalism, to make sure
there were no violations of libel laws.

Next, they were sent to you for your
information and your use. We will have
to wait to measure the "power of the
press."

Two leaflets, a circular, an editorial
and advertising clip sheet and a kit of
news stories are in the mill to help pro-
mote the Illinois Fly -Free Program.

Have wondered if any of you ever tried
out the suggestion of having the office
girl keep notes on the problems which
farm folks bring into the office during
a week's time.

It's still our bet that there are 2 or
3 good stories — local stories--that can
be written every week just from the note
jottings on office calls. People make
news .

Others Would Like to Know. . .

Have been taking a long look at Ray
Nicholas ' s good stuff in the Lake county
DIVERSIFIED FARMER & HOMEMAKER, which we
received in the office.

This 16-page issue has a liberal flow
of action pictures and a nice mixture
of local and> subject-matter stories.

Ray, of course, is known in Lake coun-
ty for hi 8 "Day by Day" 1 column which
runs through the paper. The column is
written in the form of a diary and packs
in names, human interest, spot news and
timely farm and home information.

We think the rest of you might like to
know the secret formula that Ray follows
in keeping track of all the news items
that find their way into his column. So
we've written Ray asking for the details.

Thanks for the Clippings ♦ * .

Once again "thanks" for sending in the
copies of your newspapers featuring ^-H
club work. Most recent arrivals were
from Pulaski -Alexander, Clark, Adams,
Iroquois, Saline, Macon and Edwards
counties .

3/29A8

Extension Editorial Office

University of Illinol a

College of Agriculture

We Have Positive Proof...

Nov it can "be told. We have proof--
positive proof — that someone reads this
message. And we have it in writing. It
comes from Cass county's E. E« Greer and
Frances King. Quote — We have "been watch-
ing with interest your yellow sheet "It
Says Here." Unquote.

With the letter were clippings from
almost every paper in the county showing
promotion of the U-H club work. The
display totaled something like 380 col-
umn inches of promotion space.

Listen to People Talk...

Saw Bay Nicholas at a farm lease meet-
ing in St. Charles last week. And we
asked him about his methods for keeping
track of material for hie "Day by Day"
column*

Ray has a little black book which he
carries with him all the time and which
he devotes exclusively to news notes —
nothing else. Just news notes. When he
sees something interesting or when he
hears something interesting, he makes a
note in the little black book. The book
is with him at meetings, on field trips,
farm visits and in the office.

But a black book doesn't write its own
notes. Ray does that. And here's what
he says: "When I got in the habit of
writing news material, I became more in-
terested in what people were saying--I
found myself listening more closely. And
when I drive in the country, I find my-
self watching for things to write about.
Things are observed more closely."

A little black book — a little listen-
ing and a little watching. That's how
news is born.

News from Dirty Snow...

Dirty snow may be dirty snow to most
of us. But to Bill Tammeus, dirty snow
in the ditches along the road means a
news story. And that's probably why Bill
has good Btuff in his news columns.

When he drove along the road this win-
ter, Bill noticed the dirty snow along
the road next to plowed fields and the
clean snow next to fieldB with good top
cover.

In the newspaper the next week, Bill's
readers were reminded that a lot of val-
uable potash, phosphorus and nitrogen
was ending up in the ditches along the
road, where it wouldn't do much to im-
prove a crop this year. That's a lesson
anyone can "see" in the wintertime.

Bill also has a black news book. He
also has a manila folder in his desk
marked "This Week's News." Through the
week, his accumulation of "listening"
and "watching" goes into the folder. On
Friday morning, the news is ready for
writing.

A little black book--a little listen-
ing and a little watching. That's how
news is born. Dirty snow is exciting if
you look at it the right way.

Home Advisers Note.,.

Nan Shaw, Housekeeping Editor for the
magazine ELECTRICITY ON THE FARM, is
looking for good short articles on how
Illinois homemakers are making electric-
ity work for them in the home. She also
would like good pictures. They'll pay
for the material. There's your chance.
Send your items to Miss Shaw, 329 Memo-
rial Union, Ames, Iowa.

Extension Editorial Office University of Illinois College of Agriculture

In Last Week's Packet,.,

We learn a little every day. Two
weeks ago we wrote that we were sending
material on "unethical spray operators."
We said there would "be a reprint of an
article from Wallace's Farmer.

But the article didn't come when we
thought it would. It came last week and
we just managed to get it in the packet.
Next time we'll wait until we've got the
"bird in the hand."

In This Week's Packet..,

It isn't news that gasoline and trac-
tor fuel probably will be short this
summer. Frank Andrew and J. A. Weber
put down 50 ways to save tractor fuel
for us to use in news stories. But we
thought you might like to have the com-
plete list in one package — so a limited
number of copies were mimeographed.
We're sending 5 copies in this week's
packet. You may want to give a copy to
your main fuel service companies. They
may want to get the material printed or
duplicated for all their customers.

5 Pages of News...

Just finished reading every word of "5
pages of news" from Henry county. Farm
adviser Kenneth Flake, assistant adviser
Ralph Borman and youth assistant Gerald
Miller share the 5 pages of news with
stories on "K-E concrete school, " "sug-
gestions for local bowling event," "red
clover renovation," "new wool marketing
plan," and stories processed from here.
The material is sent to all weekly and
daily papers as well as radio stations.

U/13/U8

Fly Control Promotion...

Your fly control promotion material is
being put in the mail this week. You
will get the fly control kit containing
single copies of FREEDOM FROM FLIES ON
THE FARM and FREEDOM FROM FLIES IN THE
CITY, one copy of the Editorial -Adver-
tising clip sheet, and copies of stories
that can be used in pushing the program
in your county. Additional copies of
the clip sheet will come in the bulk
mailing to follow to supply all newspa-
pers in your area. Also, U00 copies of
each of the leaflets will be sent you.

You can handle the clip sheet the same
as the k-E clip sheet- -acquaint your
editors with the purpose of the ad lay-
outs and the program in the county. The
editors sell the ads to local firms co-
operating in the program.

The big splurge in the newspapers will
help the most if it breaks about 2 weeks
ahead of the time you want to get the
spraying job done — about May 10-15 .
Since the editor has to order his mats,
he should get a copy of the material
just as soon as possible.

News About Farms, Farm Hemes...

The banner across the top of the Har-
risburg DAILY REGISTER reads "News About
Farms, Farm Homes and Families. " That
is one of the most attractive farm re-
porting jobs we've seen. On the next
page is a farm page supplement headed
"Items of Agricultural Interest "--making
two pages of farm news per week. Credit
for this job probably should go to the
editor and Paul T. Wilson. More on
Paul's formula for reporting next week.

Extension Editorial Office University of Illinois College of Agriculture

Dairying Will Make News...

Twelve southern Illinois counties are
all set to turn loose special promotion
materials to tell the world about their
"6-Point Dairy Program."

The program has "been in the making
since early last fall. It's a 'grass-
roots program, "built from the county and
farm level. Farm Adviser W. C. Anderson
started the hall rolling last fall. And
other counties joined in. Specialists
from dairy, ag. engineering, vet. medi-
cine came through with subject -matter
material. Francis Longmire helped guide
the organization, and the editorial of-
fice put the wraps around some special
promotion material.

The whole 6-point program is geared to
a new leaflet — "A 6-Point Dairy Program
for Southern Illinois." It's 8 x 10 in
size, concise and designed to he read at
one sitting. The leaflet presents the
6 points of the program.

Coupled with the leaflet are two se-
ries of advertising layouts and a kit of
special stories. The ads are designed
for release each month during the year.
Bankers, milk plant operators, cream
stations, feed and seed stores and fer-
tilizer dealers are being brought into
the program.

No News From Wilson. . .

On our trip south, we stopped to ask
Paul Wilson about his news -gathering
habits in Saline county. He wasn't in,
so we talked with Editor Small of the
Harrisburg Register. We'll have extra
copies of the double-page farm spread to
send to you before too long.

First Requests Are In...

The first orders have started coming
in from newspapers requesting mats for.
the fly control ads. This means some
farm advisers were on the job early.

Unless we are way wrong, your local
papers will push the program hard if you
talk it over with them. They need the
layouts early so that they can get the
ads sold ahead of your big drive.

Neat Copy Helps...

Saw some neat, clean news copy when we
stopped for an early-morning visit with
Home Adviser Mary Butler in Mounds last
week. Home news goes to the three papers
each week. The copy is double spaced
with wide margins and plenty of room at
the top and bottom.

Pulaski -Alexander is one place where
coordination already is working. Mrs.
Butler says the home adviser, farm ad-
viser and youth assistant talk over mu-
tual problems every Monday morning, and
it helps tie the loose ends together.

Front-Page Headlines...

There's a lot of farm and home news
that should rate front-page headlines.
E. A. Bierbaum turned the trick last
week with a first-rate story in the Anna
paper about the county-wide soil conser-
vation meeting.

In the same issue was a series of three
pictures showing the new soil-testing
laboratory being set up in Vienna. The
lab, supported by 20 banks in 7 coun-
ties will be a big help to the soil con-
servation work in that area.

k/22/kQ

Farm advisers from District k met at
Jacksonville the other day. And they
gave out with some plain talk about what
they wanted in the way of information.
To put it in different words, this is
about what they said:

We want the latest in agricultural in-
formation. We want that information
while it is still new. We want it be-
fore all the farm magazines get it. And
we want it boiled down, concise and to
the point. We don't care how fancy it
is, just so we get it.
That's pretty straight talk — we suspect
it's the kind of talk some of the rest
of you would like to present. There's a
meeting of farm advisers in District 2
this week, and we'll see what they say.

Up For Discussion. . .

Still on the subject of "what's want-
ed in the way of information": Dean
Rusk has appointed a committee, headed
by Dr. Card, to have a look at what the
Extension News -Messenger should be,~ or
whether it should be at all. Many have
expressed the thought that the Messenger
tries to do many things, but doesn't do
any of them well.

What kind of an Extension publication
should we have? Should a publication be
devoted primarily to agricultural and
heme economics subject-matter research,
with emphasis on research? Should it be
devoted primarily to news about the
counties? Should it be devoted primari-
ly to news about extension events and
programs? It's your publication. You
should help decide what you want.

k/29/kQ

In this week's packet is a list of
printed and mimeographed publications
having to do with FARM LAW. H. W. Han-
nah is the man to contact if you want
any of these publications.

Radio Spreads the Word...

Douglas county Home Adviser Jeanne
Osborne reports that her radio program
has a double-barreled purpose. She has
a regular spot on the Tuscola station.
She says she not only reaches thousands
of persons directly with the material
she puts on the air, she gets a second
contact with them when they request bul-
letins which are mentioned on the pro-
gram. Jeanne also sends home news to
the eight weekly papers in the county
and has a 2 -page section in the Farm Bu-
reau publication.

Freedom From Flies...

We suggested that you might want to
reprint the fly control leaflets in your
farm bureau publications for mass dis-
tribution.

In Vermilion county, Adviser Orin
Hertz did just that in his Farm Bureau
BOOSTER. It took less than a page to
tell the story.

In fact, the entire publication is jam
packed with the latest information on
fly control, grasshopper control and
weed control. The theme is even carried
onto the cover.

If any of you have special promotion
programs going on the fly control effort
we would like to hear about them.

This Week's Premiums...

There are some extra premiums in this
week's mailing. Here they are:

Harrieburg Register: Editor Small of
the Harrisburg Register was good enough
to send us 100 copies of his April 2^
issue. You'll "be interested in the dou-
ble-page spread of farm news — pages k
and 5. Plenty of farm and city readers
will turn to those pages. Notice the
variety of topics and the attractive
make-up. You can check 6 stories from
Paul Wilson. But Paul admits he'd like
more experience stories in the issue.

Weed Control Equipment: This U-page
mimeo was prepared "by the agricultural
engineers to answer questions on spray
equipment for controlling weeds. You'll
also find a fill-in story in the packet*
You may want to reproduce part or all of
this material for wider distribution in
your county.

Fuel-Saving Leaflets: Interesting
facts and figures on the gas and oil
situation can be found in the k leaflets
that come to you frcm the Oil Industry
Information Committee. This material
can go hand in hand with the fuel-saving
tips sent last week.

Christian County Plans:

Farm Adviser C. S. Love reports that
Saturday morning is "planning" morning
in Christian county. Representatives
from all agricultural organizations in
the county get-together then for a ses-
sion. Among other things, the group
talks over the news articles to be sent
to the three newspapers in the county.
That's news that makes news.

Introducing Miss Miller...

Stop in and shake hands with Joan Mil-
ler, our new initiate in the editorial
office. Joan will team up with Jessie
Heathman in the home economics corner,
and we think we have the top home eco-
nomics editorial team in the country.

With Joan handling the press material,
Jessie will be able to go all out in de-
veloping radio production and services.

Some of you home advisers may have
seen Joan's name in Capper's Farmer sev-
eral years ago. After graduating from
Iowa State, she wrote for Capper's as
assistant home economics editor. For
the past year, she's been assistant di-
rector of home economics for the Los An-
geles DownTown Shopping News.

Comments From District 2...

Before and after a ham dinner at the
Midland Country Club, advisers in Dis-
trict 2 let down their hair about infor-
mation problems the other day.

Space doesn't permit a complete ac-
count of the "give-and-take" meeting,
but it was thoroughly enjoyable. We
talked about farm bureau publications,
what needs to be done to make news stor-
ies more timely, the News -Messenger, co-
operation with local newspapers, more
research information.

VJithin the next few weeks we hope to
work up some of our observations in more
complete form and pass them on to you.

Last -Minute Flash. . .

The ninth chart by Dr. Bartlett is in-
cluded in this week's package.

5/6/U8

Extension Editorial Office University of Illinois

College of Agriculture

Was Your Name On It?,..

Orchids for the top story we've seen
in a long time go to Farm Adviser A. R.
Kemp in Knox County.

On the front page of the Farm Bureau
Bulletin is a graphic picture of the
muddy, swirling Spoon River out of its
"banks at flood stage. Across the top of
the picture is the challenging question,
"Was Your Name On It?" And he low the
picture is a hard-fisted report on the
thousands of tons of good farm land be-
ing washed down the river. The facts
and figures are there "because Kemp had
the soil-testing lab run checks on water
taken from the river. The need for ero-
sion control could not he better told.'

Chalcraft Heartily Agrees...

Boone County Farm Adviser Chalcraft
writes that "The group of advisers from
District U expressed our opinion exact-
ly. We need the latest information
while it is still hot and not after
everyone else has it."

Maybe You've Seen...

Just noticed Farm Adviser Mowery's
report on the new Farm Account Book in
the May issue of BETTER FARMING METHODS.
It's on pages 26-27, and there's a first
rate picture of Ed Bay and George Whit-
man.

In the same issue, take another look
at the article "Good Livestock Pic-
tures." It's on pages 16-17. Milton
Dunk would appreciate comments and sug-
gestions from you people on what he
should include in the magazine.

A Request From Joan...

In this week's package for home advis-
ers is a note from Joan Miller. Joan
would like to get lined up on story
needs in the counties. This will help
her plan her program.

Noted In Prairie Farmer...

Macoupin County scores in the May 8
issue of PRAIRIE FARMER with a good pic-
ture on the recreation training school.
It's on page 7.

Same issue, page 28, note the picture
story on soil testing in LaSalle County.
And on page 5^ there's a picture story
on preparing poultry for the freezer.
Jessie Heathman lined up the photos, and
Sam Ridlen furnished the technique.

Neat And Attractive...

One of the cleanest, neatest farm bu-
reau publications we've seen in quite a
while is the one put out by Farm Adviser
Shuman in Whiteside County. His April
issue was a first-class Job. There were
only k pages, but they were packed with
TIMELY, LOCAL information pieces.

The center spread was devoted to weed
control and fly control. A big spraying
picture caught the eye on one page. The
heads on the stories were big and easy
to read. Good use was made of two bold-
faced boxes. And the stories were writ-
ten with the mark of an expert.

Here's the lead on one story we noted
on page hi "One Whiteside county dairy-
man recently reported a March bonus of
nearly $300 by producing Grade A milk
from his herd of 22 cows."

What farmer wouldn't read the rest?

5/13A8

Extension Editorial Office

University of Illinois

College of Agriculture

An Explanation Attempted...

We've tried to do many things during
the past year. Maybe we've tried to do
too many things — too fast. Perhaps our
reasons have not always "been clear.

At any rate, you've been good enough
to ask "why." Attached to these notes
is an attempt to answer some of your
questions. Seme of the questions were
raised at the informal conferences on
the schedule, We'd guess there'll be
some more questions. And we'll try to
answer them.

Dairy Facts And Figures. . .

The Dairy Industry Committee has put
out some impressive facts and figures on
the dairy problem. They are included in
this week's packet in the leaflet "The
Current Dairy Situation." The sugges-
tions for improving the dairy situation
can be worked into your local dairy
stories or your weekly news column.

More on k-R News...

1+-H- -Front Page News.,..

Just had a look at the November 6th
issue of the Mt. Vernon REGISTER-NEWS .
The headline reads: "k-R Achievement
Day in King City." And most of the
front page is devoted to the work of the
600 Jefferson County k-R club members
and their leaders. A double-column
spread on the left-hand side of the pa-
per gives a complete list of the names
of all k-E club members and the leaders
of the 56 county clubs. In addition,
there was a round-up story on the
Achievement day, an "honors" story, one
on the delegate to the Club Congress and
a picture story on a club winner — all on
the front page. Names make news. Ac-
complishment makes news. Action makes
news.

In the Packet...

Farm rat control is always a persist-
ent problem. There's been a lot of in-
formation put out on it, and there's a
need for a lot more.

The USDA recently issued a fact sheet
on ratproofing corn cribs. We got some
copies, and they are included in this
week's packet to farm advisers.

Be a Better Writer...

Here's a quote from T. Swann Harding,
editor of USDA. "Better writing is sim-
pler writing. It takes more time be-
cause the simpler things are deceptively
to say. Simplified English is not
illiterate or first-grade English. It
is easy to read, but it is not easy to
write."

After writing the squib on the Jeffer-
son County coverage of k-E news, we re-
ceived a handful of clippings from Home
Adviser Margarat Walbridge. Everything
we said about the material in the Mt.
Vernon paper should be repeated. The
daily Quincy HERALD-WHIG went all out in
telling about the Adams County k-E
Achievement day, which attracted 1,600
people.

Meet the Editors . . .

Farm Adviser E. V, Stadel, Jo Daviess
County, has a note in his monthly report
that a meeting was held with newspaper
editors in the county to discuss news
coverage of extension activities. We've
written for more details and will pass
them on to you when we get them.

People Read the Papers . . .

Early this month the St. Louis Post-
Dispatch ran a column- long feature on
farm family money management, praising
the work of the Home Economics Extension
Department at the University for what
it's doing along these lines. It gave
special mention to the booklets, "Cur
Family's Money Management Plan" and "A
Guide to Family Money Management" by
Mrs. Ruth Crawford Freeman and Wilma Se-
bens.

Then the U. S. Savings Bonds Division
of the Treasury Department at Jefferson
City, Mo., learned about the booklets
through the article. They asked for
copies to be used in programs with farm
families and for teaching veterans' vo-
cational agriculture classes. The mrral?

Extension Editorial Office University of Illinois

College of Agriculture

Stadel 's Conference With Editors. ».

last week we mentioned that we'd asked
Farm Adviser E. V. Stadel, Jo Daviess
County, to give us more information on
his recent meeting with the editors of
his county. His reply came in this week
and it could eerve as a mighty good
guide for those of you who would like to
get your editors solidly "behind your
program. Here is Stadel talking...

Two Reasons for Meeting...

"The meeting with the editors was
called for two purposes--the first was
to get them together and give them the
full and complete story on the road
problem in Jo Daviess County and second-
ly to promote good will toward the ex-
tension program.

Personal Invitations . . .

"Members of the Public Relations Com-
mittee of the county Farm Bureau called
on the editors that live in their partic-
ular community and I called on a few
that were missed in this way. Following
the personal calls, we sent them a let-
ter of invitation.

"All of the editors except one attend-
ed the meeting and he sent his regrets.

Mlpw-Up Calls Are Made...

"They seem to he very well satisfied
with the kind of material we have been
sending them and our coverage has "been
very good. Of course, from time to time
we check papers and find an editor who

12/9A8

is not running as much of our material
as we would like. I either call on them
or have an influential person in the
community call on them or have the DHIA
tester call on them.

One Meeting Won't Do Job...

"I think that an Editor's Meeting is a
big help, but I don't think we should
have an Editor's Meeting once a year and
expect that to do the Job. In my opin-
ion, it helps to have other persons in-
terested in our program let the papers
know they are interested in the material
and information which we are sending
out. I find, too, that it helps to have
various persons keep in contact with
editors — such as committees, other em-
ployees, DHIA testers, etc.

Here ' s Our Program. . .

"You asked about the best way to handle
it. We had no complaints, received no
suggestions when we asked for them so we
are continuing to send a weekly news re-
lease which is usually sent from our of-
fice either on Saturday or Monday — never
later than Monday. It usually consists
of four or five mimeographed pages.
This material reaches all of our papers
before Tuesday. Papers are published on
Thursday so this gives them the release
in good time. We also follow the policy
of holding our releases to Dubuque and
Freeport papers and sending them at the
same time we do to the local weeklies.
I feel that this is no more than fair
because I realize they do not want to
run a story after the dailies have had
the release for two or three days."

Extension Editorial Office University of Illinois

College of Agriculture

Watch the Magazine Market . . .

An SOS from Farm Journal this week
asked us what the prospects were for
good farm-family Christmas stories in
Illinois, We passed the SOS along to
acme of you home advisers. And we'd
like to hear from any of the rest of you
who have a real Christmas story in your
county.

The magazine wants a farm family or
group of rural families that has partic-
ularly interesting Christmas festivi-
ties*

Farm magazines are always on the look-
out for family features, with a fresh
slant. Let us know whenever there's a
good tip in your county. We'll "be glad
to pass it along to the editors.

New U-H Column..*

Speaking of tips, here's another item.
The Newspaper Enterprise Association
(!*tEA) furnishes supplementary material
to newspapers on a national "basis. At
the U-H Club Congress, one of the edi-
tors of NEA proposed a weekly U-H column
which would he sent to all papers in the
country using the service. A number of
states will cooperate in furnishing ma-
terial for the column.

Illinois has been asked to prepare the
first one— 500 words long— "by the first
week in January. SO IF YOU HAVE AN IN-
TERESTING HUMAN- INTEREST ITEM ABOUT YOUR
CLUB OR SOME U-H BOY OR GIRL, WOULD YOU
SEND US A PARAGRAPH ON IT .

Coverage on Nutrition Conference...

The Illinois STATE REGISTER and STATE
JOURNAL gave a big play to the State Nu-
trition Conference held in Springfield
earlier this month.

We Use the Same Air...

There's been little time for magazine
reading lately. But Jack Murray called
my attention to an article in the Novem-
ber issue of the NATIONAL COUNTY AGENT .
The title is "We Use the Same Air."
Maybe all of you have read it. If not,
it would be worth the 5 minutes it
takes. John Merrifield, farm program
director for a Detroit radio station,
tells how he and county agent Karl Baily
help each other by using radio. It's on
page lU. Another good idea can be found
in the article by Werner Meyer on page
15 - - same issue, same magazine.

Write a News Story . . .

Last week most of the managers of the
REA cooperatives and their power-use ad-
visers were on the campus for a 3-day
conference. One session had to do with
news story writing. Frank Andrew put on
a copper tubing demonstration and every-
one took a crack at writing it up in
news story form. We put the thing all
together and then tried to point out
why the story was built that way. While
you didn't see the demonstration, you
might be interested in the story. One
is enclosed in the packet. The material
was reprocessed and sent out to weekly
newspapers this week.

The Greatest Story...

The greatest story that's ever been
told is the story of Christmas. It is a
story with a lesson, and the audience is
everyone. We hope you'll have time to
read it again this year.

And so from all of us to all of you—
A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW
YEAR!

■» .

Extension Editorial Office University of Illinois College of Agriculture

Resolutions for the New Year!

Most of us want to make New Year's resolutions* The trouble is
that when we get ready to make them we don't have a sheet of
paper handy. This week we are dedicating the space in It Says
Here for New Year's resolutions. Each member of the staff here
will make resolutions on how we can do a "better information job
in 19^9* We hope you will set down your resolutions for doing
a hang-up county information job next year.

Resolution 1

Resolution 2

Resolution 3

Resolution h

Resolution 5

Extension Editorial Office University of Illinois College of Agriculture

Your Opinions Please. ..

Youth editor Bod Jarnagin "believes
that right now is the "best time to start
planning press and radio coverage of the
19^9 Club Congress. And you can help.

We would like your opinions — good and
bad — on the way the Job was done this
past year. With that as background,
perhaps we can do an even better Job
this year.

There's a short survey sheet in this
week's packet. We would appreciate it
if you would take 15 or 20 minutes to
fill it out and return it to us.

Who's Asking Questions...

We had a chance to talk over informa-
tion problems with a group of advisers a
week or so ago. The problem of "ideas
for local stories" came up again. There
was general agreement that if a person
would keep track of all the questions
asked in one day — by phone, by mail, in
person — there would be more ideas for
stories than could be used in a week.

What are farmers doing these days?
What are they concerned about? What
questions are they asking? What's the
conversation topic in the storeB on
Saturday night? If you answer those
questions, you'll have ideas for local
Btories.

Plug Bulletins . . .

Bulletins are written to help people,
but people need to know what timely pub-
lications are available. The Cass
County Home Bureau News has a regular
column that takes care of this Job. It
lists the names and what information is
included in the bulletins.

In This Week's Packet...

As dairymen head into the New Year
they will be interested in comparing
past and present milk prices with corn
prices. That's what Br. E. W. Bartlett
has done in the current pictorial chart
which is in this week's packet.

Washington Gets News Coverage...

Our nomination of the week for a good
publicity Job is Washington county.
Their annual home bureau meeting got top
coverage — before and after. Publicity
before the meeting included 16 posters,
5 newspaper stories as well as stories
in farm and home bureau publications,
plus 8 radio announcements. Follow-up
publicity included 6 newspaper stories.
The Centra lia Times did it up with a
banner headline. Nice work on the part
of Home Adviser Marcella Eathke.

McLean Has "Special Features"...

We like the way home bureau meeting
reports are dressed up in the McLean
County Farm and Home Bureau News. In a
"Special Features" column, Home Adviser
Jean K. Lystad writes up highlights from
each unit meeting.

Farm News for City Eeaders...

Every day we get more proof that the
big city papers are looking for good
farm and farm home copy. Following the
IAA convention in Chicago, the magazine
section of the Sunday SUN-TIMES carried
a 3- column feature on the "new look" in
modern farm women. Extension and Home
Bureau work came in for much of the cred-
it.

Extension Editorial Office University of Illinois College of Agriculture

Daily-Radio Services Combined...

Starting this week, we are making a
"basic change in our direct press and
radio services. This is it J

From now on, our service to daily
newspapers and our service to radio sta-
tions will be exactly the same. They
will be mimeographed on different mast-
heads, but the stories and the style of
writing will be the same.

This move has been made for a number
of reasons. First, it will allow us to
expand our service to daily newspapers.
Instead of mailing just once a week, we
will mail three times a week- -the same
as we have been doing for radio sta-
tions. Second, it will make more effi-
cient use of time in the editorial of-
fice. Third, we feel that the informal
"radio style" is Just as effective for
newspapers as it is for radio.

Occasionally, special stories will be
sent to the daily newspapers and not
sent to radio stations.

Since the radio and the daily newspa-
per service will be essentially the
same, .your weekly packet will contain
copies of only one of them- -the service
to dailies. In addition, you will con-
tinue to receive copies of the special
service which is sent directly to weekly
newspapers .

We hope that this increased efficiency
will give us more time to develop spe-
cial exclusive stories and materials for
your use.

Farm and Home Week Broadcasts . . .

For those folks in your county who
can't attend Farm and Home Week this
year, radio station WILL (580 kc) will
broadcast several of the programs daily.

Publicity on Winter Meetings...

Again this year we tried to work out
an efficient procedure for assisting
with publicity on winter meetings.
We're not sure we have found the righx
answer .

In any event, this is the way it's
supposed to work this year. The spe-
cialists were asked to supnly the edi-
torial office with a schedule of their
meeting dates, facts and figures that
could be used for an "advance story" and
facts and figures that could be used for
a "follow-up story." They also gave us
some biographical material.

As these schedules come in, we are
preparing an advance and a follow-up
story on each series of meetings. If
your county is listed on the special-
ist's schedule, we will send you a copy
of the advance story and a copy of the
biographical material. A copy of the
follow-up story is sent to the special-
ist, who will leave it with you when he
visits in your county.

If you want mats of any specialist who
will be assisting you with winter meet-
ings, these should be ordered directly
from the editorial office.

We regret that it has not been possi-
ble to prepare advance and follow-up
stories on early January meetings.

Mat of Farm and Home Week Speaker . . .

One of the general speakers for Farm
and Home Week is Larry Livingston, Ex-
tension Division, E. I. duPont de Ne-
mours and Co. A mat of Livingston is in
the packet for farm advisers . If your
farm bureau publication comes out before
Farm and Home Week, you may want to use
the mat.

Extension Editorial Office University of Illinois College of Agriculture

A New, Clean Dwelling...

One of our favorite authors is Lester
A. Schlup. Les is chief of the Division
of Extension Information in Washington.
His weekly letters to extension editori-
al offices boost moral and efficiency.

His New Year's message was truly writ-
ten from the heart and not just from the
fingers. We thought you would enjoy
reading it even though the New Year is
well started. Here it is:

■* * *

"I Say"...

"For some weeks, now, it had been sag-
ging, this ramshackle hulk... this de-
cayed relic of a bygone era which once
overwhelmed us with its false grandeur.
Recently we regarded it with a flurry of
lifted eyebrows, wondered if it wouldn't
crash around our ears. But there was no
way out. So we kept it erect by deftly
inserting props here and there.

"Finally it fell. I even helped to
kick out some of the props myself... and
then watched the superstructure slump
and sprawl to the four winds. Nothing
much lef t ... nothing much but memories
and a shrug.

"It was 60 minutes after 11 last Fri-
day night when I viewed the debacle.
Among the widely scattered debris I
could identify readily many smashed bits

of wishful thinking. . .many a shattered
idea that once looked promising.

"And now. ..now we have a new, a clean,
and a sparkling dwelling to occupy for a
year. I want to treat it right. I say
to myself, 'Let's treat 19^9 a little
better than we treated 19^8.' It's
surely deserving of the best that we can
give to it.

"Goodness knows, time is just like a
rug pulled from under our feet. It
spills us that fast. So, let's not
waste that grit and energy that it takes
to pin down a few worth-while accom-
plishments in any one year.

"Human frailty inclines us down the
same well-trodden paths... that is, it
usually does unless some cataclysmic
event occurs, such as war, or some epo-
chal invention is made available, such
as television. It's remarkable how much
creative imagination and how many latent
energies can be released under compul-
sion.

"But let's not wait for compulsion in

"Let's beat down the baleful bogey who
balks us from exploring new fields.

"Let's give our best editorial ideas
full rein in 19^9.

"Let's go."
1/13A9

Extension Editorial Office University of Illinois College of Agriculture

County Visits. . .

Iyman Noor&hoff and Bob Jarnagin, hard
working members of the editorial staff,
got their feet in the farmyards Monday
on a visit to three central Illinois
farms. Along with George Whitman, the
men were digging up feature facts and
material on how farmers like the new
Farm Record Book.

Visual Aids by Flake...

Henry County farmers and homemakers
are going to see more pictures of exten-
sion work this year. Farm Adviser Ken-
neth Flake reports the purchase of a new
press camera. He says, "We feel it will
be a real aid in preparing better educa-
tional material for our Farm Bureau pub-
lication and that it will also be an im- '
portant help in preparing publicity for
our extension projects." Kenneth is
teaching others in the office how to op-
erate the machine. They say, "It's
easy."

Information From Other States...

Once in a while we get requests from
county extension workers in neighboring
states to be put on our mailing list for
press and radio material. Brother ex-
tension editors in other states say they
occasionally get requests from advisers
in Illinois. The requests also come
from radio stations and newspapers.

It raises the question of policy and
procedure. As far as we can see, there
is nothing wrong with promoting or tell-
ing about research work in another state
so long as the results are in line with
those from the home state. If you are
in doubt, it might be worth a post card
to the department involved.

Tape Recorders and Radio...

Coles County's W. S. Myers stopped in
this week to get some pictures. We also
took a minute to talk about radio and
radio problems. Myers broadcasts a show
once a week from Charleston, and his
farm bureau board recently approved the
purchase of a tape recorder as a "hired
man." The recorder will be used for the
radio broadcasts as well as for meetings
and demonstrations and so on.

Myers says that he- -and he thinks some
of the rest of you- -would appreciate
seme help on radio problems. He'd like
some dope on how to build a radio show
of different lengths, the best way to
conduct an interview, how to make the
most efficient use of a recorder, how to
get local news, and others.

There also is the future possibility
of establishing a "tape service." With
that type of service, we would record a
series of specialists' talks and inter-
views, and these tapes could be sent to
you on request or on an established
schedule.

Before we go very far with our think-
ing on that, we should have a better
idea of the number of advisers who have
radio programs, the number who are con-
sidering them, the number who have tape
recorders and the kind of recorders.
There would have to be some standardiza-
tion of tape recorders if we were going
to use a tape service.

Perhaps we can work up a postcard sur-
vey so that you can give us that infor-
mation. UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

LIBRARY

Press and Radio Field Day...

Have some hopes that we will be able
to announce tentative plans for the

Extension Editorial Office University of Illinois College of Agriculture

A Piece of Good Writing*..

Once in a while when we are going
through the national farm magazines, we
come across a piece of really good writ-
ing. This doesn't happen very often.
Juat once in a great while.

But the other night we discovered an-
other example of what good writing real-
ly is. You may want to give it a special
reading. And you may want to call it to
the attention of your wife if you are
married.

The article is in the February issue
cf Farm Journal on page 111. It's called
"I Fly With Him." And it's written by
Pose Sis sons Andrew. Many of you know
that Rose is the wife of flying farmer,
flying agricultural engineer, and Just
plain flying Frank Andrew.

Read the story first for what she says
but read it a second time for the way
she says it. Rose made writing as easy
as snapping beans on a plane flight.

In This Week's Packet...

H. B. Petty and his cooperators are
getting the gears lined up for a bigger
and better fly- control program this year.
Before he started looking ahead, he
looked backward to see how well the pro-
gram went over in 19U8. Many of you an-
swered his questions. The story from
that survey makes good reading- -nearly
$5,000,000 extra farmer inc cme frcm
spraying beef and dairy cattle alone.

The results are reviewed in a fill-in
story in this week's packet. There also
is an opportunity to review the program
that was carried on in your county, to
tell the results and to give some pats
on the back to the folks who cooperated
with you. Sucn a story would be a good

Farm Page Deluxe . . .

The other day Knox County Farm Adviser
A. R. Kemp sent us copies of the newly-
initiated farm page in the Galesburg Reg-
ister-Mail. The page was started Dec. 16
and Kemp sent us copies to date. He
asked for suggestions and criticisms.

What would you do if someone handed
you the lease to a new million-dollar
gold mine and asked for criticisms?
That's what Kemp's got in that farm
page — a gold mine for putting out farm
information to both farm and city read-
ers .

There isn't space to go into an enthu-
siastic description of the page here.
But we're writing Kemp to see if copies
of a future page might be sent to each
of you.

The page clearly shows that the edi-
tors of the paper are interested in do-
ing a real farm news Job. For the first
issues, the feature has been a lt-column
aerial photo of an unidentified farm.
When the folks who live on the farm
identify it as theirs, they get an en-
larged print and the following week
there is a story about their farming en-
terprise. This feature should be a real
interest catcher and holder.

The make-up of the page is excellent,
with good, strong black heads, wise use
of boxes and double-column spreads.

Kemp has averaged k or 5 stories on
each page. Our only criticism might be
to get more local names and local
"color" into the pages in addition to
the weekly feature. This may mean leav-
ing out seme of the stuff frcm our of-
fice, but that's good. We like to know
what the reaction frcm the readers has
been.

1 Ion An.

Extension Editorial Office University of Illinois

Farm and Heme Week- - Ouch 1

This is Monday morning, and Farm and
Home Week already is under way. Gail
Compton, farm editor of the Chicago Trib-
une, and Cres Foster, IAA information
director, are on their second cups of
coffee .

We thought you might he interested in
a brief picture of the press and radio
poverage job for an event like this.

Invite the Editors...

We've said many times that one of the
important Jobs was to get the editors to
your meetings. That's what we've tried
to do. Before Christmas, invitations
vent out to quite a list of farm maga-
zine, newspaper and radio editors. And
the invitations paid off.

Here are some of the guests who'll be
around this week. We've already men-
tioned Ccmpton and Foster. George Theim
of the Chicago Daily News will be here,
and so will Dorothy Hartung of the Chi-
cago Sun-Times. Here are some others:

Art Page and Russell Parks, WIS; Paul
Johnson and Gladys Skelly, Prairie Farm-
er; Cecil Tendick, Jacksonville Courier;
James McGuire, Rock Island Argus; Cliff
Iant, Moline Dispatch; Frank Bill,
Bloomington Pantagraph; Claude Gifford
and Gertrude Dei ken, Farm Journal; Farm-
er Bill, WMBD, Peoria; and, of course,
Lynn Ruester of the Urbana Courier and
Doc Shere of the News Gazette will be in
for coffee.

College of Agriculture

sent regularly to all weekly and daily
newspapers in the state and to all radio
stations. This • "advance" was started
about two months ago.

On-the-Spot Coverage . . .

Through the cooperation of most of the
campus and many off- campus speakers, we
have advance copies of much of the ma-
terial to be presented. This is filed
in a number of press books in press
headquarters- -330 Mumford Hall. This
makes it possible for us and for visit-
ing editors to put out "coverage" stor-
ies to break soon after the day's activ-
ities are over. We'll file at least one
coverage story each day with the three
press associations. Then there will be
a number of special stories to go out.
Between 2,000 and 3,000 words a day will
be filed from here.

Then the Job of Follow-Up...

Spot-news coverage will do only a part
of the Job of getting out Farm and Home
Week information. Pictures are being
taken all during the week, and they'll
be used for follow-up stories going to
state, regional and national farm and
heme magazines and trade papers. And
our file of talks and speeches will be
used as the basis for follow-up stories
to weekly and daily newspapers during
the next few weeks.

Well, Let's Get to Work...

MYMcelnf ormation. . .

Extension Editorial Office University of Illinois College of Agriculture

Press and Radio Field Day...

By the tremendously close vote of 99
to 1 (me), farm advisers voiced the pref-
erence that the planned Press and Radio
Field Day NOT he suhstituted for the
Summer Extension Conference. So far
there has not "been opportunity to consid-
er other possible dates. But that will
be done within the next week or 10 days.

Meanwhile those responsible for the
event would appreciate it very much if
you would go over the proposed outline
and send in any comments, criticisms or
suggestions you have. We presume most
of you studied the outline carefully
during or since Farm and Home Week. But
just in case you have misplaced your
copy, there is another one in this week's
packet.

Seriously, this is your field day for
your editors. And we want to do every-
thing we can to make it successful. You
should keep in mind such problems as
transportation, housing, organization of
the day, who you want your editors to
meet and what you want them to see and
hear.

Awards for Farm News Coverage...

Here's another item on which we would
like your opinion. Several folks have
suggested that we invite editors to sub-
mit entries of their newspapers or news-
paper farm pages. These entries of farm
news coverage would be Judged by a com-
mittee of qualified editors, and suita-
ble "awards of recognition" made during
Press and Radio Field Day. We would
like your ideas on that score, too. Drop
us a card and let us know how you feel
about it.

In the Packet. . .

We mentioned previously that we had
requested some extra copies of the
Galesburg Register-Mail farm page. The
paper was good enough to send us 100 ex-
tra copies of their February k issue,
and one copy is included in the packet
for farm advisers. You home advisers
may want to take a look at it, too.

More and more editors are realizing
the value of a farm page or a farm news
section. Several editors have asked us
for suggested mastheads for such a page.
During the next few weeks we hope to
work up some suggestions. When we do,
we will send them on to you.

Also in the Packet...

We've talked for some time about a
better system of supplying you with good
illustrations and drawings in mat form.
So far we don't have the system worked
out. But there is a soil- testing car-
toon in this week's packet to farm advi-
sers.

Press Problems . . .

Wanted to mention profitable Farm and
Home Week discussions with Advisers
J. B. Turner, H. C. Wheeler, Glen Sons,
Bill Tammeus, C. E. Yale and Fred Hoppin
at different times on different press
and radio problems. At least they were
profitable for us.

Advisers Wheeler and Sons are consi-
dering a get-together with all editors
in their counties. And we have offered
to sit in on the discussions if we can
be of any help.

2/m/UQ

Extension Editorial Office University of Illinois Coll^g* of Agriculture

Select Press-Radio Field Day Date...

It*s probably too early to think about
extending the official invitation- -but
the dates have been set for the first
state-wide Illinois PRESS AND RADIO
FIELD DAY?

Those dates are Friday and Saturday,
June 3 and hj Immediately preceding the
Summer Extension Conference. They were
set this week at a meeting of the Field
Day committee with Professor Spitler and
the supervisory staff. While the dates
are close to the Summer Conference, they
were about the only Friday-Saturday com-
bination open from mid-May to mid-July.
Plans now are to synchronize the Summer
Conference and Field Day activities.

By next week we hope to supply you
with a more complete outline of the how,
what, when and where of the event. And
it1 s still not too late to send in your
suggestions for the Field Day program
itself.

So far as we know, this will be the
first time that any state has staged a
field day for all editors in the state.

The important thing is for you to put
down those dates — June 3 and k — on your
calendar. You are the joint hosts. The
editors are your guests.

Scmer 's Garden Transcriptions . . .

All radio stations in the state have
received the announcement of Lee Seiner's
19^9 series of radio transcriptions on
gardening. The series is offered free
to any station requesting them. If the
Btation in your area plans to run the
series, you may want to check with them
on the time schedule. And you may want
to put a "listening plug" in your farm
bureau publication.

The Need for Local Color...

Last week we sent farm advisers a copy
of the Galesburg Register-Mail farm page.
Adviser Kemp asked for our suggestions.
Recently Advisers C. E. Yale of Lee
County and W. H. Brown, Greene County,
asked us to comment on their newspaper-
style farm bureau publications and our
comments and suggestions were about the
same to all three men. For that reason
we suspect they might apply to other
counties.

Layout and make-up of all three publi-
cations were good. The farm page and
the farm bureau publications were neat,
attractive and easy to read, with good
use of black story headings.

When it came to content, we found that
all three men had done an excellent job
on "advance" and "follow-up" stories —
meetings, demonstrations, tours, etc.
They also did a good Job on straight
subject-matter information.

But the thing we missed was local col-
or. We missed big and little stories
that tell about particular people who
live in a particular county. The sto-
ries that tell about what those people
are doing, what they are planning to do,
what they are thinking about. We missed
the stories that tell about how John
Jones started to build a new hog house,
about Bill Brown's plans for early sum-
mer pasture, and Mrs. Sadie Hawkins1
good luck with chickens. Those are the
stories that give flavor and color to
your farm page and county publications.
No one else in the world can write those
storieB but you and your local editors.

Those are the stories that reach up
and bite you every day. Ernie Pyle made
editorial history and a fortune by writ-
ing stories just like that.

Extension Editorial Office University of Illinois

Coll^g* of Agriculture

Committees Named...

Things are starting to roll on plans
for Press and Radio Field Day. The com-
mittees approved "by Dean Rusk will meet
Saturday morning to start work on more
final plans for the event. These final
plans will be checked "by the previously
named Adviser Information Committee be-
fore the last OK is applied.

Several advisers have expressed approv-
al of the idea of having editors submit
examples of farm news coverage for Judg-
ing. We'd like to hear frcm some of the
rest of you.

Might be a good idea to talk over the
tentative plane with your editors and to
suggest that they save the dates- -June 3
and k.

Farm News From Danville...

When a new baby enters the family, the
older kids may not get enough attention.
During the past several months we've
mentioned a number of newspapers which
have started new farm pages. Perhaps
we've been guilty of neglecting the pa-
pers which have been doing an excellent
job for a long time. This should not be.

Last week Or in Hertz sent us a copy
of the farm page which appears regularly
in the Danville Commercial-News. The
Canmercial-News has featured farm news
and a farm page for a long time. Mer-
rill Faulk is maintaining the standards
of the paper. We've talked with Merrill
a number of times, and we know the kind
of cooperation he gets from the farm ad-
viser's office. This is a farm page uhich
has much of the flavor and color we were
talking about last week. Each week
there is a good sprinkling of local
stories about local people and local
conditions.

Front Page News . . .

Promoting a farm page in your local
newspapers doesn't mean all farm news
should go on that page. A good many
stories will end up on the front page.
Wabash County's A. A. Wicklein sent us
an example of the front-page coverage
his Mt. Carmel papers give farm news.

For Your Attention. . .

If your clients leave you alone for 5
minutes, take a look at the story on
tape recorders and slides on page 18 of
the February issue of Better Farming
Methods .

Take another look at the February 19
issue of Prairie Farmer and note the
coverage they gave Farm and Home Week.

Heme News Section. . .

From time to time we've talked about
the newspaper farm page. By implication
at least, we were really talking about
the farm and heme page. Farming is a
family affair, and most farm pages will
be stronger if they have both farm and
home news stories.

Some papers prefer to have separate
farm and home sections. The Woodstock
Journal is an example. We've mentioned
Bill Tammeus1 work on the farm page.
The same good words can be spoken for
Home Adviser Clara Sweeney's Home Bureau
News Section.""

Ex-County Agent Speaks...

Attached are some personal notes writ-
ten by South Carolina's Information spe-
cialist, Jim Eleazer, who was a county
agent for 28 years. Many of you know
him. His ideas make good sense.

PRESS, RADIO SERVED THIS AGENT 25 YEARS

How Jim Eleazer, S.C.,
Uses Long Experience
To Help Field Staff

For 28 years I was county agent.

I guess it was an inborn laziness that always made me seek the easiest
effective way of getting the job done. And that didn't seem to hurt. For I
didn't have to leave the county when I did, and they sent me on my way with a
handsome silver service.

I had been a county agent three years before I got a whiff of something
that was to serve me well. As we sipped a coke at the drug store one morning, Dr.
Jim Pitts asked me, in the presence of the editor, why I didn't write a set of
notes weekly for the paper. The editor gave it the nod and we were off.

For 25 years then I never missed, and that weekly chat with my folks
proved to be the most potent means I had of reaching them. No time spent brought
such results as the hour or two each week getting up the column.

Brevity was the first essential. And variety the next.

Make It Unpredictable

Brevity gets read. And variety holds readers. I tried to make it un-
predictable, and put a little foolishness in along with the solid matter as garnish.
We had measures that showed it was widely read. It made our work more effective
and saved a lot of leg work. It reached and was read by a lot of town folks too,
and that's not bad, for they also vote appropriations and pay taxes.

Four years ago my assistant for 12 years came back from the army. I
moved to the college, and he took over in the county. And since then they have
called me "Information Specialist"— a lot of sound but not much fury. And I might
say, the agricultural column idea has been continued on a state basis. Practically
all of the daily papers use it; so do about three-fourths of the weeklies.

But one of the main features of what I sometimes facetiously call "my
work" (it is not work at all, for I like it too well for that) is to visit and ride
with the county agents and try to help them make a greater use of this great tool
in reaching their folks. I try to impress them that industry and business pay
great sums for space in which they advertise and sell their wares. We have a pro-
gram to sell, Just as they have products to sell. What they have to pay for is
free to us. "Use it. Make your stuff so good and applicable to your county that
papers will want it, and not feel that it is a favor to you to use it"— that's what
I tell the county workers.

How to Help Agents

An agent asked me to come visit him and just make the rounds with him and
see what news I could pick up by the roadsides there and by visiting farms with
him on his rounds for a busy day. Ee was having trouble in finding enough interest-
ing local stories and success items of what farmers were doing under his guidance.

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I rode with him, and a more fertile field I never saw before. I called
hie attention to enough things, and made notes of them for him, to fill his column
with live stuff of vital interest for several weeks.

This suggestion is made to our fellows: that they mark any pertinent
idea or thought that they read and keep these marked sheets in a drawer that!s
handy to their typewriter. I never read our leading farm paper that I didn't mark
a dozen items, put a page number on the front. Then when I was ready to write a
column those things would give me the idea of something that I could apply locally.
And I urge them to make notes, "brief ones, when an idea comes to them anywhere, in
the field, on the road, or at church. These notes, too, will help to make their
news column alive and rich. With a drawer full of such stuff, when it comes to
writing a column then, all you have to do is Just pat your foot — and you have it.

About the hardest thing is to get a fellow who hasn*t written before to
do it. He Just naturally shies away from it. And if he is forced to it, he gets
up on a stilt, writes in the same manner, and the stuff Just doesn't sound like him.
By all means, I urge them, be natural. "You can talk, or you wouldn't be where you
are. Write the same way." These are stock sayings I have used, and I think they
carry a secret to county agents who are really serious about wanting to reach more
folks with less effort.

Personal Service Has Limits

This thing of personal service has its limits. A man can do Just so much
that way, and seme of it is necessary. But he can work himself to death that way,
and he will be away from home so much that the kids are liable to start inquiring
of mother, "Who Is that man I sometimes see here in the house?"

The fellow who tries to do all that an up and hustling county agent is
called upon to do in that manner will likely grow old and die early. What he needs
to learn is that there are improved mass means of reaching folks in his educational
and action Job.

I have talked of the press. I could say as much of radio. It served me
well the last 6 years I was county agent. Folks listened. We had proof of that.
We tried to make both the press and radio so down-to-earth with our folks that a
f9llow wouldn't fail to listen or read, for we might use his name and he wouldn't
miss that for anything.

Yes, press and radio are the potential strong arms of the county extension

worker .

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Extension Editorial Office* University of Illinois College of Agriculture

Field Day Committees at Work**.

Press and Eadio Field Day committees
met Saturday morning to check signals
before starting work on final plans for
the event. Here is a very tentative
calendar which we hope to he able to
follow.

Committees will present tentative
plans on Saturday, March 12. These re-
ports will he reviewed and discussed
during the following week. The final
program should "be ready and in the mail
to you by the first week in April. Then
we should like to have you invite your
editors and radio representatives by
April 15. Dean Rusk's follow-up invita-
tion will be sent out shortly after that
date. He will also invite state, re-
gional and national editors. We will
not, put out any publicity on the event
until after you have Lad plenty of time
to contact your editors.

There is still time for suggestions
frcm you.

Who Does the Inviting...

All home advisers are invited to take
part in the Field Day, if they care to do
so. Mrs. Burns has suggested that home
adviser participation be left optional,
and that's the way it will be.

We would suggest that in those coun-
ties where both the farm and home advi-
ser plan to attend, invitations to edi-
tors be extended jointly.

University Reference Folder . . .

Through the good offices of J. F.
Wright, Director of Public Information,
we have reoeived extra copies of the
University Reference Folder. A copy is

liiiilll^wi-Ba

LaSalle County Holds Publicity Meet.,,

Talking problems over with the editors
is one of the most action-getting ways
to "build up a county inf ormation and
publioity program. In LaS,.:.le corr; •; ;
Heme Advisor Eurciith Freyermubh and the
unit publicity chairmen invihed editors
of daily papers in the county to take
part in a round-table discussion of mu-
tual problems. Then a writing workshop
was held for the publicity chairmen to
try their skill on doing "advance" stor-
ies for a county event.

The guest editors included John R.
Fornof, Streator Timos Press; Charles
Sapp, managing editor of the Ottawa Re-
publican Times; and Floyed Esche, state
editor of the LaSalle News-Tribune.

In the session with editors, a number
of problems were brought out: (l) Wo-
men working with papers need to get bet-
ter acquainted with editors and local
correspondents. This would help clear
up misunderstandings about deadlines,
how the papers want stories written,
etc. (2) More advance planning of
stories needs to be done. When papers
are kept informed about county events
and home economics extension programs,
they can plan ahead to give more space
to special stories and to work out pic-
tures when possible.

A county publicity committee of four
wemen has been set up to work with the
hem^ adviser in planning publicity fcr
county events and working out special
informational stories to tie in with the
home economics projects being carried on
in the county. They plan to send a
monthly calendar of events to all r.e\fc-
papers as one means of keeping papers
informed .

5/1A9

Extension Editorial Of fie© University of Illinois Colltg* of Agriculture

Press Clipping Party...

There's coffee on the fire and popcorn
on the table tonight in the editorial
dungeon. We're having what's called a
press clipping party. Once in a while,
when we have some special work to do, we
hold a special party- -and do it. That's
what ' s happening tonight .

Since July 1 we've heen making a con-
tinuous study of the farm and home news
being used by a large sample of weekly
and daily newspapers. This means we've
had to go through a sample of more than
50 daily and 70 weekly papers, marking,
clipping and tabulating stories used.
When we've finished a year's study, we
hope the data will give us some specific
answers to specific questions about what
editors use — and why they use what they
do.

The trouble is that the papers pile up
on us. That's why we're having the
party.

Fred Hoppin's Dairy Page...

Going through the papers tonight, we
came across another of Fred Hoppin's 6-
point dairy spreads in the McLeansboro
Times-Leader. The spread this month is
a peach. The big, black headline reads:
BUILD HERD WITH ARTIFICIAL BREEDING, and
most of the copy and many of the ads are
directed toward that theme. The pages
are split about 50-50 between editorial
copy and advertising, with the advertis-
ing support coming from 15 sponsors. As
many of you know, Fred has been running
this spread every two months to promote
the dairy program in Hamilton county.
Now he'll have to do the same thing over
again when he moves to Logan county.

Bob Jarnagin Signs Up . . .

. There must be something about exten-
sion editorial work that wears down a
man's resistance. Youth editor Bob Jar-
nagin signed a life- time matrimonial
contract in Dee Moines Sunday. This
step from the ranks of single men took
place Just about 7 months after he Joined
the staff. Former radio editor Bill
Gifford arrived on the staff single, and
married within k months. Jack Murray
succumbed after being on the staff 10
months. Makes a person stop and wonder.

McHenry County Publicity Meeting..*

Home economics radio editor Jessie
Heathman has Just reported on the excel-
lent meeting she had with 29 heme bureau
unit radio chairmen in McHenry county.

There's a new FM radio station in
Woodstock, and the home bureau has been
sponsoring two half-hour radio shows a
week for the past two months.

The meeting last week was devoted to
such problems as program format, types
of information for radio, program plan-
ning, presentation methods, rehearsal
problems and so on. Seme time was also
spent on the actual planning of programs
for the spring and early summer months .

If you'd like more information on the
McHenry county plan, drop a note to Jes-
sie or to Mrs. Clara Sweeney.

In the Packet. . .

Another in the series of pictorial
charts prepared by Dr. R. W. Eartlett is
in this week's packet to farm advisers.

3/10A9

Extension Editorial Office University of Illinois College of Agriculture

Banter's Farm News Every Day.,.

There's nothing more discouraging than
to be asked for constructive suggestions
on something that's already about per-
fect. That's the way we felt this week
when Stephenson county's V. J. Banter
asked us for suggestions on the daily
farm news page in the Freeport Journal-
Standard .

This daily page of farm and home news
contains darned near everything we've
plugged for. First, you've got farm and
home news going to a big audience every
day. A local picture is featured in
almost every issue. There's excellent
balance between local, state and nation-
al farm news stories, subject matter in-
formation stories and features. The
stuff is short, punchy and to the point.
The make-up is attractive and the story
heads look readable.

JuBt take a look at the variety of
stories in one is sue --Friday, March k.
A ^-column banner head on the remodeling
of the farm bureau building. An advance
story on the county k-E club rally- -and
another on plans in Ogle county. There
is a report on rural electrification
progress in the area, and two stories
from college specialists. Two more
items are from Springfield offices.

But the best story in the lot covers
the farm wiring and plumbing meeting
conducted by ag. engineer Frank Andrew.
Don't know whether the editor or Banter
wrote the story, but it says something —
it tells you "what the guy said."

We could go on like this for hours,
but you get the idea. Banter also re-
ports that the five weeklies in the
county give good farm and home news cov-
erage, and he has two local radio pro-
grams a week on two stations .

h-E Headlines Again...

The headline in the March 5 issue of
the Centralia Sentinel reads: k-E CLUB
SCRIBES REPORT ON YEAR'S ACTIVITIES ,
And the whole solid page was devoted to
news -filled reports from every h-E club
in the county. Most of the reports men-
tioned the names of the club officers
and the names of the leaders . They told
about projects carried by members, the
special tours and camping programs. One
scribe told about selling $30 worth of
textile painting products. One club re-
ported on the bake sales held for the
Sister Kenny clinic.

We don't know who gets the orchids for
proposing the page — but it was a good
one.

Speaking of Headlines , . ,

The editors of the Danville Commercial
News cooperated with the extension folks
in Vermilion county to feature a half-
page ^-H picture spread in the Sunday,
March 6 issue. The heading for the
spread was: k-E PROGRAM APPEALS TO ALL
THE FAMILY.

Progress on Press-Radio Field Day..,

We've set April 1 as the date we hope
to send you all the final whats and
whys and wherefores on Press and Radio
Field Day. The program committees are
supposed to have their reports in next
week--and the same goes for housing,
banquet, registration and so on. All
the dope will be in one package when it
comes to you.

3/1TA9

Extension Editorial Off ice

University of Illinois

Collage of Agriculture

Johnson County k-E Headlines...

Every day we see more evidence of the
kind of support being given k-E Club
work over the state. Take the March 10
issue of the Vienna TIMES for example.

The headline on that paper reads k-E
MEMBERSHIP DRIVE LAUNCHED. And the page-
1 story told about the drive and the in-
creased interest in k-E Club work in
Johnson county. But the big splurge
came on three pages of a special supple-
ment. Those pages were Jammed with spe-
cial ads and editorial material on the
membership drive. All told, 25 business
firms showed their backing of club work
through the advertising columns.

Another Explanation. . .

We still get an occasional letter from
one of you people pointing out that some
stories in your weekly packet carry re-
lease dates vhich are past. Each time
we do we feel that we have not done a
good enough job of explaining why that
happens .

Attached is a copy of our letter to
Adviser Wayne Churchill on this problem.
If you still have questions after read-
ing it, drop us a note and we'll try
again.

Farm Law Reference Sheet...

Farm Law authority H. W. Hannah has
prepared a current reference guide to
farm law materials. A copy of the guide
is in farm and home adviser's packets.

Experience With Visual Aids . . .

We understand that several Illinois
farm advisers have been asked to review
their experience with visual aids for
the June issue of the EXTENSION SERVICE
REVIEW. Similar experience stories are
being prepared by advisers in a number
of states.

Last week Lester A. Schlup, Chief of
the Division of Extension Information in
Washington, quoted comments from some of
these men. Here's one from Oklahoma
agent Gaston Franks:

"I BELIEVE THE TIME HAS COME WHEN A
COUNTY AGENT CAN BEST DISSEMINATE USEFUL
AGRICULTURAL INFORMATION TO FARM PEOPLE
WITH TOOLS SUCH AS NEWS COLUMNS, NEWS
STORIES, BLACK-AND-WHITE PICTURES, AND
THE RADIO. AND REDUCE THE NUMBER OF
EDUCATIONAL MEETINGS HELD."

In Minnesota, the visual aids special-
ist says a recent survey indicates that
the average county agent spends about
$80 a year on visual aids materials.
That Minnesota survey brought out a lot
of interesting information. If we can
get a summary, we'll send it on to you.

Still Have Hopes . . .

We still have hopes of getting all the
dope to you on Press and Radio Field Day
soon after the first of April. Be sure
to have those dates down- -June 3 and k.
That's from noon on Friday, June 3, to
noon on Saturday, June k. Saturday af-
ternoon trill be devoted to optional
tours .

COOPERATIVE EXTENSION WORK IN AGRICULTURE

AND HOME ECONOMICS
STATE OF ILLINOIS

College of Agriculture, University of Illinois
United States Department of Agriculture,
Cooperating

March 18, 19^9

Extension Service in Agriculture
and Home Economics
Urbana, Illinois

Mr. Wayne Churchill
Will County Farm Adviser
59 West Clinton Street
Joliet, Illinois

Dear Wayne:

I'm sorry that there seems to be a mix-up in the timing of in

formation material. And I wonder if we are together in our thinking on
how the whole thing is supposed to work. Let me see if I can outline it
again.

1. Copies in your packet marked "for dailies." This is our
direct service to daily newspapers. It goes out now three times a week.
On Tuesday, for example, we mail out releases direct to newspapers for
release on Thursday and Friday. On Thursday, we mail out the releases for
Saturday and Monday. And on Saturday we mail out the releases for the
following Tuesday and Wednesday. The package mailed to you yesterday
(Thursday, March 17) will include copies of all the daily stories mailed
out Saturday, March 12; Tuesday, March 15, and Thursday, March 17. This
means that some of the release dates are 'bound to be past, because we

have three mailings direct to the newspapers and hold copies of the ma-
terial to send to you once a week. The reason we send copies to you is
so that you will know what has gone to the newspapers in your county.
Similar material has also gone to radio stations.

•

2. Copies in your packet marked "for weeklies." Mailed the
same day as your packet to all weekly newspapers in the state. Here again,
we send a copy to you for your information

3. The fill-in stories are sent exclusively to you for what
use you may make of them. We appreciate that this has not been too much
help in the past, and we hope to improve it in the future.

You see, we feel here that the information sent directly from
here to the newspapers and radio stations is only a supplement to the
much better farm and home information you people have in your counties.
We'd like to see newspapers use both -- stories from here and good local
stories from you. It is easier for us to handle stories from the state
staff and extension specialists directly from here, and we hope it saves
some of your time. At the same time, you can do a much better Job of
digging out the local experience stories. At least that's the way we
would like to see it work.

Sincerely yours,

(s) Hadley Read
Hadley Read

Extension Editor

Extension Editorial Office University of Illinois College of Agriculture

Plans Complete for Field Day. . .

The Press and Radio Field Day Commit-
tee has given Dean Rusk a final report
on the program and plans for the event.
Enough copies of the program for all of
your press and radio representatives
will be mailed from his office by the
end of this week or the first part of
next. Any questions you may have should
be answered in this material.

Take a Look at the Program. . .

We hope you'll have time to go over
the Field Day material as soon as it
hits your desk. There's been a lot of
unadulterated hard work put into the in-
itial planning stages of that program--
and there'll be a lot more before all
the details are taken care of. Credit
for the program should go to Mary Jane
Rice, A. R. Ayers, Harry Russell and 0.
H. Sears. These people are responsible
for the four units which make up the
program. And they've been backed up by
a committee from each department.

Emphasis on "Seeing" and "Asking". . *

You'll note that the Field Day Commit-
tee has stressed the fact that the pro-
gram should emphasize "seeing" and "ask-
ing" with a minimum of formal "hearing."
That's what they thought you people
would want. For example, Dr. Scott,
head of the poultry section, is starting
broiler chicks on comparative feeding
trials right now. By the time you are
here for the Field Day, the birds will
be 8 weeks old. You'll be able to see
what kind of Job' his "high energy" ra-
tions do compared with straight rations.
He'll have the live birds and he'll have
dressed birds ready for the table.

Invite Editors Soon. . .

We don't want to put out any advance
releases on the event until you've had
time to contact and invite your editors.
At the same time, we need to start the
information ball rolling Just as soon as
possible. As far as we know, Illinois
will be the first state to hold a state-
wide Press and Radio Field Day, and we
ought to let the people know about it.

We will hold up on any general public-
ity material going out from here until
Thursday, April 21. This should give
you about 10 days or 2 weeks to get to-
gether with your people in the county.
And it will give us time to get invita-
tions out to state, regional and nation-
al editors and broadcasters.

Need Advance Estimate on Visitors...

You'll note in the material being sent
from Dean Rusk's office that the commit-
tee has asked for an advance estimate of
the number who may be attending from
your county. If at all possible, this
should be sent back by return mail — even
though you haven't had time to contact
your folks. We'll ask for another final
check about May 15.

Truman May Already Set. . .

Frank Andrew, the flying ag. engineer,
has been another slavedriver in working
on the program. He reports that Madison
county's Truman May has already cleared
the decks to bring his press and radio
representatives to the Field Day. He
expects to bring six or seven editors as
guests of the county farm bureau. We'd
like reports from the rest of .yon snnn

Extension Editorial Office University of Illinois College of Agriculture

Special Fly Control Material...

By the end of this week, we hope to
have a special packet of fly control
promotion material in the mail to you.

The packet will be for your use exclu-
sively and will contain (1) suggested
copy for a special county publication on
fly control or a special edition of your
farm bureau publication, (2) mats and
proofs of suggested illustrations you
can use in your publication, (3) our
suggestions on how to set up such a pro-
motion piece, and (k) a special story to
call the attention of your people to the
19^9 program. Lyman Noordhoff is hand-
ling the editorial end of the fly con-
trol work this year.

The mat illustrations are NOT for use
by your local papers. We are preparing
additional material for them and will
send it directly, as you suggested last
fall.

Vermilion Editors Invited...

Had a note this week from Vermilion
county's Or in Hertz. He says, "Mrs.
Kemper, heme adviser, and I visited most
of our outlying newspapers. We discussed
the publicity program and gave each an
informal invitation to Press and Radio
Field Day."

You should have copies of the program
and all the facts and figures by the
time you get this letter. You'll note
that a card has been included with the
letter from Dean Rusk. The Field Day
committee would like your estimate of
the number of folks who will be coming
from your county.

i/7/k9

1*-H Promotion Credits...

We know it's impossible to mention ev-
eryone who put out top-rate ^-H promo-
tion material during March. But we'd
like to hand bouquets to the excellent
double-page spreads in the NEWS DEMOCRAT
of Belleville, HENRY NEWS -REPUBLICAN ,
Sumner DISPATCH, and the HIGHLAND JOUR-
NAL. Credit also goes to the folks who
worked with the ALTON EVENING TELEGRAPH
and the EDWARDSVILLE INTELLIGENCER.

Salute to New Farm Editor .. .

This week we salute THE HARVARD HER-
ALD in McHenry county and their new farm
editor, Les Bourn. The Herald started a
new farm page last month, and Bourn is
the man at the helm. Featured on the
first farm page was the weekly sense-
making column of Bill Tammeus.

Still Need Date Cards...

Jack Murray reports that the white
announcement cards telling about dates
and county- wide events in your county
have fallen off to a mere trickle. So
just a reminder: If you have a county-
wide event, send it in at least 10 days
ahead of time and we'll announce it to
all radio stations in the state.

Look for Electrical Stories...

The magazine ELECTRICITY ON THE FARM
is looking for stories on how farm women
solve homemaking problems with electric-
ity. Here's a chance for you Home Ad-
visers to show off how your women have
put equipment to work for them. Send us
the word if you have a good possibility,
and we'll send it along to the editor.

Extension Editorial Office University of Illinois College of Agriculture

Banter Explains Program. . . Thanks for Attendance Estimates...

Several weeks ago we mentioned the ex-
cellent farm information job "being done
by Stephenson county's V. J. Banter. At
that time we asked for some more infor-
mation on the why and how of his effort.

His reply is attached. He says every-
thing we've tried to say before. But he
says it better.

One More k-E Mention. . .

We can't 1st this week pass without
making one more mention of a good job of
k-E promotion. The bouquet this week
goes to the folks in Randolph county —
Mees, England and Conachie. The Sparta
NEWS- PLAINDEALEE devoted almost an en-
tire section to reporting k-E club activ-
ities.

Fly Control Transcriptions...

Radio editor Jack Murray has worked up
a series of radio transcriptions to pro-
mote the fly control program. The first
record consists of a series of state-
ments by Dean Rusk, Director Yung, Dr.
Mills, Mr. Schuman and Dr. Cross. Other
records deal with various phases of fly
control. The records have been offered
to radio stations in the state on a
share- the- cost basis. The charge to
them is $6. You may want to talk with
your station manager about running the
transcriptions as a part of your county
fly control program.

In the Packet . . .

Two items- -another in the series of
Bartlett charts and Hank Hannah's Farm
Law Reference Index.

h /•% ». /i. ^

We've already started receiving your
cards on the estimated number of editors
who'll be on hand for Press and Radio
Field Day. Looks as though most of you
are planning on 100 percent attendance.
And that's good. Barnes says he'll have
k, Mowery says 7. Myers in Coles county
says there'll be 6 editors and k advis-
ers. Cross says 6 from DeKalb, plus 2
advisers, Meyers in Stark county is
bringing 3 editors. Harper in Mercer is
bringing 2. Perisho in Bond has 3 edi-
tors lined up.

We hope all of you have a chance with-
in the next few days to return that es-
timate card to the Field Day Committee.
It's going to take some work to get fa-
cilities lined up after we have a count.

Home Demonstration Week Plans...

The kit of stories and materials on
National Home Demonstration Week is be-
ing mimeographed to send to editors next
week. These stress the state-wide home
economics extension program which is be-
ing carried on by you home advisers and
the women you work with. A set of sug-
gestions for stories and radio programs
during the week will be sent direct to
home advisers. Editors will be most in-
terested in localized stories you can
prepare for them. This is a good chance
for you to give credit to the women in
your county for the work they are doing.

Another Good Farm Page. . .

For a long time we've wanted to men-
tion the excellent farm news page Darl
Fike puts out in the Robinson DAILY
HEWS. This is another page that has a
good mixture of local, state and natr.on-

April 11, 19^9

Mr. Hadley Read, Extension Editor
University of Illinois
330 Mumf ord Hall
Urbana, Illinois

Dear Mr. Read:

I have been rather slow in answering your letter of March 18. You
asked for certain information which I will give you very briefly.

The first question as to how we go about getting news to weekly and
daily papers. I might say, we have one daily and six weekly papers. All but
one of the weekly papers have given us very good cooperation. Ordinarily, we
prepare several news articles each Saturday morning. These go to the daily
and also to the weeklies, with a notation to the daily paper as to when they
can be released. This is usually Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of the next
week. By this plan, the papers are looking forward to the news and do a good
job of publishing it.

Our plan of keeping track of information is not too good. I do have
one drawer in my desk in which I put all items that I think I may want to use
in my publicity program. These items are then gone over when we write our
news articles. Most of the university releases are rewritten to give them a
local slant.

Our daily newspaper has a rural representative who comes into our
office every morning. We try to furnish him with one or more stories each
time. It may be a story on 4-H Club work, which he will secure from Mr.
Richards, or one like the article on artificial breeding which I am enclosing.
Wilbur Goeke and I worked this story up along with our local technician and
gave it to the newspaper.

In cooperation with the members of the U.S.D.A. Council, we plan a
series of four to six radio programs ahead for each of the two local stations.
The person who is to be in charge of each program is indicated. He can get
what help he needs in putting it on. Frequently we call in farmers who have
done a good job along certain lines to tell of their experience. This seems
to be a very good plan.

You asked why I take time for a publicity program. The reason is
that farmers come to the office and mention articles which they have read in
the papers or in our farm monthly or perhaps they wish to discuss something
they have heard over the radio. We believe that we can reach more people,
with the least effort, by this type of program than we can in any other way.

Sincerely yours,

(S) V. J. Banter

V. J. Banter
Farm Adviser

■

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Extension Editorial Office University of Illinois College of Agriculture

Estimate Cards Roll In. . .

As of Monday of this week, nine more
advisers had sent in their estimates on
the number of editors who would be on
hand for Press and Radio Field Day*
Here are the additions to last week's
list: Livingston, Cass, Madison, Rock
Island, Brown, Marshall- Putnam, Lee,
Henderson and Perry. The men report a
total of 36 press and radio representa-
tives for an average of four per county.
Truman May heads the list with 7 editors
expected from Madison county.

The first press release on the Field
Day is going out this week to weekly
newspapers. One will go out next week
for daily papers, to be released at the
same time- -Thursday, April 28. Hope you
all have time to see your editors before
that time. We'd like to have all the
cards in by the last day of April.

National Home Demonstration Week...

This week's packet to home advisers is
filled with suggested stories, radio
programs and radio announcements to help
home advisers tell about home demonstra-
tion work in the counties.

This material is the work of Jessie
Heathman and Joan Miller of the staff
here. They also are sending supplemen-
tary material to the newspapers and ra-
dio stations. We would guess that many
editors do not have a clear picture of
Just how home economics extension work
is carried on in the state. This is
your chance to bring them up to date.
And it's a good time to give a vote of
thanks to the many women who help with
the program.

Mat on Phosphate...

One of Clyde Linsley's mats on the
comparison of colloidal and rock phos-
phate is in this week's packet to farm
advisers. The story that goes with it
is also in the packet. Clyde asked that
this material be reissued since a number
of you had asked for information on the
comparison.

Another Column 1 st. . .

Just noticed another good farm column
in one of Illinois* Better newspapers.
The newspaper is the ELKVTLLE JOURNAL.
The name of the column is "Around the
County." The author is hard-working,
news-minded W. C. Anderson. We haven't
made a count lately of the number of ad-
visers with regular columns, but we
think the trend is good.

A farm column is a good way, to put a
lot of human interest into the news
pages. It's a mistake though to make a
column be an all-around work horse. All
the eggs shouldn't be put in one basket.

Meeting With h-E Reporters...

Fred Blackburn reports that the Cen-
tralia SENTINEL held an afternoon meet-
ing for all k-E reporters in the county.
"About 30 leaders and reporters attended
and were shown how news was set up and
how the newspaper was printed. I think
this is a worth-while demonstration for
the reporters, and we are hoping it will
stimulate greater interest in getting
reports to the paper on time."

k/2l/k9

Extension Editorial Office University of Illinois

College of Agriculture

Herald- American k-B. Column. . .

The Chicago Herald- American's h-E Col-
umn has caught on. The first month it
grew from a once- a- week to a twice- a-
week feature. We think it's a good way
to get the k-E story to more people- -
farm, village and city. So, don't hesi-
tate to add the h-E editor of the Herald
American to your news mailing list. They
like the items about local clubs and lo-
cal members.

Fly Control Clip Sheet. . .

Have hopes that the fly control clip
sheet for newspapers' will arrive from
the printers this week. We'll send you
a copy of all the material and will send
copies directly to all your weekly and
daily newspapers with the suggestion
that they contact you before launching a
big drive. There'll be an order blank
for the editors to use in ordering the
mat illustrations.

An Anticipated Question. . .

In times past, several advisers have
asked who was supposed to sell the ads
for these special editions — the newspa-
per or the county extension office. The
answer is the newspaper. The education-
al advertising material is designed as a
service to the paper. It allows his ad-
vertisers to support a sound and worth-
while program. And, at the same time,
it means increased advertising revenue
for him.

k-29-k9

Information Service- -Two Ways. . .

We've said it before, but we can say
it again. We'd like your tips and sug-
gestions on information stories you'd
like to have from here. A post card
will do.

Speaking of Cards. . .

We're still short on reports from some
of you on the estimated number of press
and radio editors you plan to have on
hand for the Field Day. The two commit-
tees needing the information early are
banquet and housing. They don't want to
see anyone without a bed or a meal tic-
ket.

Paul Krows writes, "Our editors (5)
will be guests of the Moultrie County
Farm Bureau while attending the Field
Day, as our Board enthusiastically gave
us the green light on this."

Here are the. other counties reporting
this week: Bureau, Cook, Douglas, Ed-
wards, McLean, Mason, Moultrie, St. Clair,
Saline and Shelby.

In the Packet . . .

There's a special release in this
week's packet to farm advisers. It is
an unusual cartoon mat and an editorial
story on the dangers of soil erosion.
The cartoon was drawn by a retired Wis-
consin newspaper cartoonist, and was
sent to E. D. Walker by Farm Adviser
H. R. Brunnemeyer. Ernest prepared the
editorial story to go with it. We think
it's good stuff.

Extension Editorial Office

University of Illinois

College of Agriculture

Are There Questions? . . .

If you have any questions about the
mechanics of Press and Radio Field Day,
you may want to send them in now. Bill
Coolidge asked whether arrangements were
being made for women and whether or not
more than one editor from a paper could
be invited. The answer to both of these
questions is YES. You can invite as
many editors as you want- -Just so you
let us know how many are coming from
your county. We should also know the
number of men 'and the number of women.

Fly Control Push...

We've seen some mighty good use being
made of the fly control copy and illus-
trations we sent sometime ago. Kenneth
Flake put out a special fly control sec-
tion in the Henry County Farmer and ran
2,000 extra reprints for county distri-
bution. The front page and much of the
inside pages of the April Champaign
County Farm Bureau News is devoted to
spreads on fly control. The same is
true of Paul Wilson's Farm Bureau News,
in Saline County. If we aren't on your
mailing list, we would like to receive
copies of any special material you put
out.

Heme Advisers' Publicity...

Outstanding examples of home economics
extension publicity are to be on display
at the National Home Economics Conven-
tion in San Francisco in June. We need
examples of good publicity from home ad-
visers in various counties for the Illi-
nois exhibit. Would you send us exam-

5/5A9

pies of your top newspaper stories and
pictures for this past year? If possi-
ble, send whole pages from your newspa-
pers, or send clippings of the stories
and pictures. Mail to Joan Miller, 330
Mumford Hall.

Plans for Better Farm Radio. . .

During the past few years there has
been a tremendous increase in the number
of Illinois radio stations. At the same
time, more and more stations are giving
attention to farm radio programs. Many
of you have started participating on
farm shows during the past year or so.

All this means that the College of Ag-
riculture and the editorial office have
increased opportunities and obligations
to service you and these stations with
sound, timely agricultural information.
Consideration of an expanded farm radio
service, however, results in numerous
unanswered questions. How many stations
actually have farm shows now? What kind
of shows? Where do they get their ma-
terial? What kind of material would
they like to have? How many farm advi-
sers now have their own farm shows or
participate regularly on radio programs?
Where do they get information? What
kind of help do advisers want?

To get the answers to such questions,
Jack Murray has prepared two quest ion-
naires--one for radio stations to answer
and one for you. The one to stations
has been mailed out, and yours is in
this week's packet. It shouldn't take
you more than 20 minutes or a half hour
to fill it out, and we need your sugges-
tions to guide our thinking in the fu-
ture . We would like to have all the re-
turns in by June 1 if possible.

Extension Editorial Office University of Illinois College of Agriculture

Top Host So Far. . .

Hancock County's George Eeid is way
out in front for honors as top host for
Press and Radio Field Day. A note from
George this week says "Chances look good
for 100 percent representation from 12
newspapers and 2 radio stations for
Press and Radio Field Day."

Any way you add it up, it comes out Ih
editors for Hancock county. The statis-
ticians will tell you, though, that you
can't bring more editors than there are
in the county- -and quite a number of you
have indicated 100 percent attendance
even though the number may he less than

Here are some more counties that have
sent in cards during the past week or
so: Carroll, Clay, Effingham, Fayette,
Fulton, Gallatin, Henry, Iroquois, Jo
Daviess, Knox, Logan, McHenry, Menard,
Morgan, Piatt, Pike, Tazewell, White-
side, and Woodford.

A Final Check. . .

Those of you who have not returned
your estimate cards may want to wait now
until the final check card is sent out.
This final check card probably will he
in the mail by Monday, May 16, and
should reach you by Tuesday or Wednesday.
There'll be a franked, self- adressed card
for you to use to give us the final data
on attendance. And the deadline forget-
ting them back will be Saturday, May 28.

5-12-U9

Local Names- -Local News...

From time to time we've mentioned the
importance of local color, local flavor
and local names in your news services to
county papers. Recent issues of the
Galesburg DAILY REGISTER farm page indi-
cate that Adviser A. R. Kemp is working
toward that goal. One feature of the
farm page is a box column called "notes
from the farm adviser," and local names
stand out in bold face type.

Pride in k-E, . .

Some time ago, Adviser Paul Krows sent
us a copy of the Bethany ECHO which fea-
tured 1j--H Club work. One ad especially
caught our eye. The headline read "My
Kids Are h-E Members-- I'm Proud of My
Kids." The proud father of those k-E
kids had taken a 3- column 12- inch ad to
tell why he thought it was important for
youngsters to belong to a U-H club.

Another Farm Section. . .

Don't know whether or not this is new,
but we've just noticed the FARM NOTES
section in the Petersburg OBSERVER. The
author of this farm section is Adviser
Lloyd Chalcraft. A companion column of
Home Bureau news is prepared by Home Ad-
viser Galie McDougall.

"iThe Results of Discussion. . .

It helps to get editors to sit down a-
round a table and talk over farm and
home news problems. If there's food on
the table, it helps that much more.
Lawrence County's H. C. Wheeler reports
that as a result of such a discussion a
while back, two newspapers have started
farm and home news sections.

Extension Editorial Office University of Illinois College of Agriculture

Itfs in the Family*. .

Moultrie County 's alert home adviser,
Virginia Guthrie, has added an interest-
ing postscript to our mention last week
of the k-B. "booster who ran the ad, "My
Kids Are k-K Members -- I'm Proud of My
Kids."

The father was F. H. Bland, and Vir-
ginia writes that "he has reason to be
proud. Three of his four daughters have
consistently been rated state outstand-
ing club members, and the fourth is
headed that way . "

If you haven't already guessed it, one
of the daughters is Lois Bland, now home
adviser in Marsha 11- Putnam County. It's
good that we are keeping all this talent
in the family.

Noordhof f Stretches His Legs . . .

Assistant Editor lyman Noordhoof is
back at his writing machine this week
refreshed and rejuvenated after taking
in the Brownstown experiment field meet-
ing, spending a couple of days with W. C.
Anderson in Jackson County and ending up
the week touring the Dixon Springs Ex-
periment Station. It was a postman's
holiday, though, because he came back
lugging pictures and notes for Ik or 15
stories.

He reports that you fellows have a
wealth of material in these experiment
station field meetings that your local
farmers would like to read about in the
newspapers or hear over the radio. If
you spend a half day or a day attending
one of these meetings, it should be
worth an hour or two of your time to
write a news story about what you found
out--it seems to us.

5/19A9

Corn Borer Reporting Service...

As you know, a record number of corn
borers wintered over this year. The
fields that were planted early are defi-
nitely in danger.

Assistant editor Jack Murray and Dr.
George C» Decker have organized a fast,
efficient radio reporting service to
keep farmers informed on the progress of
the borers throughout the critical peri-
od. There's a story in this week's pack-
et that explains the system.

Your local newspapers will probably
want to carry the story. You could in-
clude it in your farm bureau publica-
tion. The information could be mimeo-
graphed for a letter insert. Local
spray operators might help spread the
word.

Looks Like a Big Day...

Here's the way we personally feel a-
bout Press and Radio Field Day: The
closer it gets the better it looks. We
didn't like to bother you people again
with the final check card, but it was
necessary in order to draw together all
the loose ends. Please get it back as
soon as possible.

In addition to the expected 300 or
more Illinois editors you people are
bringing, it looks like there'll be more
than 50 representatives from state, re-
gional and national publications and ra-
dio stations. Country Gentleman, Farm
Journal, Successful Farming, Capper's
Farmer and Prairie Farmer all will be
represented. So will the National
Broadcasting Company and the American
Broadcasting Company. Here are some of
the others: Milton Dunk, Better Farming
Methods; R. R. Hannas, American Poultry
Journal; and Les Troeger, k-E News.

8 . q

Let's Check Signals..,

Everything seems to be lined up in
good shape for PRESS AND RADIO FIELD
DAY. But it would he a good idea . to
check signals so there won't he last-
minute confusion.

Check Your Group Assignment . . .

Group A includes all counties frcm
Adams through Fayette. Group B is Ford
through Lee. Group C is Livingston
through Pulaski-Alexander. Group D is
Randolph through Woodford.

The Right Group at the Right Place..*

To avoid confusion, he sure you go to
the right place at the right time. The
complete schedule is listed in the Field
Day program which you have* Group A
starts out at the Airport Friday noon;
Group B at the Livestock Pavilion; Group
C at the Agronomy South Farm, and Group
D at the Lower Gym in Bevier Hall.

The official starting time is one
o'clock, Daylight time . It would he
helpful if your group could arrive earl-
ier. There are going to he a tremen-
dous number of things to see.

Go directly to your first unit, and
register there. Banquet, luncheon and
air tour tickets should be purchased
when you register. Room assignments
will be made at that time for those who
asked us to make reservations for them.

5/26A9

Two Hours for Each Unit...

Each group will have 2 hours at each
unit. Again, it will help if your peo-
ple move out of one unit and into the
next on schedule. That's another reason
for getting here early on Friday.

Banquet at 6r?0. . .

The banquet Friday evening will be at
6:30 in the Main Ballroom, Illini Union.
You'll have an hour and a half after the
last visit to check in at your rooms and
wash your face.

Optional Tours...

Since everything can't be covered in
the formal program, there'll be a list
of optional visits your editors may want
to make Saturday afternoon. This list
will be available at the registration
tables at each unit.

We'll see you Friday?

In the Packet. . .

There are two things of special inter-
est in this week's packet to farm advi-
sers. The first is another mat and sto-
ry from Clyde Linsley on the use of rock
phosphate to boost legume production.

The second is a special write-up on
the danger of army worm infestation and
what to do about it. A number of re-
ports of damage from these worms have
come in to H. B. Petty from the western
section of the state. Two warning sto-
ries have gone to the wire services, and
a special story will reach daily newspa-
pers about the time you get this packet.

jr.

Extension Editorial Office University of Illinois College of Agriculture

Field Day Reflections... In the Packet...

This week the hat is off to those who
made Press and Radio Field Day the suc-
cess many said it was.

Credit first to you people who took
time during a busy season to bring your
editors to the campus. We know some of
you tried and couldn't make it. Surely
a big step has been taken in the job of
building closer working relationships
with the editors.

Nearly everyone in the College of Ag-
riculture had a hand in the show from
this end. Here are some who get the
black ribbon of the high order of dark
circles under the eyes- -Frank Andrew,
Dick Ayers, Harry Russell, Mary Jane
Rice, Bob Cohlmeyer, Lawson Culver, O.H,
Sears, Elmer Saner, Jack Murray, Ly-
man Noordhoff , Joan Miller, 0. L. Whalin
and a lot more who can't be mentioned in
this space. i

The Field Day Committee would like
comments, observations, suggestions and
criticisms on how such an event can be
made better in the future --whet her for
editors or for someone else.

■

Joan Miller Resigns...

A gal whom we always thought was pret-
ty well educated has left the editorial
family to get some more. Home economics
press editor Joan Miller leaves this
week with plans to take advanced gradu-
ate work in the field of foods and nu-
trition- -probably at Cornell. Since no
replacement for Joan is in sight, you
home advisers probably will be short-
changed a bit on the amount of home eco-
nomics press material coming your way.
We'll try to remedy the situation as
fast as we can.

Another in the series of pictorial
charts by Dr. Bartlett is in this week's
packet to farm advisers. This chart
shows how prices act before, during and
after wars.

Washington k-E Camp Coverage...

Youth editor Bob Jarnagin pulls out of
her© Friday night to head for Washing-
ton, D.C., to help give press and radio
coverage to the National h-R Camp.

k-R Camp Fund Raising Drive...

Be sure to take time out to figure out
your promotion program for the camp fund
raising drive. During Press and Radio
Field Day, a number of editors indicated
that they would like to have more mats
from the college. You may want to talk
this program over with your editors and
show them what mats are available. Mats
can be ordered on the blank which was
included with each packet.
A

Editors Want More Local Experience...

During the past two weeks a number of
editors have asked if it would be possi-
ble for us to put out more actual farm
experience stories — even though the
farmer may not live in the paper's cov-
erage area. This we are going to try to
do. At the same time, we can't hope to
do as good a job of finding and prepar-
ing experience stories as you people can
in the counties. Newspapers and radio
farm directors want stories on what
farmers and homemakers are doing and how
they are doing it. The door is wide
open.

Extension Editorial Office University of Illinois College of Agriculture

Credit to You. > ,

You people will appreciate this men-
tion of Press and Radio Field Day by M.
L. Wilson, Director of the Federal Ex-
tension Service.

"I have had some fine reports on a
field day for newspaper editors and ra-
dio people held by Dean and Director
Rusk, of Illinois, and his staff last
Friday and Saturday. . .The point I liked
most was that the county agents acted as
hosts and brought the editors and radio
people from their counties to the uni-
versity."

If we haven ft said so before, that's
the part the rest of us liked best too.

What About Regional Days?...

Some advisers have suggested the pos-
sibility of holding regional or district
Press and Radio Field Days next year.
One might be held at Dixon Springs, one
at some soils experiment field, one at a
district k-R camp site and so on. These
could be one-day affairs with a picnic
or barbecue in the evening and a general
bull session following. We think the
suggestion has a lot of merit, and it
may be something to think about for
1950* If you have comments, pass them
along.

Just One More Mention...

If your editors ran stories or edito-
rials about the field day and you have a
copy handy, we would like to see it. A
report is being prepared for those who
paid the bills from this end, and these
editorial comments could be included in
this report.

Honors for ^-H Supporters . . .

There are a great many people over the
country who have had a big part in help-
ing promote 4-H club work. Seven of
these people were honored for their con-
tributions at the National Club Camp in
Washington this week.

A mat containing the pictures of the
seven men and women and the story of
their contributions is included in this
week's packet to farm advisers. We were
supplied with only 100 mats, so there
weren't enough to send to both farm and
home advisers.

Promotion Steps Up Office Calls...

Saline county's home adviser, Mary
Harper, says press and radio promotion
have stepped up the office calls for
bulletins and circulars on homemaking
problems. She has a regular column in
the Harrisburg Register and a weekly ra-
dio program on Station WEBQ. During
May, her programs were keyed to communi-
ty activities, with the home bureau and
the P.T.A. cooperating.

Second Call on Radio Survey...

Filling out surveys isn't the most ex-
citing adventure in the world, but your
answers are a big help. That's why farm
radio editor Jack Murray would appreci-
ate your digging into the pile and fill-
ing out the farm radio survey if you
haven't done so already. He'd like opin-
ions from all of you regardless of
whether or not you have a radio program
now.

6/16A9

* ifrs t-:

Extension Editorial Office University of Illinois College of Agriculture

Visual Aids on Parade. ..

Whiteside County's Frank Shuman says,
"TO MOTIVATE,' ILLUSTRATE ." At the same
time, Jonathan B. Turner down in Fayette
County says, "ONE SLIDE IS WORTH MORE
THAN A PAGE OF NOTES,"

Those are the titles of two of the
best articles in the June issue of the
EXTENSION SERVICE REVIEW. If you have
not looked at that publication yet, it
would he a good idea to do it. The June
issue is devoted exclusively to the use
of visual aids in the agricultural ex-
tension program. Every article is worth
reading.

Visual Aids Workshop...

Assistant editor Jack Murray and the
editor will represent Illinois at the
first national visual aids workshop to
be held at Cornell July 11-16. Purpose
of the workshop is to formulate basic
plans and procedures for making the max-
imum use of visual aids in each state's
extension educational program.

We know that many of you have had ex-
tensive experience in the use of photo-
graphs, film strips, slide films, post-
ers, models and so on. Before we leave
for Cornell, we would like to have your
comments and observations. If you have
not had much experience in this field,
we'd like to know what you think should
be done. What help would you like to
have from the state office? What infor-
mation do you need? The more ideas and
suggestions we get from you, the better
we will be able to hold up our end of
the discussion at Cornell.

Field Day Returns.. .

Dean Rusk has received some fine trib-
utes on the Press and Radio Field Day.
Harold Gordon, farm adviser at large,
summed up his views with the comment,
"Again I say it was tops." Farm Adviser
A. R. Kemp, Knox County, sent in some
copies of the Galesburg Register-Mail
which featured pictures and stories from
the Field Day.

We feel that the field day was worth
the time and effort. But we also feel
that it is only one small step in a list
of many that can be taken to better ac-
quaint editors and radio people with the
work of the Extension Service at both
the state and county levels. Inviting
your editors to attend your meetings,
your field days and your tours is just
as important as the invitations to at-
tend an event at the college.

Dixon Springs Stories...

A week or so ago assistant editor Ly-
man Noordhof f made a swing down through
some of the southern counties and ended
up at Dixon Springs with pencil and
notebook in hand. When he and manager
Webb were through, he had notes for a
half dozen stories on the work being
carried on there. The first in this se-
ries of stories is in this week's pack-
et to farm advisers. Many of the les-
sons being learned at Dixon Springs ap-
ply to all sections of the state. You
men in the southern counties will be es-
pecially interested in the reports.

6/23A9

Extension Editorial Office University of Illinois College of Agriculture

The Human Side of News*,, \ >/Stories to Be Told...

Once in a while we run across a story
that strikes us as tops. It doesn't
happen very often— Just once in a while.

We ran across such a story the other
day. What made it more pleasing was the
fact that it was in a set of releases
which went out from this office. Maybe
you saw it.

The story was about a Stephenson Coun-
ty k-E club boy who lost his calf in a
fire, and how the members of his club
chipped in and bought him another. Club
leaders Mr. and Mrs. Paul Kaiser, of
Freeport, also chipped in.

The story was less than a page long,
but in many respects it told more about
h-B club work than all the stories that
have been written on state and national
project winners.

Youth editor Bob Jarnagin wrote the
story on this end, but he had welcome
cooperation from Stephenson County youth
assistant Howard Richards, who supplied
the details. The tip came from a write- -
up in the local paper.

There's nothing we would like better
than to put out a story like that every
week. We have the facilities to send it
to every weekly and daily newspaper and
radio station in the state— and quite a
few outside the state. BUT we need tips
from you.

Take Advantage of Summer. ..

Summer is the time for fishing. It
also is the best time to demonstrate the
value of a farm and home news service to
your local editors. Many editors find
that news sources tend to dry up in the
summer. School is out. People are on
vacations. Copy is short and hard to
get • Your editor would welcome some good

Town vt qttc y»/~>*I 1 r» v\

The summer months are news months on
the farm. There are hundreds of local
stories to be told. You've probably
told some of them already. Here are
some we think of:

Who is the fellow down the road who
keeps summer milk production high with
his knee-deep legume-grass pastures?
What is his pasture program? Why?

How much did it cost his neighbor to
install those pole-type livestock shades
in the pasture? How were they made?

How much difference can you see in tho
corn fields that followed alfalfa or
clover compared with the corn fields
that followed corn?

What's the summer swine feeding pro-
gram of that fellow who tops the early
fall market every year?

What labor-saving practices does that
farmer follow so that he has time to
serve as leader of a U-H club, as soil
conservation district director, and as
farm bureau board member?

Who is feeding beef cattle on pasture
this summer, and what program do they
follow?

A clean oats field just before harvest
means paying attention to cleaning and
treating the seed in the spring.

Who saved the cost of a field sprayer
by building one in his farm shop? How
was it made? How does it work?

How does the couple on the edge of
town maintain summer egg production?

Well, you get the point we are trying
to make. Summer months are news months
on the farm.

* t /. _ _

[tension Editorial Office

University of Illinois

College of Agriculture

Press-Radio Packets*. .

l/' Local News — Local News...

During Press and Radio Field Day, the
suggestion was made that copies of all
information be assembled and mailed to
editors and advisers.

When the copies were assembled, it
seemed like too much bulk to send to
every editor in the state. For that
reason, we are just sending copies of
the material to you. It will go out in
a separate package this week.

A note is being sent to weekly and
daily editors telling them that stories
covering the information presented dur-
ing the Field Day will be prepared and
sent out through our regular service.

Top Notch Reporting.

This week* 8 orchid goes to Champaign
county's Bill Bunn and his staff for a
first rate reporting job on the grain
storage problem. Pages 1 and 2 of the
•June issue of the county Farm Bureau
News were devoted to the problem of
storing grain on the farm. Facts and
figures on the national and state situa-
tion were coupled with on- the- farm re-
ports of what some of the farmers in the
county had done and were doing about
grain storage. There were some excel-
lent pictures of cribs on a number of
farms, with the necessary details on
when and how the cribs were built.

One day last week a group of Farm Ad-
visers were in for a conference. Abcut
an hour was spent discussing information
problems and procedures.

As it usually does, one troublesome
point was mentioned. It was that edi-
tors are reluctant to run anything but
"local" stories. They take the position
that they can't use a story about a col-
lege specialist because it isn't local.

You probably have run into the same
thing and have wondered what to do about
it. Here's one thought you might talk
over with your editors.

He is right that local news makes the
best news. At the same time, when a
story is written about a farm problem,
that farm problem is local. In other
words, when Harry Russell prepares a
story on how to care for hogs on pas-
ture, Harry isn't a local person— but
the hog problem is a local problem. And
if it is handled right, it can be treat-
ed as local news. The story should be
pegged to the problem and not to the
source of information.

And just because a lot of other people
have the same problem, that doesn't mean
it's any less severe to the fellow down
the road.

News From Summer Heat...

Fly-Ccntrol Let-Down.

If you have been carrying on a fly-
control campaign in the county, this is
the time to be on guard for a let -down.
A good run of stories will help remind
the people that the fight doesn't stop
with one round of the spray gun.

The one positive thing we can say a-
bout a summer heat wave is that it makes
a good peg for news. Summer heat af-
fects egg quality, milk and cream quali-
ty, comfort and efficiency of farm ani-
mals—as well as humans. One theme for
your week's news packet might be "Beat-
ing the Heat Wave on the Farm."

lIlM

Skeleton Office Force...

Four members of the editorial office
are away this week, but the regular news
stories and radio programs still go on.
Jessie Heathman is vacationing on the
West Coast after attending the American
Home Economics association convention in
San Francisco. Mrs. Helen Chamberlain
is vacationing here at home. And Eadio
Editor Jack Murray and our boss, Hadley
Read, are attending the Visual Aids work-
shop at Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.,
after representing Illinois at the con-
vention of agricultural college editors.

Incidentally. . .

Illinois placed fifth in the over-
all competition at the AAACE meeting.
(That's American Association of Agricul-
tural College Editors.) Iowa State Col-
lege won top honors, with North Carolina
only a point behind. Next in order came
Indiana, Minnesota, Illinois, South Caro-
lina, Texas, Michigan and Oregon (tied
for 8th), and then Pennsylvania. This
report comes from the newspaper — no word
at all from Hadley or Jack. Maybe they
are enjoying their "vacation" too much
to write, or maybe they're sad about not
winning first place again this year as
Illinois did in 19kQ. Anyway, more de-
tails when they return Monday, July 18.

A Reminder. . .

For Southern Illinois counties which
plan to enter the Farm and Home Improve-
ment Contest, the deadline for entries
is August 1. Eligible counties received
a special news story by 1 l/2^ mail last
week.

Grain Storage Building Flans. . .

■ By now you*ve received the booklet
"Grain Storage Building Plans," with a
picture and description of 30 granaries
and com cribs. It's a stockpile of the
best thinking by farm buildings special-
ists at Ik midwest agricultural schools.
It costs only 25^, and to us it looks
like the best two-bit investment a man
can make. Our UI ag engineers contrib-
uted at least 5 plans.

New Round Grain Storage Bin. . .

Another mighty handy help is Plan
492. That's the new round bin for corn,
soybeans, oats, wheat, or other small
grains. It was designed by D.G. Carter
and his crew in the ag engineering de-
partment. It uses a new material, l/7
inch thick, made of a wood core and tough
asphalt- resin paper. Two men can build
this bin in one day, at a cost of only 10
cents per bushel too, not counting the
floor. It's a semi- permanent bin, and
the test bin built by the engineers here
withstood some pretty severe Jarring in
its 112 hours under test. Plans cost only
15 cents. The booklet of 30 plans and
Plan k92 certainly aren't the answer to
all grain storage problems, but a good
many farmers should find plenty of help
in them.

Another Reminder...

Ernest Walker has written another
powerful soil conservation story in Cir-
cular 6kh, Just printed. You might well
promote "The Story of A Lake" every way
you can.

Time for Reflection... National Recognition...

During the past two weeks, we nave been
neck-deep in editorial and communication
problems and discussions. We have had a
chance to pat ourselves on the back and
kick ourselves in the pants. This is
what it boils down to, editorially speak-
ing:

As youfve been told, Illinois ranked
fifth out of 38 states in its press,
radio, publications and visual aids en-
tries. The Community Survival circular
rated "Excellent," and so did our edito-
rial services to farm and heme advisers.
We didi't agree with the Judges on seme
of their ratings- -but then they wouldn't
have agreed with us.

The score isn't too important. There
was a chance to compare our work with
that from many other states. My general
reaction is that the things we are doing
we are doing pretty well — but there are
things we should be doing that we aren't
doing at all. Here are three things we
should be doing:

1. Holding workshop sessions on press,
radio and visual aids problems — with you
folks in the counties and with the folks
here on the staff who are interested.

2. Developing a visual aids program--
movies, slide sets, posters, artwork, ex-
hibits. On this score, Illinois has a
long way to go.

3. Planning for television. It may not
be as far off as it seems now. We may not
be ready when it comes. Visual aids and
television are tied closely together.

Several months ago free-lance writer
Alfred Sinks stopped in at the United
States Department of Agriculture and
happened to see a copy of Illinois Cir-
cular 633 > "COMMUNITY SURVIVAL." The
circular and the story it contained im-
pressed him, and he took it to the edi-
tor of Collier's magazine. The result
was a story assignment on the Illinois
program.

Sinks1 story appeared in the July 2
issue of Collier's. Some of you may have
seen it. In case you didn't, there's a
reprint in this week's packet to farm
and home advisers. The reprints were
ordered by H. Clay Tate, editor of the
Daily Pantagraph In Blocmington, and he
made copies available for us to. send to
you. It is an excellent treatment of
the community betterment program.

Also in the Packet...

Another in the series of pictorial
charts by Dr. R. W. Bartlett is in this
week's packet to farm advisers.

A Request From Mosbacher. . .

From McLean County, Gene Mosbacher
wants to know if it would be possible
for us to send out mats of some of the
plans for grain storage structures. We
think it will, and we will try to do it.
Bob Jarnagin is working on the problem
right now. We are also trying to get
together a kit of stories on the whole
storage situation.

7/21A9

Extension Editorial Office University of Illinois College of Agriculture

Answering Editors 1 Questions. . .

Henry county's Kenneth Flake recently
sent us a copy of a letter he had writ-
ten to editor Tom Bates of the GENESEO
BEFUBLIC. Editor Bates evidently had
asked some questions about the county
information program. And Kenneth did a
beautiful job of answering them. Here
is a part of the letter:

"In the past we have tried to send
most of our news articles from this of-
fice on Saturday or Monday morning. We
do this because we are especially inter-
ested in getting our stories to the
weekly papers . . .

"As we continue our educational pro-
gram in Henry County, we become more and
more aware of the important place which
our county newspapers should and do oc-
cupy in bringing accurate and up-to-date
agricultural information to our farm-
families in Henry county.

"Some of this information such as sto-
ries about corn borers, soil erosion,
livestock management, and other common
fact farm problems may not be spectacu-
lar news material; but I do believe that
our farm readers appreciate this atten-
tion on the part of the newspapers, the
extension service and the Farm and Home
Advisers to bring information to them
which will help them in their farming
operations.

"We feel that the editors of the coun-
ty are teammates in working with the
University and Extension personnel, so
that the farmer of the county can obtain
the information he needs to become a
better farmer economically and social-

Service to All Farmers...

There are those who would like to
charge that the Extension Service is
guilty of showing preference to certain
groups of farmers, primarily those be-
longing to the county farm bureau.

A top-notch, county wide press and ra-
dio information program is obvious evi-
dence that such a charge is groundless.
News and educational information in the
local papers and broadcast over local
radio stations is plainly of service to
all farmers and everyone else interested
in farming.

In Greene county, Farm Adviser W. H.
Brown has gone one step further. In ad-
dition to his regular press and radio
releases, he recently inaugurated a
monthly extension newsletter. In send-
ing us a copy of it, Adviser Brown said:

"This newsletter is designed to sup-
plement the farm bureau newsletter,
which goes out automatically to members
and a few prospective members sometime
during the first two weeks of the month,
whereas the extension newsletter is to
be mailed, out the latter part of the
month to every farmer in the county re-
gardless of affiliation with agricultur-
al organizations,

"It is our feeling that this monthly
contact with all farmers will be one way
in which we can be assured that every
farmer in the county receives certain
timely information."

7/28A9

. r

Extension Editorial Office University of Illinois College of Agriculture

Mats of Kammlade and Smith...

We had hoped to have mats of both Dr.
Kammlade and Dr. Smith ready to send
with the announcement stories. We did
not get them in time. So a mat of Dr.
Kammlade is in this week's packet to
farm advisers and one of Dr. Smith is in
the packet to home advisers. Mats of
both also have been mailed to all daily
newspapers in the state.

Mats on Corn Cribs. . .

Following Gene Mosbacher's suggestion,
we are ordering mats of line drawings of
7 corn cribs. Proofs of the mats will
be sent to you as soon as they are ready
and you can order the mats you want.

State Fair Coverage...

Radio editors Jessie Eeathman and Jack
Murray along with youth editor Bob Jar-
nagin will pull up stakes next week and
head for the State Fair. Jessie and
Jack will air their three programs a day
starting Saturday, August 13, and Bob
will serve as key man for the press cov-
erage of the Junior Show.

Fair nevrs is spot news, and most edi-
tors like to have it while it's fresh.
If you have winners at the Fair, you may
want to invest a few dollars in tele-
grams to your county daily newspapers.

Too Numerous to Mention. . .

[ The other day Bob Walker brought in a
6- page summary of comments on the June
Press and Radio Field Day taken from
your monthly reports for June. They
made the whole affair well worth the

Front Page Farm News...

Stark county's farm adviser W. E. Me-
yers recently sent us a copy of the
Stark County News as proof positive that
a good many weekly papers feel that farm
news should be front-page ■ stuff. The
lead story was on the small grain har-
vest. In addition, there were stories
on h-E club activities, grain storage
loans, dangers of oats heating in the
bin, the report on Illinois spring pig
crop and a follow-up report on fly con-
trol— all on the front page.

Promote Outlook Meetings . . .

Special conference with Larry Simerl
this morning set the wheels in motion
for some special promotion materials on
the fall livestock outlook meetings.

Assistant editor Lyman Noordhoff will
ride herd on this project for the next
10 days. We hope to mail some special
stories and some suggestions for direct
mailings to you by the end of next week.
At the same time, we'll help promote the
meetings on a state-wide basis.

Those of you who have early meetings
scheduled will want to get the stuff out
Just as soon as possible. Number one
item should be to see that your press
and radio editors receive a special in-
vitation to attend the meetings.

Fly Control in the News...

Conference with Pete Petty this after-
noon to give a push to the fly control
program. August and September are peak
months for flies.

Ilk

........... *#**yz*g3!8Z ~*%

Extension Editorial Office

University of Illinois

College of Agriculture

Special Promotion Aids...

l&£ry Simerl stopped in the other day
with the tentative schedule for the more
than 85 livestock outlook meetings start-
ing August 29 in Will and Edwards coun-
ties. We thought it would he interest-
ing to see if we could break all attend-
ance records for this year's meetings.
The big job of promoting meetings and
getting farmers to attend is in your
hands. Here are some of the things we
are doing which we thought might help:

1. In this week's packet you'll find
a set of special promotion aids and sug-
gestions prepared by assistant editor
Lyman Noordhoff . The set includes spe-
cial advance stories, a suggested letter
of invitation to local press and radio
editors, two examples of direct mail let-
ters you may want to send to farmers , and

Check Specialist Mat File...

It might be a good idea to check your
mat file to see if you have a mat of the
specialist who will appear at your out-
look meeting. If not, you can order
them from here.

Grain Storage Mats Ready...

Mats of seven of the grain storage
plans illustrated in the Grain Storage
Building Plans booklet are now availa-
ble. The mats are for the drawings of
the following plans: Nos. 73252, 73271,
73282, 73283, 7329*+, 73295 and 77M6.

You can order any or all of the mats
on the order blank enclosed in this
week's packet to farm advisers.

To .Motivate— ILLUSTRATE. . .

a page or two of radio "spot" fillers.

2. After you've received your materi-
al, we will send a state-wide coverage
story to all weekly and daily newspapers
and radio stations. Copies of the ten-
tative schedule will go to daily and ra-
dio editors with the suggestion that
they get in touch with you for more in-
formation. There also will be addition-
al advance stories to these outlets.

3» A special story is being prepared
for Prairie Farmer which will include
pictures of some of the specialists who
are assisting with the meetings.

h* A special advance radio transcrip-
tion to be sent to a selected list of
radio stations over the state is being
prepared by Jack Murray and will feature
some of the specialists who will appear
at the outlook meetings.

For 10 minutes we've been sitting here
trying to think of the right words to
describe the kind of job Adviser F. H.
Shuman does when he sets out to promote
something. All we can think of is the
overused word TERRIFIC I His August is-
sue of the Whiteside County Farm Bureau
News is just that. His double-page cen-
ter spread has a streamer head which
shouts "BUILD FOR THE FUTURE WITH PRE-
MIUM PASTURES." There's more motiva-
tion, illustration, promotion and educa-
tion packed in that spread than we've
seen in ages. In two pictures he shows
dairy herds udder deep in legume- grass
pastures. He gives the production re-
cords on those cows. Then with a punch
he shows a herd of 19 cows on a pasture
that is little more than an exercise
yard — he gives production figures for
those cows too. And he gives 1-2-3 recom-
mendations for August and April seedings
and tells why to do it, how to do it and

Extension Editorial Office University of Illinois

Out of the Dark.

College of Agriculture

A Plan for Visual Aids Product ion .

Last week we mentioned some things we During the past year members of the
™U _r?.t0 do .t0 hflP Promote the se- Information Coordination Committee here

jne considering the

COOPERATIVE EXTENSION WORK IN AGRICULTURE AND HOME ECONOMICS

COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE, UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS, AND U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE COOPERATING

WHAT IS YOUR OPINION OF THE OUTLOOK PROMOTION MATERIAL SENT
TO YOU LAST WEEK?

Isual aids program
ce and the College
. interest was cre-
Visual Aids Work-
ornell ,

is now heading up
posal stage o We
e basic organiza-
up.1 aids program.

on what this pro-
ad how it can help
nittee would like

and suggestions c
t- -mot ion pictures
fou use more slide
weniently avail-
iher make your own
)tion pictures do
i more?

A spot check once in a while will
help. For that reason, we've attached a
self-addressed card to this letter. It
asks one question: "WHAT IS YOUR OPIN-
ION OF THE OUTLOOK PROMOTION MATERIAL
SENT TO YOU LAST WEEK?"

Reminder on Grain Storage Mats...

In case you were out of the office
when last week's packet arrived, don't
forget to check your needs on mats of
grain storage building illustrations,
we have mats of seven of the buildings
available. Use the order blank enclosed
lasx week.

> with exhibits?
""v-* w OUUUiU wrey De used? What kind
should they be? Is there a place for
window displays? Do you have a need for
posters, charts and chart sets? How can
they best be used? On what subjects?
Do you have any evidence that slide*
movies and other visual aids make for
better meetings and a more effective
educational program?

What kind of help do you need on cam-
eras, camera equipment, picture-taking
proolems? What have you found to be the
best use for black and white photos?

Your suggestions
boundaries
here 7"

should help set th e

any program

developed

U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
EXTENSION SERVICE

WASHINGTON. D. C.

PENALTY FOR PRIVATE USE TO AVO
PAYMENT OF POSTAGE. S300

OFFICIAL BUSINESS

111. 40011, 7-49— 1420M
PERMIT NO. 1001

HADLRY READ
EXTENSION EDITOR
EXTENSION EDITORIAL OFFICE
33U MUMFORD HALL
URBAN A, ILLINOIS

Extension Editorial Office University of Illinois

College of Agriculture

Out of the Dark.o.

Last week we mentioned some things we
would try to do to help promote the se-
ries of livestock outlook meetings. One
of those things was the special set of
promotion aids included in last week's
packet for your use.

As we worked on this material , we had
to depend upon our "best judgment as to
the kind of stuff that would help you.
That's been true in the past, and it
will probably be true in the future.
Sometimes we think we have some good
ideas. But there are other times when
we probably miss the boat.

It seems logical that we could do a
better job if you would throw a little
light on the problem. As a guide to the
future, we need to know what's good and
what's bad about the material we send
out --especially what's bad. We need to
know what parts of it you can use and
what parts you can't use. It's a waste
of time to keep making the same mis-
takes.

A spot check once in a while will
help. For that reason, we've attached a
self -addressed card to this letter. It
asks one question: "WHAT IS YOUR OPIN-
ION OF THE OUTLOOK PROMOTION MATERIAL
SENT TO YOU LAST WEEK?"

Reminder on Grain Storage Mats...

In case you were out of the office
when last week's packet arrived, don't
forget to check your needs on mats of
grain storage building illustrations.
We have mats of seven of the buildings
available. Use the order blank enclosed
last week.

A Plan for Visual Aids Production.

During the past year members of the
Information Coordination Committee here
have spent a lot of time considering the
need for an expanded visual aids program
in the Extension Service and the College
of Agriculture. Added interest was cre-
ated at the National Visual Aids Work-
shop held in July at Cornell.

All this discussion is now heading up
into the definite proposal stage. We
will try to set up the basic organiza-
tional plan for a visual aids program.
Many of you have ideas on what this pro-
gram should include and how it can help
you the most. The committee would like
to have your ideas and suggestions e
Which is more important --mot ion pictures
or slide sets? Could you use more slide
sets if they were conveniently avail-
able? Or would you rather make your own
sets? What kind of motion pictures do
we need? Could you use more?

How far should we go with exhibits?
Where should they be used? What kind
should they be? Is there a place for
window displays? Do you have a need for
posters, charts and chart sets? How can
they best be used? On what subjects?
Do you have any evidence that slides,
movies and other visual aids make for
better meetings and a more effective
educational program?

What kind of help do you need on cam-
eras, camera equipment, picture-taking
problems? What have you found to be the
best use for black and white photos?

Your suggestions should help set the
boundaries of any program developed"
here.

Extension Editorial Office University of Illinois College of Agriculture

Reflections While House Painting. ..

Wonder whether we should have Press
and Radio Field Day next year •••Amazed
at the number of editors who were amazed
at the activities going on at the Col-
lege. ••Lot of work, ••Farm and home advis-
ers did a good job contacting editors •••
Might have even bigger turnout next year
. • .How do painters keep paint from run-
ning down their wrists ...And down their
necks,

•• .Funny thing about that one editor
who says he doesn't like the way we
write farm copy, • .Wonder if he ever
lived on a farm •••Or knows anything
about farm problems •• .Would go nuts try-
ing to write to please them all. • .Anyway
the phone isn't ringing up here,,.

...Television may be closer than we
think,.. We aren't ready for it... With a
network, one farm demonstration could
reach 50 thousand farm families at one
time... Need visual aids program first ...
Good program depends upon finding the
right man to head it up... Hard to find...
One of the oldest fields but few people
trained in it... Wonder how far a ladder
can bend without breaking...

...Wonder what advisers would rate as
the top help we could give them... Cer-
tainly more fill-in stories aren't the
answer.. .They've got better stuff to
write about for local papers than we
have... And many doing a swell job...
Talked about series of district confer-
ences on writing and radio problems...
Just talk... No act ion... Takes time and
planning.. .Waste of time to go out and
do a half-baked job... Might set them up
on workshop basis... Or combine with din-
ner meetings with editors and chew the
fat ...Talk over mutual problems ., .Funny
how you get -used to. paint smell after a

T.V4 1 —

Gremlin in the Works,..

If you didn't know, every editorial
office has special gremlins. The edi-
torial gremlin has a head like this ' , a
tail like this ), and two eyes like this
00 • They specialize in twisting the
keys on the typewriters. At least that
is the only reason we can give for the
mix-up in the methoxychlor and chlordane
recommendations sent to you last week.
A postcard setting the record straight
went out Monday so you wouldn't think
fly-control specialist Petty was flying
the wrong way.

Shake Hands Again...

On September 1, one of Wisconsin's
daughters Joins the staff as assistant
extension editor in the home economics
editorial section. Her name is Claire
O'Konski and she takes the place of Joan
Miller, who resigned in June to take
graduate work at Cornell. Claire is a
'^9 graduate in home economics journalism
from the University of Wisconsin and
worked as a heme economics editor on the
Dairyland News during her last year in
school. She's a farm girl and knows
farm people and farm problems. We're
all glad to have her on the staff, but
probably most glad is home ec editor
Jessie Heathman, who's been holding down
the corner single handed all summer.
Stop in and shake hands with Claire.

Another New Face...

Before you put the coffee cup down,
shake hands with Margie Herbert. She
joins the stenographic force after Labor
Day to take the place of Dorothy Scott,
who leaves later in the month with her

* ■« - — . . . -

Extension Editorial Office University of Illinois College of Agriculture

Turn the Process Around...

From time to time, we've mentioned
studies aimed at answering the question:
"Where do farm people get the informa-
tion they use to improve farming?" There
was an Iowa study, a Minnesota study,
one in Vermont and one in Alabama.

In every one, the top three sources
mentioned were magazines, newspapers and
radio • And the studies weren't made by
editors either*

When you think about it, the results of
those studies are not surprising. Almost
every home has a radio; nearly all homes
take one or more newspapers and as many
as three or four magazines.

Let's look at it another way. In ex-
tension work, we think of ourselves as
educators. We are the dispensers of ed-
ucational information. But at the same
time we are being educated every day.
Where do we get the new pieces of infor-
mation we add to our knowledge? Take
polio, for example.

The public in Illinois is probably
pretty well informed on the symptoms,
probable causes and treatment of polio.
Where did the people get their informa-
tion? Where did you get your informa-
tion?

A few may have gone to public meetings
on polio. Some may have talked directly
with their doctors. Others got it from
neighbors. But the majority probably
got most of their information from three
sources--magazines, newspapers and radio.

During the past three weeks, I have
read a dozen newspaper stories on polio,
heard twice that many news broadcasts
including a special half -hour program
from the Champaign county polio hospital,
and studied a big picture spread on the
disease in Life magazine.

More of the Same...

For the most part, you and I depend
upon magazines, newspapers and the radio
to keep us informed on state, national
and international affairs. We get sore
as a boil if the paper boy forgets to
deliver the evening paper or the dog
chews it up before we read it. We can
get snappish if someone interrupts when
we are listening to our favorite news-
caster. Our magazine rack may have
copies of Time, Newsweek, Saturday Even-
ing Post, Better Homes and Gardens,
House Beautiful, Country Gentleman, Suc-
cessful Farming, Farm Journal, Prairie
Farmer and the Farm Bureau News.

If we are completely honest with our-
selves, most of us would rather slouch
down in an easy chair and read about the
United Nations organization in our fa-
vorite magazine than drive 20 miles to
hear our local congressman conduct a
meeting on the same subject.

When the process is turned around and
we are getting the education rather than
giving it — we like it wrapped up in
bright packages and given to us in a
convenient way. In my own case, I be-
came quite concerned about several maga-
zine articles on the faults of our
school system, but had to force myself
to go to two out of six PTA meetings at
the school where my kids get their ed-
ucation. And the meetings were only
three blocks away.

Well, you see what we're driving at.
The people we are trying to reach with
our educational information are about
the same kind of animals we are. They
have about the same likes and dislikes,
the same resistance coils and high ten-
sion batteries. What appeals to us ap-
peals to them.

Sxtension Editorial Office

University of Illinois

College of Agriculture

Many Thanks . . .

Thanks for the comments on the promo-
tion material for the fall livestock
outlook meetings. Your suggestions help
keep us on the right track. The same
goes for your ideas on visual aids de-
velopment .

Roske & Co. Furnish News...

Concentration on white paint and rail
fences has prevented our giving special
mention to the "Farm Bureau Picnic and
k-E Club Round-Up Section" appearing in
the August 18 issue of the Savanna
TIMES- JOURNAL.

This special 12-page section was de-
voted exclusively to the Carroll County
picnic and k-E round-up. Farm Adviser
M. P. Roske writes, "In cooperating on
this, they did the work, and we dug up
the news. They are covering the whole
county with this special issue."

The section was packed with news and
feature stories, and most of the ads
plugged farm "bureau and k-E Club work.
A swell job all the way around.

Bartlett vs. Brannan — Mat..*

Another in the monthly series of pic-
torial charts in mat form is in this
week's packet to farm advisers. In it
Dr. Bartlett presents some easily under-
stood facts and figures on the estimated
cost of the Brannan Farm Program. He
lets the figures speak for themselves—
and they seem to be saying, "You ain't
gonna get something for nothing ,
brother."

9/8A9

What ' s Kentucky Got . . .
...That We Ain't Got...

. . .And How Did They Get It. . .

From the way it looks here, the Ken-
tucky Agricultural Extension Service is
stealing the jump on the country. From
an editor's viewpoint, they are planning
one of the most unusual, the most valu-
able, the most stimulating, the most
constructive, the most ambitious, uni-
que, interesting, challenging, inspir-
ing, gratifying, and satisfying fall
extension conferences ever held.

For their fall extension conference in
November, Kentucky is devoting the whole
show to just three topics. You guessed
it— PRESS, RADIO and VISUAL AIDS. For
the 3 days Kentucky's extension workers
are going to throw all other problems
aside and give their undivided attention
to the three kingpins of mass communica-
tion.

How do we know? Because Illinois is
furnishing one-third of the talent. As-
sistant editor Jack Murray has been
asked to head up all radio phases of the
conference. The plan is to divide the
group into three workshop sections.
Each group will spend one day on radio,
one day on press and one day on visual
aids.

We admit to a small portion of bias in
our thinking.

Farm News From Freeport . > .

Just saw a copy of the special fair
and farm edition of the Freeport JOURNAL
STANDARD. Another top farm reporting
job, and much credit goes to Adviser V.J.
Banter as a news furnisher. Assistant
editors Lyman Noordhoff and Bob Jarnagin
furnished a parcel of special stories

Xtension Editorial Office

University of Illinois

College of Agriculture

200 Local News Names...

McHenry County's Bill Tammeus stopped
in the office the other day and tossed a
copy of his September 8 farm page on the
desk. Said he thought he had a record.

Being in a stubborn mood that morning,
we said, "Yeah--what kind of record?"

"You're always talking about local
names," Bill said, "and I just wanted to
see if you knew what you were talking
about . "

"What's that got to do with a record?"
we growled back.

"Look at the paper and you'd know what
that's got to do with a record," Bill
said, getting a little edgy himself.
"There must be close to 200 local names
on that farm page, and if that isn't a
record, I'll eat the top half and you
can eat the bottom."

We handed Bill a cup of coffee and
took a look. Right smack in the middle
were two group pictures of farmers who
had pitched in to help a neighbor this
summer following a farm accident. Those
two pictures accounted for 25 local
names. The story that went with it ac-
counted for some more.

Another story carried the names of the
U-H Club boys who were going to the judg-
ing contest. Names of McHenry County
farmers recognized for achievement in
DHIA work were carried in a third story.

Bill's weekly column "Around the Coun-
ty" featured local names all the way.

When our eyes quit bulging we gave the
page a quick count and came up with 166
different local names mentioned. Since
some of the names were included in dif-
ferent stories, the complete count was
a little under 200.

Before we could recover, Bill put down
his cup and said, "See what I mean?" and
walked out.

Special Column for Daily News...

The clothing division of the depart-
ment of home economics this week started
an ambitious project with the Chicago
DAILY NEWS. With home economics editors
Jessie Heathman and Claire 0'Konski giv-
ing a hand from this office, the cloth-
ing people will furnish the NEWS with a
daily home sewing and clothing column.
The feature will run five days a week —
Monday through Friday. The request for
the column came from the newspaper, and
it will mean reaching thousands of Chi-
cago and downstate homemakers with the
latest in home sewing information.

Bill Bunn Scores Again. . .

In July we mentioned the top-notch re-
porting job on the grain storage problem
turned in by Bill Bunn in his Champaign
County Farm Bureau News.

In the August issue he scores again
with a front page spread under the head-
ing "What Will We Do With All This
Com?" Two big pictures highlight the
page. One is a closeup of towering corn
stalks, and the other is a feedlot shot
of cattle on feed. The caption under
the picture reads, "The best place to
store grain is under the mellow hides of
fast growing animals."

In the story, Bill presents a clear
picture of the problem and alternative
steps a farmer might take in solving it.

Breaking Attendance Records...

Harry Russell and Larry Simerl report
top crowds of interested farmers at the
livestock outlook meetings so far. They
give credit to the kind of advance promo-
tion job you farm advisers are doing on
the meetings.

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>': I;

^tension Editorial Office University of Illinois College of Agriculture

Pike Challenges McHenry's Record... Look Pretty for Television...

If you want to meet a challenge, start
talking about records down in Pike Coun-
ty. Home Adviser Helen Hackman will be
the first to say, "Let's look at the
facts."

Helen has a subtle way of letting you
read between the lines. She writes: "I
notice this morning. . .your mention of
the use of local names. I happen to
have on my desk a copy of the Pike Coun-
ty Republican which contained an article
on the Pike County Show. I refer you to
page 1, page 3 and page 6."

Notice how simply she does it. She
doesn't say we're all wrong. She does-
n't claim a record. She just says, "I
refer you to page 1, page 3 and page 6."

Well, that's just what we did. We re-
ferred there. We stopped counting when
we got past the 200 mark and wired Bill
Tammeus to send the cornstalk trophy to
Helen.
I Next

Of Which We Spoke...

Still thought you farm advisers woulcf
like to take a look at Bill's farm page,
even though it gets the clover trophy
for second place. A copy is enclosed in
this week's packet.

Push Corn Storage Plans . . .

We've reordered the mats of the 7 corn
storage plans if any of you need more.
You'll want to make sure that every
weekly and daily in your county knows
about them in case they want to use the
mats.

9/22A9

The big opportunity coming over the
hill for agricultural and home economics
educators is television. From the way
it looks here, the feminine side has
shown the most vision for television.

Illinois home advisers have joined
with other home demonstration agents o-
ver the country in asking that a full
hour be set aside at their annual Novem-
ber meeting for demonstrations and dis-
cussions on this new mass communication
medium.

Chief arranger for this venture is
colleague Jessie Heathman, who also
serves as chairman of the radio committee
for the National Association of Home
Demonstration Agents.

The tentative plans call for a two-way
approach to the television problem, with
USDA and Chicago station experts par-
ticipating. Jessie says a number of home
agents who have worked with television
will be on hand to discuss some of the
problems .

The Logic of Leadership...

Not being a sociologist, we're on thin
ice here. But have you ever tried sit-
ting down and listing the 10 people in a
community who seem to have the most in-
fluence in community affairs? We'd be
surprised if the newspaper editor were-
n't included on most lists — not all of
them, but most of them. The banker
would probably be another, and the local
minister.

If such a list could be made up, it
would be a pretty good idea to see that
those people were currently informed on
the county extension program. Especial-
ly the editor.

■ • I

^tension Editorial Office University of Illinois College of Agriculture

News Reports Are~"Proof Positive... Comments by Hoppin. . .

From Tazewell county, Home Adviser
Marion Sympson's report for August is a
masterpiece of detailed narrative re-
porting on the home economics extension
activities. The thing we liked best,
though, was the supporting evidence
Marion included in her report. There
were 7 or 8 pages of newspaper clippings
which prove conclusively that she has
the cooperation of her editors and that
the people of Tazewell county are "being
kept informed on k-R and home economics
programs. Keeping people informed is
one of the first steps in bringing them
into the fold.

Soybeans Add or Take Nitrogen?...

Farmers and other agricultural spe-
cialists still argue about whether soy-
beans add nitrogen to the soil or take
it away.

To help throw some light on that ques-
tion, soils specialist Clyde Linsley has
prepared a pictorial mat to help present
the facts. The mat and story are in
this week's packet to farm advisers.

Sewing Column Starts...

The Chicago Daily News started the new
home sewing column last Tuesday. As
we mentioned before, the daily Monday-
through-Friday column will be prepared
by staff members of the textiles and
clothing division here. You home advi-
sers will want to watch for it.

Bell Ringers Again. . .

The September issues of the Champaign
County Farm Bureau News and the Macon
County Outlook ring the bell again for

Farm Adviser Hoppin stopped in the
office the other day. After we had fin-
ished solving the problems of the world,
Fred mentioned three college courses he
thought had helped him in his present
job. The three courses were Agricultur-
al Journalism, Press and Public Opinion
and Salesmanship.

19^8 Press-Radio Figures...

From Les Schlup!s Division of Exten-
sion Information in Washington comes the
report that county extension workers set
an all-time high for published news ar-
ticles in 19^8. The record shows that
county workers in the United States
turned out an amazing 83^,735 news arti-
cles last year. That's an average of
more than 99 articles for every full-
time and part-time county worker.

In radio, county workers also set a
new record of 105,3^8 broadcasts in '48.
That's an average of 12 l/2 broadcasts for
every worker — more than double the aver-
age for 19^7 • Ten years ago the aver-
age was 3*6.

We would wager that Illinois ranks in
the top 5 states in both news articles
and radio broadcasts.

Speaking of Radio. . .

A report in the Ogle County Farmer
says that Farm Adviser C. L. Banner has
joined the ranks of regular broadcast-
ers. He'll give news, views and infor-
mation over Station WSDR, Sterling, ev-
ery Thursday noon.

Incidentally, the Ogle County Farmer
is another neat, clean, well-made-up
newspaper- style farm bureau publication.

q/oq/Lq

'i F -

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ctension Editorial Office

University of Illinois

College of Agriculture

Names , Names , Names , Names . . .

When you think of all the words that

are written that don't say much, it's

refreshing to get a brief message that
says a lot.

We got a message like that the other
day from Mercer County's hard-working
team of Howard Haynes and Arlene Wol-
fram. It was on a small slip of paper,
and all it said was "Names in the news —
Next!" It so happened the message was
attached to the Aug. 31 issue of the Al-
edo DAILY TIMES RECORD. A bold red pen-
cil had been used to circle nine stories
so filled with local names they were
bulging out at the commas. So crown the
new champions and drink a toast to the
value of local names in the news--lots
of them.

Changes in Farm Law. . .

Harold (Hank) Hannah has prepared an-
other valuable brief summary of "Recent
Changes in Illinois Farm Law." A copy
is included in this week's packet to
farm advisers. Copies are also being
sent to all daily newspapers in the
state .

Country Gent. Features Chorus...

The October issue of Country Gentleman
has a feature spread on the Illinois Ru-
ral Chorus program. It's called "They
Sing for Fun," and you'll find it on
page 1+0.

In the Farm Front section, take a look
at Clyde Linsley's write-up on Farmer
Alfred Jacob's program for getting 100-
bushel-per-acre corn yields for a 10-
vear averacre.,

Promoting "The Green Premise" . . .

In her monthly news bulletin, Perry
County Home Adviser Grace Armstrong
high- lighted the showing of the k-E mov-
ie "The Green Promise." One thing that
struck us was the example of two-way co-
operation with the local movie house.
The theater manager
U-H clubs 25 percent
ticket sales as part of their camp fund-
raising activities.

offered the local
of all the advance

Speaking of News Bulletins...

One of the neatest home bureau news
bulletins we've seen is authored by Mar-
cella Rathke in Washington County. She
uses a double column for easy reading
and brightens the mimeographed pages
with sprightly sketches of this and that.

Home Economics Relations Work...

The editorial office is drinking an
extra cup of coffee this week as a toast
to Jessie Heatbman. Jessie has been
named as the Extension Service represen-
tative on the National Association Rela-
tions Committee of the American Home
Economics Association. The committee
will hold its first meeting in Washing-
ton, D. C, in early November. Illinois
extension home economists will know
their interests are in good hands.

he People Know. . .

Most of you probably won't read this

until you get home from Fall Conference.
But that's the point. A write-up on
your activities at the conference would
be another step in letting the people
know what extension is all about.

Extension Editorial Office University of Illinois

College of Agriculture

Bob Slayton Looks Ahead...

Bob Slayton, who took over the reins,
in Mason County, is looking ahead to the
kind of information program he'll need
to highlight extension activities there.

Up for top consideration is the ques-
tion of whether or not the monthly coun-
ty farm bureau paper should be continued.
Bob questions whether or not it's doing
the job. He doubts whether many of the
members read it thoroughly. The once-a-
month issue makes it difficult to handle
spot news and announcements. It doesn't
go to nonf arm- bureau members who actu-
ally are prospective members. And it's
a job that's easy to put off until the,
last minute. By then it's too late to
put out a good issue.

Bob feels the answer may lie in a regu-
lar weekly news service to all papers in
the county, with a special farm page or
section in one of them. He's tentative-
ly planning to invite all the editors in
the county to a dinner meeting some time
in November to talk over the problem. He
wants to find out what kind of farm news
they want, when they want it and how
they want it handled.

Find the News Peg. . .

That old, worn, overused adage, "too
close to the forest to see the trees,"
still makes sense once in a while. How
many people do you suppose are familiar
with the requirements a k~R club has to
meet to be eligible for achievement a-
wards? We'd guess not many, even though
almost everyone has seme kind of idea
about k-K club work in general.

In Vermilion county assistant farm ad-
viser Boyd Lahr used the k-K achievement
score card as the news peg basis for an
advance story on achievement night. It
was a simple and effective way of giving
hundreds of readers a quick review of

Observations by Anderson...

It isn't often that we receive the
compliment of having someone look at our
efforts more critically than we do. But
straight thinking W. C. (Andy) Anderson
stopped in the other morning and raised
seme questions that hit home.

1. Andy wondered whether our volume of
editorial production was too heavy--
whether it chained us too much to our
desks in the state office.

2. He emphasized the advantages of
more information training work in the
counties — either on an individual county
basis or on a district or area basis.

3. He raised the question of the ad-
visability of adding an information
field man to the staff who could spend
maximum time working on press and radio
problems at the county level.

k. He credited the editorial support
given to special programs, such as fly-
control, U-H promotion, outlook meetings
and the grass- legume program. But he
stressed the need for more of this type
of thing. On the grass-legume program,
for example, Andy suggested that area
meetings be held with press and radio
editors and advisers.

5. He indicated that specialists might
spend more time developing information
and visual aids tools to help the coun-
ties put over their programs. His feel-
ing was that this type of material might
be of more help in the long run than the
time a specialist spends holding a meet-
ing in the county.

Those observations have been based on
serious thinking. We appreciate them.
They deserve maximum consideration. We
hope the rest of you will feel free to
second the motion or make additional
observations of your own. You have just
as much right to talk about the way we
run our information job as we do to talk

• r : t

We're still hoping all of you will
feel free to write in and tell us how
we can improve the editorial services.
If. C. Anderson set forth -his ideas — as
reviewed last week. Frank Shuman made
an eloquent and effective plea for the
establishment of a visual aids program.
What do the rest of you think?

Editorial Efforts Reviewed...

Just so we're all thinking about the
same thing, here's a brief review of the
present basic editorial program. You
can see we have a number of bosses.

1. Direct Service to Outlets:

Weeklies : A set of k to 7 farm sto-
ries and 1 to k home stories are sent to
all Illinois weeklies each week.

Dailies; 2 pages of farm stories and
from 1 to 2 pages of home stories are
prepared each day for daily newspapers.
These are mailed three times each week.

Radio: These same "daily" stories are
sent to all radio stations in the state.

WILL: Full- hour farm show and two
home economics shows daily on WILL, the
University station.

2. Service to County Advisers:

Special fill-in stories, mats, etc,are
prepared each week for you farm and home
advisers. In addition, you receive cop-
ies of all the material that has been
sent directly to the weeklies, dailies,
and radio stations.

10/20A9

In addition to the press-radio stories
which come from the specialists, major
attention is given to editorial materi-
als for special campaigns — k-R promo-
tion, fly-control, legume-grass program,
outlook meetings, etc.

k* Service to Administration:

This covers assistance with special
requests and informational materials
originating in the administrative of-
fices. It also includes the undergradu-
ate teaching program in agricultural
journalism.

5. Service to Cooperating Groups:

Under this heading comes a wide varie-
ty of requests and duties. It includes
special stories for special outlets, co-
operation with other governmental agen-
cies on publicity and promotion materi-
al, assistance to outside commercial
groups cooperating with the College of
Agriculture, etc.

Jobs to Be Done. . .

In our book, there are three major
editorial jobs that need to be accom-
plished: (1) The improvement of our
county information service — especially
the training program- -and the expansion
of the undergraduate training program.
(2) The establishment of a visual aids
program. (3) The improvement of methods
and machinery for reporting current ag-
ricultural and home economics research.

We would list the jobs in that order,
and we can say that initial steps have
been taken to get all three jobs done in
the future. It will take a little time.

Mm -

iWMEf?'6

Extension Editorial Office

University of Illinois

College of Agriculture

Comments on Visual Aids...

Home economics editor Jessie Heathman
is back from a week's vacation. Farm
radio editor Jack Murray is still on his
and the slave driver is out of town at-
tending the land- grant college meeting
in Kansas City. The rest of us are do-
ing the work.

We thought you would be interested in
some comments made recently about the
need for visual aids development.

Paul Wilson, Saline county: "People who
are too lazy to read, or too sleepy to
stay awake to hear, will look at pic-
tures of all kinds — moving, slides, or
photographs, especially those of local
interest.

"In my opinion, the photographic serv-
ice will be most valuable as a starter,
but if they are to continue to be the
chief exponents of adult education in
the county, a full visual aids program
will need to be developed....

"You are on the right track. The out-
line the committee has approved is broad
enough to cover the needs. Let's hope
funds are available to get it into oper-
ation."

Truman W. May, Madison county: .... "It
is my opinion that this program is sound
and I hope the necessary steps can be
taken to get it set up and in operation
in the near future.

"The effective use of visual aids is
one of the weakest aspects of our exten-
sion program here in this county, and I
am sure that a state program along this
line could be of much help to us."

Helen Volk, Lake county: "I am glad to
know that you are working on plans for
organizing a state visual program and
office. From my experience in teaching
I know how valuable visual aids can be
in putting across a subject. I seldom
give any lesson without some form of vis-
ual aids. I have used both motion pic-
tures and slide sets. The latter seemed
to work out better for many lessons. I
am preparing a set of slides which I
plan to use in my own county.

"I feel that sets of slides made up by
the state office would find wide usage
in many counties in the state. Sets of
posters and charts would also be help-
ful. There is quite a need, I feel, in
the home economics program for exhibits
of fabrics, for both clothing and home
furnishing as well as other illustrative
material such as models of kitchen and
laundry equipment. If the home adviser
could borrow these from the specialist,
it would help her in giving the lesson.
Many times the home adviser does not
have the funds or the time to prepare as
good illustrative material as she should
have in giving the lesson "

F. H. Shuman, Whiteside county: "What I
am really trying to emphasize is local
pictures, local news, etc.

"The big job of the individual in
charge of the extension visual aids pro-
gram will be to fire the initiative and
imagination of county personnel. If he
wants to motivate us, he must illus-
trate 19^9 style, not 191U."

10/27A9

! .

Extension Editorial Office University of Illinois College of Agriculture

Shuman-Bunn Score Again . . . Hancock County Broadcasts...

We hate to "be monotonous, but Frank
Shuman and Bill Bunn have scored again.

Frank went home from the Fall Confer-
ence and proceeded to spread the grass-
legume program all over the center two
pages of his November Farm Bureau News.
/A screaming double-page headline in half
inch type says, "PREMIUM PASTURES DEPEND
ON GOOD SOIL TREATMENT ." Only slightly
less subdued is the second line head
which reads, "Green Pastures Mean More
Green Dollar Bills." A third headline
shouts, "Whiteside can be the richest
county in the state if an extra 10 acres
is seeded to a legume-grass mixture on
the average 160-acre farm." Black type
at the bottom of the page declares,
"WHITESIDE GOAL— 25,000 EXTRA PASTURE
ACRES." Across the middle are three
huge pictures showing (1) dairy cattle
on pasture, (2) beef on pasture and
(3) hogs on pasture. It will be worth
your time to take a look at it.

Seldom have we seen a better story
than the one Bill Bunn and Co. prepared
for their October Farm Bureau News. It
was headed, "THE GRAND PRAIRIE- -SOYBEAN
CENTER." The story gave a review of the
history and development of soybeans in
Illinois — and particularly in Champaign
county. It covered the problems of
growing, marketing and processing beans.
It rates with the best any national mag-
azine has put out.

Speaking of Soybeans . . .

We recently received 500 copies of a
USDA leaflet on grading soybeans. The
material is a little late for top value
this year, but we're sending you five
copies for your files.

m /» fan 1

Here's a flash f rem Farm Adviser
George Re id and Heme Adviser Mildred Ea-
ton: "Hancock county^ various agricul-
tural and home economics agencies are
now on the air over WCAZ, Carthage, at
1:15-1:30 EACH WEEKDAY, INCLUDING SAT-
URDAY, instead of the old time--8:15 to
8:25. Programs are beamed especially
for and to farmers and their families,
but information presented is of vital
interest to urban folks also."

Population Expanding...

In the packet is another in the aeries
of pictorial charts prepared by Dr. R.
W. Bartlett. In this one he shows how
population increases mean an expanding
market .

Keeping Editors Posted..*

Henry County's Kenneth Flake recently
sent his newspaper editors copies of the
announcement to k-E members and leaders
covering major county U-H events.

Seas.onalize Your Bulletin Rack...
>* ... . . 1 1

^ One way to keep your bulletins and
circulars working for you is to "season-
alize" your bulletin rack each month.
Put away out- of -seas on bulletins and add
new ones that are in season. A monthly
newspaper story on the availability of
seasonal bulletins would also help to
get the valuable information out to the
farmers and hememakers.

Visual Aids by Nicholas...

Attached is a copy of excerpts from
Ray Nicholas's letter on the need for

n ao rvP ona 1 n't i9 n

LAKE COUNTY FABM BUREAU
C Ray T. Nicholas, Farm Adviser

0 Frances Audette, Secretary

P Phone k2kl

Y Grays lake, Illinois

P.O. Box Ikl

August 29, 19^9

Mr. Hadley Read, Extension Editor,
330 Muraford Hall,
Urbana, Illinois

Dear Mr. Read:

It seems to me that there is a great need for an effective visual aids
program in Illinois . If Illinois is to keep pace with modern trends in teaching,
a program of visual education that will reach and motivate the greatest number of
people must be developed. The visual aids phase of our teaching program is the
weak link in our entire extension program. Admitting this to be true, it is ap-
parent that a program of visual education be established.

I believe that one of the main reasons most extension workers have not
developed a visual aids program is because of a lack of "know. how." This, to-
gether with the great demand on the extension worker's time, has prevented the
developing and carrying out a visual aids program.

If we had in Illinois a State Visual Aids Service that could give as-
sistance to county and state extension workers, I do not believe the time element
would play such an important factor. As it is now, without supervised direction,
most extension workers are lost in developing a visual aids program. The whole
program gets more complicated when we give consideration as to just what should
be done, the mechanics involved, etc. A well staffed state visual aids service
office could be very helpful in giving assistance to extension workers in think-
ing through and planning an effective visual aids teaching program.

Of the three main areas of a visual aids program, I believe the photo-
graphic service is most important, and should be developed first. I don't say
this because I have developed a hobby in this field, but because I honestly be-
lieve we can do a more effective job with photography than by any other means.
I would rate colored slides as being most effective and also most economical.
Movies are very effective, but cost much more. I would consider colored slides
best for stimulating interest in projects promoted by county extension workers
and having a particular interest to the farmers of the county. I believe these
slides are most effective when they are of subject matter within the county.
They may very well be supplemented by slides taken by specialists, and other
county extension workers.

In the case of statewide programs, such as the fly control program,
movies are very effective. However, I think a good set of colored slides, prop-
erly narrated, would be equally effective and far less expensive.

Mr. Hadley Read

-2-

Auguat 29, 19^9

For statewide projects, I believe the visual aids materials could very
well be developed and prepared on the state level, whether photographic, - illus-
trative or exhibits .

In regard to black and white prints, whether for exhibit material or to
be used in publications, I believe these should definitely be made of local sub-
ject matter. Of course, there may be times when "outside" prints can be used
effectively, depending on the nature of the subject being presented. This is a
detail, which like many others, a state visual aids service could advise on.

In regard to art and illustrations, I feel that extension workers should
be given direction and instruction in this phase, so they may be qualified to
develop much of this type of material themselves . Materials made by county exten-
sion workers could very properly be supplemented by others from the state visual
aids service department.

Exhibits can play a very important part in our visual aids program. Al-
though I feel that the photographic phase should be given prior consideration, I
believe extension workers need assistance and direction in setting up all kinds
of exhibits and displays. In this field, I believe that county extension workers
should be supplied with most of the exhibit and display materials . It takes al-
most too much time for the county worker to perpare and set up an attractive ex-
hibit for use in his own county. Of course, if a county exhibit could be used
in several other counties effectively, it might warrant spending the necessary
time required. Perhaps counties could exchange their displays.

I think there is a need for some effective travelling exhibits that
could be used at field days, fairs, and other gatherings, I am glad to know that
consideration is being given to setting up a visual aids service. If properly
staffed, I am confident it can be of unlimited service to our state extension serv-
ice program. It will be another tool to serve extension workers.

Very truly yours,

(S) Eay T. Nicholas

Eay T. Nicholas

Lake County Farm Adviser

RTN:fba

Copied 11/1/1*9. hs

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Share Your Experiences. . .

The supervisory staff reports that ad-
visers and boards in a number of coun-
ties are discussing the pros and cons of
their monthly farm bureau publications.
They suspect their publications are not
being read the way they should be. Some
are considering a page in a weekly or
daily newspaper.

As happens often to a lot of us, we
are long on questions but short on an-
swers. Advisers who have farm bureau
publications would like more information
from advisers who don't. We have of-
fered to serve as a clearing house for
this exchange of information. But we
need to have the information first.

This doesn't seem like the sort of
thing that requires a formal survey.
But if those of you who do not have an
official monthly publication would out-
line your information and publicity set-
ups, we'll make an over- all summary and
see that everyone gets a copy of it.
Here are some of the most common ques-
tions:

1. Do you have a regular page or sec-
tion in one or more newspapers in your
county?

2. Is it called a "Farm Bureau Page
or Section" or just a farm page?

3. Do you pay the newspaper for the
space? How is this payment worked out?

k. How is farm service advertising
handled?

5. What are your responsibilities in
getting information for the page or sec-
tion? What part does the newspaper
play?

6. If you have a farm page in one pa-
per, how do you service other newspapers
in the county? Are they satisfied?

ll/l0A9

7. If you do not have a regular page
or section, how do you service newspa-
pers with news and information?

Include any and all other comments
which you think would help some other
county establish their program.

Farm Record Book Mats. . .

Those of you who are pushing the use
of the new Illinois Farm Eecord Book
will want to make use of the two mats in
this week's packet to all farm advisers.
They were designed to supplement the di-
rect mail pieces you are using.

Farm News Helps Subscriptions...

Farm Adviser H. N. Myers in DeWitt
county sent us a copy of the last issue
of their largest weekly newspaper- - the
DEWITT COUNTY OBSERVER- -which carried
113 inches of farm copy from the county
extension office.

Myers writes, "The editor is not a
farm man. . .but he claims to be catering
to farm people and that his subscrip-
tions are growing." That's what the man
said.

Mat of New h-E Kitchen—Dining Hall. . .

A mat of the architect's drawing of
the proposed new combination kitchen —
dining hall for the k-R Memorial Camp at
Allerton is in process and should be
ready for this week's mailing. There is
only one mat to the county, and we're
putting it in the packets for home advi-
sers. There's a story that goes with it.

More From Macon. . .

In the same issue of the Outlook was
the announcement of a new radio program
by Assistant Farm Adviser John W. Curry.
John will broadcast "For and About Your
County" on Station WDZ every Tuesday and
Thursday at 6:^5 a.m.

Same issue--an excellent picture spread
of the legume- grass field day, attended
by U00 farmers. The page featured be-
fore and after pictures of grass water-
way construction. Very good.

Bouquet to Bond County..,

Bond county's Farm Adviser George D.
Perisho and Home Adviser Mrs. Nina Bruns
get this week's coordinated bouquet for
excellent farm and home news reporting
in the Bond County Farm Bureau News.

The publication is a U-column tabloid
newspaper. The front page of the Septem-
ber issue featured six top items. Story
number one was a follow-up on the Dixon
Springs tour coupled with an advance on
the county pasture demonstration. Story
two was the kick-off on the soft wheat
improvement program. The promotion mat
layout on the Farm Bureau Farm Management
Service was featured in the top middle
of the page, and there was a story to go
with it. George started his farm column
on this first page, and there was a box
listing coming events. That's a front
page worth reading.

Mrs. Bruns had eight or nine sharp
stories on her home bureau page along
with a box featuring the October events.

Page four featured local before- and -
after pictures of farmhouse remodeling
as part of the follow-up story on the
housing tour.

Page five was devoted to k-E and Rural
Youth work in the county.

Extension Editorial Office

University of Illinois

College of Agriculture

Visualization by Shuman

Once in a while we see a farm picture
that packs a tremendous educational
punch. There are not too many of them.
Two of the best we have ever seen ap-
peared recently in one issue of the
Whiteside County Farm Bureau News,
planned and produced by visualizer Frank
Shuman and his assistant George Johnson.

The first was a picture of a gigantic,
living, growing letter "N" on a hillside
in Whiteside county. The caption for
the picture reads, "Nitrogen Spells Out
Its Need." The outline reads, "Spec-
tacular, but not to be misunderstood."
Here is the story of the picture:

Last spring, Just as the new oat crop
was coming through the ground, Frank and
George applied 33 percent ammonium ni-
trate at the rate of 100 pounds per acre
in the shape of a giant "N" on the hill-
side oat field. Within five days the
difference could be seen. Throughout the
growing season the nitrated "N" stood
out like a billboard to anyone driving
along the highway next to the field. At
harvest time, the oats in the nitrated
"N" yielded 50 bushels per acre, while
the rest of the field was hardly worth
harvesting.

In telling the story, Frank and George
drive home the point that while the pic-
ture tells a graphic story of the soil's
need for nitrogen, it does not mean that
chemical nitrogen alone is the answer.
Rather it means that the soil needs a
rotation rich in legumes to build up
both nitrogen and organic material.

The second picture shows a man walking
in mud halfway up to his knees in a cor-
ner of a field where the topsoil had
been washed down by a heavy rain. The
outlines for this picture read, "Topsoil
deposited at the bottom of the hill mnkAR

walking tough, but makes 'making a liv-
ing* a lot tougher."

A few words and a picture can tell a
terrific story.

Need for Radio Training Schools...

Darl Fike recently wrote Supervisor
W. D. Murphy and among other things said
this: "I believe we are missing a good
bet by not having more training in put-
ting on good radio programs. There is a
great demand in this area for us on the
radio, and naturally the good programs
build up and get a good listening audi-
ence . ■

We agree, and the big problem is to
find the manpower and time to conduct
such training schools--and do a credit-
able Job of it.

A Family Cow Story. . .

From Christian county Cliff Love sent
us the makings for quite a story about a
high producing dairy cow in a high pro-
ducing dairy herd in his county. Cliff
had done some figuring on how many square
feet of bread could be spread with the
butterfat production of the one cow in
one year.

Heard From. . ,

...Lee county's Jim Somers,who 6ays he
prefers the 2-column educational mats
rather than the 3" column. . .Pulaski -Alex-
ander ' s Les Broom, who sent along a draw-
ing to show how his hat fit after two
consecutive mentions in "It Says Here..."
...Madison county's T. W. May, who sent
along a clipping from the Highland Jour-
nal which ran a topnotch report of the

pasture improvement tour,
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(COPY)

COOPERATIVE EXTENSION WORK
IN

AGRICULTURE AND HOME ECONOMICS

College of Agriculture of the

Ohio State University and the State of Ohio

United States Department of
Agriculture Cooperating

Office of Information and Educational Aids Columbus 10, Ohio

October 19, 1950

Dear Extension Staff Members:

When it comes to hiring Extension reporters, we're dismal failures.'

Despite all our efforts, all we can find are just plain human beings, with
only one head, two legs, and two arms. And such people just aren't good enough
to do the job the director says we ought to do.

Sure, we have some Extension reporters, pretty good ones at that, we think.
But every time we put the pressure on for more stories about "Extension in Action,"
they tell us Ohio is a big state.

But let's suppose we did have reporters of Superman stature — complete with
wings for zooming across the counties in a matter of seconds. Here's what would
happen when such a reporter parked his jet on your doorstep:

He'd ask you about Extension participation in, sponsorship, or providing
leadership for community activities, programs, and campaigns.

Next, he'd want to know about your activities, in civic, fraternal, business,
and community organizations and what honors and recognitions you might have
received.

Then, he'd bring up the subject of "success" stories about people with whom
Extension has worked and who work with Extension. He'd want to point up the rela-
tionship of these people to Extension, and how the association has been of mutual
benefit. He'd remind you, too, that "success" is measured in many different ways
by people -- financial, happiness, satisfaction, service to others, and security,
to name a few.

These conversations would next lead you to talking about, and pulling out
pictures, on the interesting things farmers, homemakers, and 4-H youths are doing
in connection with Extension programs.

If your county was one of the many so-called urban areas, he'd be bound to
ask what steps Extension was taking to reach the folks in the city, and whether the
urban folks were learning about Extension.

If you got to talking about yourself too much, this fearless reporter would
ask if you were doing this big job all alone — what about the k-E advisors, county
advisory council members, cooperating demonstrators, etc. He'd ask you to give him
some ideas on stories about this vast group of folks upon whom Extension depends so
much.

Agricultural
Extension Service

-2-

Because our reporter would be working for Extension, he would ask about new <
successful techniques and methods you had developed for spreading the effectivenej
of Extension teaching. . . and would proceed to write these up so other staff membe]
might benefit.

Then, while he was sitting talking with you, this reporter would be sizing y(
up as a human being. ..he'd search for some human interest material about you that
would prove to others that you, yourself, are a pretty fine individual.

And before he left town, he'd stop and look through the local newspaper file*
to find out what might have been written about Extension activities and note, too,
any editorial comments about Extension he might find.

Now, we'll admit that it probably would be quite a nuisance to have Superman
reporters like this popping in and out everyday. Before long, you'd start writing
about all these things, yourself. Many of the stories you'd find mighty handy to
round out your newspaper column and good "talk" pieces for your radio broadcasts.

To keep the people in the state office happy, you'd have your secretary make
an extra copy for them. They, too, would be happy and wouldn't bother you about
Extension stories. When you got a story on which you needed some extra help, a
letter or call to Columbus would get one of the state reporters on his way to you,

Well, that's what we've been thinking about — and we hope you've been doing
the same. Starting right now, the expanded version of the Extension Service News
needs copy and pictures and needs a regular flow. Let's see if we can out-sup<
Superman! Let's report "Extension in Action! "

Sincerely,

(S) Francis C. Byrnes

Francis C. Byrnes
Agricultural Editor

McHenry Farmers Read the Papers . . .

Lyman Noordhoff was in McHenry county
the other day and brought home a copy of
the Woodstock Daily Sentinel. The issue
contained Bill Tammeus's regular column,
and from it we picked up this interest-
ing information.

Bill recently surveyed a group of farm-
ers to find out several things: First,
what problems the farmers thought should
be stressed next year. Second, where
and how the farmers liked to get their
information.

The six most popular topics listed by
the farmers were (l) soil management,

(2) pasture improvement, (3) dairy feed-
ing and management, (k) weed control,
(5) economic outlook, and (6) grass si-
lage.

Here is the order in which the farmers
said they would like to receive the in-
formation on those topics: (1) newspaper
articles, (2) small group meetings,

(3) general county meetings, (k) farm ad-
viser farm visits, and (5) office calls.

Says Bill, "So now I know how to spend
my time this next year."

If any of the rest of you have con-
ducted similar surveys among your farmers
or homemakers, we surely would like to
see the results. Pick 100 names at ran-
dom from your mailing list, and send out
a return post- card asking the sample to
let you know how they would like to re-
ceive new and important information.

k-E Mats in the Packet...

There are two mats in this week's pack-
et to farm advisers designed to help pro-
mote k-R Achievement Week, which starts
November k. The mats were prepared by
the National U-H Club Committee, and the
supply was limited to one copy of each

Douglas County Consolidates.,.

Here are two brief letters which speak
for themselves. And we'll let them do
Just that. The first is to us from
Douglas county Farm Adviser E. C#
Scheidenhelm, and he quotes a letter he
received from E. E. Dilliner, publisher
of the Newman Independent.

"About two weeks ago I developed, in
cooperation with the Home Adviser and
Youth Assistant, a system of sending out
a *one package1 mailing of information
to our county weekly papers on each Fri-
day afternoon. I thought you would be
interested in the letter I received from
one of these papers:

"Dear Mr. Scheidenhelm:

"I feel I must stop a moment to com-
pliment you upon your improved handling
of press releases. Your policy of sub-
mitting it in 'package' form and the
earlier release date definitely is a step
toward better press relations."

Bell-Ringing Kenneth Flake...

Henry county's Kenny Flake rings the
bell about every week with his excellent
news service to newspapers and radio sta-
tions. This week, though, he rang it
extra-hard with a special letter to his
newspaper and radio editors. Here's the
way he starts out:

"We appreciate very much the coopera-
tion you have given us with our educa-
tional activities for rural people in
Henry county."

Then Kenny goes on to tell about the
special county ^-H camp fund-raising cam-
paign slated for November 9" 30. He calls
attention to the special story and sends
along a copy of the printed folder ex-
plaining the camping program.

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Extension Editorial Office University of Illinois College of Agriculture

Recognition of k-R Leaders... McLeansboro Dairy Promotion...

By this time you should have received
the special letter from the k~E Club
staff on plans for the k-R Leaders1 Rec-
ognition Day and Banquet November 21 in
Springfield.

In our book, recognition of U-H
leaders is one of the most important con-
siderations in expanding and improving
k-E work in the state. The special day
and banquet in Springfield is an excel-
lent peg for recognizing all of your
leaders in the county.

In this week's packet is a special kit
of materials designed to help you pub-
licly express appreciation for the con-
tributions of your leaders.

Youth editor Bob Jarnagin has prepared
a set of special stories on h-R leader
recognition in general and on the Spring-
field Recognition Day in particular.

Radio editor Jack Murray has outlined
the plans for scheduling and handling
tape recordings with the leaders from
your county who will attend the Spring-
field event.

You'll notice that Jack has asked you
to return a form telling whether or not
you will want to make tape recordings
and how many recordings you will need.
We need to have this information in our
hands .just as soon as possible.

New Bartlett Chart in Packet...

Also in this week's packet — to farm
advisers-- is another in the series of
pictorial charts by R. W. Bartlett. This
is the first of a new series, and we
think it is an improvement in design and
layout over the old. The subject is "in-
come taxes paid by cooperatives."

"'Better than ever.' That's what the

folks who attended the third annual Dairy

Day on the public square at McLeansboro

last Friday said as they left at the end

of a busy and interesting day."
That was the lead on the double- column

front-page story which appeared in the

October 5 issue of The Times-Leader,

McLeansboro daily paper. Also featured

on the front page was a U- column picture

showing the crowd and the dairy cattle

ring.

The annual Dairy Day has become a co-
operative feature in Hamilton county.
The Times-Leader is squarely behind it,
and so are all the merchants in McLeans-
boro. There is a growing awareness that
dairy improvement is an important step
toward better farming and better living
in the area. Everyone will benefit.

Educational Advertising Tie-ins...

A recent issue of The Stark County News
carried a good example of educational
advertising tie-ins with a worth-while
program. Editor Robert Nowlan solicited
the cooperation of his advertising cli-
ents to support Fire Prevention Week. He
featured fire prevention in his editori-
al columns, and the merchants featured
the same problem in their ads.

C. F. Bayles Writes...

In response to several of our ques-
tions, Adviser C. F. Bayles writes:
(l) continue Bartlett charts, (2) need
workshop on editorial work, (3) could
use help on news writing, (k) continue
mats, but keep them 2-column size.

U/2/50

. « • an.

Mary Husted Lets Them Know...

If home economics extension work and
home bureau activities are not the best
known women's activities in Warren coun-
ty, it isn't Home Adviser Mary Husted' s
fault. She has a county information pro-
gram set in high gear to let the people
know about the work and activities of her
organization.

The proof can be found in any issue of
the county papers. Earlier this year the
Monmouth Daily Review Atlas featured the
home bureau tea as the "Salute of the
Week." There were numerous stories in
the editorial columns, and every adver-
tisement carried a statement saluting
the work of the home bureau.

The same kind of cooperation comes
from The Rock Island Argus, which makes
liberal use of pictures in telling the
home economics extension story. The
Galesburg Register Mail, with much cir-
culation in Warren county, also features
the activities of the women in the coun-
ty.

Recordings at Junior Feeding Contest...

Bill Mason, who is helping out in farm
radio, will be covering the Junior Feed-
ing Contest with the tape recorder at
the International on November 2k and 25.

Bill's job will be to pick up inter-
views with U-H exhibitors for the ILLI-
NOIS FARM HOUR. He'll also be available
to record programs with your county ex-
hibitors.

If you want to record a program, just
bring or send a tape with one of your
club members. We'd prefer that you do
the interview. But if you won't be
there. Bill will hfc o>l aH tn Viflnrllo i-h.

Might be a good idea to let us know if
you want a recording. Then Bill can
work out his schedule. If you decide at
the last minute, Eddie Pilchard or Ollie
Gaebe can put you in touch with Bill.

Assistant Farm Adviser Roy Will of De-
Kalb county has already made arrangements
to record.

Jack Murray is planning a similar ar-
rangement to get interviews with Illi-
nois delegates to 4-H Club Congress.

Promotion for Record -Keeping. . .

There's a story and a 1-column mat in
this week's packet aimed at helping you
call attention to the "Illinois Farm
Record Book." Specialist George Whitman
and Lyman Noordhoff of this office have
some other irons in the fire to promote
the record book and record-keeping in
general. One or two more mats are on
the way.

Profile of Editorial Superman. . .

Ohio's agricultural editor Frank Burns
writes a weekly letter to extension
staff members on various aspects of in-
formation work. Recently he discussed
the attributes of an editorial superman.
We thought it was pretty good. So we
reproduced it, and a copy is attached.
It's worth reading, so we'll stop right
here.

1 1 /o/«;n

Uf- B9

A J.' •-

Extension Editorial Office

University of Illinois

College of Agriculture

The Business of Writing. . .

We've never considered this letter as
a printed soapbox from which we could
shout the Joys and virtues of the writ-
ten word. Rather, we tnink of it as an
ex3hange proposition. It's a place for
you to tell your editorial beliefs and
experiences. And a place for us to tell
ours .

But this week the exchange cupboard is
bare, so we are going to play whole hog.
This is a get- some- things- off- my- chest
letter about the business of writing.

Publicity vs. Information...

Unfortunately, there are not enough
who believe that is true. Too often news
stories are assigned to "events." There
is a mistaken feeling that something
physical has to happen before a news
story can be written--a meeting, a storm,
an appointment. But that isn't so.

If you think farmers ought to know a
good winter ration for swine, all you
have to do is to sit down and write that
story. You don't have to hang it on to
a meeting or a demonstration to make it
legitimate news. Just sit down and
write it. The same thing goes for every
other bit of information you think your
farmers and homemakers ought to know.

There is a big and real and important
difference between publicity and infor-
mation. If you don't know that differ-
ence, you should start getting acquainted
with it.

Publicity is designed to "do good" for
the person or group or service putting
out the stories. Information is designed
to "do good" for the people who receive
the stories. Think about that a minute.
In our book, a sound editorial program
to build public relations should be long
on information and short on publicity.
Any program that is long on publicity
and short on information will wind up in
the editor's wastebasket.

News Stories Carry Education. . .

The very same information that you try
to put across in your meeting, in your
demonstration or through a personal visit
can be put across in a news story. And
you will reach more people more quickly.
And the people will believe it and act
on it. The same goes for radio.

News Stories Are Simple...

Whether you think so or not, a news
story is the easiest kind of writing
there is to do. A news story is easier
to write than a speech, a sermon, a let-
ter or an essay. It's easy because it
means Just doing what comes naturally.

If you have some information you want
to get to your farmers or your homemak-
ers, write that information in one sen-
tence. That is the start of your news
story. Now write a second sentence and
tell them why the first one is important.
Next fill in the details with the facts
and figures that should go into the
story. That's all there is to it, and
it didn't take you four years in college
to find it out.

The best way to brush up on news writ-
ing is to read the papers — twice. Bead
tonight's paper first to find out the
news and read it a second time to see
how it is written.
11/16/50

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Extension Editorial Office University of Illinois College of Agriculture

It Says Here . . . Speaking of Club Congress...

This is the week of Thanksgiving. You
will read this after you have eaten your
turkey or chicken or duck. But it does
not make any difference. Each in his
own vay has personal things to be thank-
ful for. Health, friends, homes and
children.

And as a community of people we are
thankful for the Four Freedoms, without
which there would be little of true val-
ue.

Editorial Chores...

There is much to be crowded into a
short week. Jack Murray and Bob Jarna-
gin will Join you in Springfield Tuesday
for the k-R Leaders' Recognition Day and
Banquet--to make recordings and take pic-
tures.

On Friday Jack and Jessie Heathman
leave for Chicago. Jack is on the offi-
cial Club Congress press-radio coverage
committee. Jessie will attend the meet-
ing of the American College Magazine
Association. Some of the rest of us
will be up there later for a variety of
chores. And in the next few days Jessie
heads for Washington,D. C, and the Mid-
century White House Conference on Chil-
dren. The invitation came directly from
the President.

A Report to the Paople . . .

We may have said this last year, but
it bears repeating. During the next few
weeks you will be slaving away on your
annual reports. When it's finished, why
not prepare a review story from the ma-
terial and send it to all your newspapers
and radio stations. Let the people know
what you've been doing.

Many of you will have delegates gcing
to the Club Congress. For many of them
it will be the climax of their k-E Club
careers. You have probably already
written the story about the kids who ere
going. But have you suggested that they
take a minute during the Congress events
to write a letter to their home tewn
editors? There isn't an editor who
wouldn't like to get a first-hand report
of Congress activities from his home-
town delegate.

Information Localized. . .

The other day farm management special-
ist J. B. Cunningham was in the office
and gave Crawford county Darl Fike a pat
on the back for localizing important in-
formation.

J. G. says that when Darl received the
state report on custom rates, he thought
it was too detailed for the needs of his
farmers. So he went through the report
and picked out the figures for Crawford
county and had the material mimeographed
in a simple h- page folder. He kept the
supply of 500 in his office, and it did
not take long for callers to pick up the
total supply. R. C. Wilcox, who makes up
the state report, says it was the best
usage of the material that he had seen.

Darl can now take a small bow.

Kane County Meeting With Editors. . .

Kane county has sent word that they
would like to have some of us come up in
January to hold an informal session with
newspaper and radio people. We hope we
can work it out.

11/22/50

...

Extension Editorial Office

University of Illinois

College of Agriculture

What Has Club Congress Got? . . .

This is being written in the hurried,
hectic atmosphere of the U-H Club Con-
gress press headquarters. During this
day (Monday), editors from every impor-
tant farm and home magazine in the coun-
try will have business to do in this
room. The same is true of farm and home
editors of daily newspapers and radio
stations. Here are some who are here:

Claude Gifford, Ray Anderson and Vir-
ginia Brown from Farm Journal. Art Page
from WIS. Layne Beaty, radio farm pro-
gram director from Fort Worth. Jim Gooch
from Capper's Farmer. Jim Roe from Suc-
cessful Farming.

There are many others, and there will
be more before the week is over. From
Texas, from California, from Washington
and Philadelphia. There probably are few
agricultural events which are so well
covered by press and radio editors
Thousands of words of newspaper copy will
be written. Hundreds of radio programs
and recordings will be made. There will
be dozens of television broadcasts.

And the question that keeps going a-
round in my thick head is WHY? What has
this affair got that attracts this na-
tion-wide press- radio attention?

Surely it isn't the big, fancy banquets
given by the award donors . The editors
have seen bigger and better banquets than
these. Surely it isn't the opportunity
of coming to Chicago. Editors travel un-
til they are blue in the face.

The most obvious answer is that these
editors are here because the k-U kids
are here. The stories they write and the
broadcasts they make are about the kids.
And most often the stories are about
where they are from and what they are
doing back home. They are the human in-
terest stories with the roots in the

And What Does It Mean to Us? . . .

If this is true- -and I think it is
true- -it should mean something to all
of us who have a part in the ^-H Club Pro-
gram.

If the editors of Farm Journal, Coun-
try Gentleman, Successful Farming and the
others come to Chicago to get stories a-
bout the 4-H kids, surely the editors of
the local, hometown papers are even more
interested in stories about the k-E kids
from home. It should not be possible for
the editor of Capper's Farmer, for ex-
ample, to know more about 4-H Club work
than the editor of the "Hometown Gazette."

Unfortunately, not many editors of
"Hometown Gazettes" get to come to the
k-E Club Congress . So someone else has
to tell them about club work and about
the k-R kids. Someone else has to arouse
their interest in the program and invite
them to club meetings and events.

Miscellaneous Thoughts . . .

Editors are not always looking for the
"top" ^-H youngster. But they are look-
ing for the boy or girl who has a story.
There is a universal appeal in the theme
of an individual meeting a problem and
whipping it. . . .

Strange to hear people speaking of
television today as naturally as we
talked about radio or news stories. The
experience of youngsters who appear on
television before they have seen it on
the screen is also strange. . . .

Some college editors are wondering
whether a charge should be made for col
lege bulletins. . . .

Many comments from many people here on
the need for more and better research on
the effectiveness of different methods
for reaching people.

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Here's What I Said,.. A Tribute to Leadership . . .

The open season for winter meetings is
about here. The agricultural specialists
are getting in condition for the rigors
of circuit. This brings up the perennial
question of how you can get the best
follow-up press and radio reports on
your meetings. We think we have a plan
that may give a little help.

Attached to this letter to farm ad-
visers is a sample outline form called
"Here's What I Said." It is for the use
of the specialists in this way:

Each specialist has been given a sup-
ply of these outlines. The sheets are
included in an easy-to-use tablet which
each man can stick in his briefcase when
he goes out to meet with the people in
your county.

After the meeting, all he has to do is
fill out one of these outline forms and
give it to you. Then you have all the
information you need on his discussion
for your follow-up press and radio story.

We've told the fellows here that we
were going to acquaint you with these
follow-up outline forms so that you could
ask for a filled-out version before the
specialist leaves your county.

Soybeans in Public Spotlight...

The College of Agriculture's many con-
tributions to the soybean industry are
featured in the November Ik issue of the
Christian Science Monitor. Dorothea
Kahn Jaffee, special correspondent for
the Monitor, wrote the article after
spending several days in the state get-
ting the background information. Much
of her time was spent with Dr. Burlison
and other members of the department of
agronomy .

12-7-50

The November 28 issue of the Woodstock
Daily Sentinel carried quite a story by
McHenry county's press-minded Bill Tam-
meus. The story was a tribute to unique
and unusual leadership in k-E Club work.
The subject was Henry Marlowe, vocation-
al agriculture teacher, hatchery owner,
community leader — and, most important, a
k-E Club leader for 20 years.

The peg for the story was a banquet
held to honor Marlowe for his outstanding
k-E Club leadership work. Among the many
guests were 18 of the 22 boys and girls
who were members of Marlowe's first club.

Bill's news treatment is an excellent
example of combining facts, quotable
quotes and human- interest sidelights in
a smooth- flowing story covering nearly a
fourth of a newspaper page.

Stephenson County Promotes Camp Fund...

One of the best county k-E camp fund
promotion pieces we've seen comes out of
Stephenson county. And much of the cred-
it for it goes to Youth Adviser Howard
Richards. The Jj-page, magazine-size
folder presents the fund-raising goal,
the reasons for the camping program, and
the details on camping activities.
Bright heads and excellent pictures
brighten up the k pages.

The extension folks in Stephenson coun-
ty have let the people know about their
k-E camping plans and the need for funds.
The county goal is $10,000.

More Mason County Farm News . . .

Because of the demand for more farm
news, Ma6on county's Bob Slayton has gone
from a monthly farm page in the Mason

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All Set With the Boom* Boom, Boom...

In Just about h weeks the Illinois
LEGUME-GRASS WINTER SHOW starts to roll.
The first stop will be Pope-Hardin on
January 16. From then until March 16,
with time out for Farm and Home Week,
this caravan of educational exhibits will
make one-day stands in 32 counties.

We're still classed as newcomers in
th^se parts, but the natives tell us this
is the most colossal educational show
ever put together in one package. When
it's assembled the WINTER SHOW will fea-
ture ten striking exhibit units covering
the production and utilization of leg-
umes and grass on Illinois farms.

Some of the basic ideas for the exhib-
its were laid out on the planning table
almost a year ago. The build-up started
in August, and the pressure of work has
been mounting through October and Novem-
ber. Frank Andrew and Dick Ayers are
serving as generalissimos on the project.
Layout and art work are being handled by
artists John Ault and Earl Perrine.

The point is that the time has come to
let out with the boom, boom, boom. Re-
gardless of how good we think the show
is or how good you may think it is, the
whole project is a flop unless it reaches
the people. This means the people have
to know about it. They have to know
what it is, why it is, and where they can
see it. The wheels of information and
promotion need to start rolling.

A special letter with some suggestions
ia going out this week to the farm ad-
visers in the 32 host counties. We're
working on a special "preview" for press
and radio editors. Those of you who are
not having the show in your county will
want to call it to the attention of your
farm families.

Imig Reports to the People...

We can't hope to have the time to read
all of your county annual reports- -much
as we would like to. We'd like to think
they would all be as good as Kenny Imigs
review of extension work in the December
Iroquois County Farm Bureau News. Frank-
ly, we hadn't intended to read it at
a 11- -just glance over it. But the darned
thing was so well written and so attrac-
tively illustrated that our cup of coffee
was cold before we were through.

One of the things that caught our eye
was this statement- -"1137 news articles
published."

If Kenny wants to add to that total, he
could have about 50 separate news items
pegged on his annual report. The same
thing would be true for all of you.
There is no better peg for a news story
than a well-written report on the dif-
ferent phases of your extension program.

Take soils work, for example. How
many samples were tested in your labora-
tory? How many acres does this repre-
sent? What does it mean in terms of im-
proved yields of grains, legumes and
grasses?

What were the livestock production
trends in your county? Dairy? What did
the Rural Youth group accomplish? Oh,
there are dozens of stories .

Wicklein Likes Radio Tapes. ♦■

Wabash county's A. A. Wicklein dropped
us a note to say he was a satisfied user
of the radio tape service and to pass a-
long seme program suggestions. If those
of you with radio programs do not know
about this program service on tape re-
cordings, better drop Jack Murray a note
and ask about it.

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■Sxfrmsion Editorial Office IIrJj£srj^xJiLJLUin£^ College ja£-Agr1cu ltur?...

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Legume-Grass Press Preview...

College flf-AgclfiU ltur?

Unless our production schedule gets
messed up in this short week, the special
press-radio "PREVIEW" on the Legume-Grass
Winter Show will be right under this
letter.

While this is primarily a farm show,
we thought you home advisers might like
to have the essential information about
it. The same thing goes for farm ad-
visers who are not having the Show in
their counties this year.

An extra copy of the "PREVIEW" material
is being sent early next week to the farm
advisers sponsoring the Show along with
some other suggestions for promotion.

Single copies also will be sent next
week to every newspaper and radio editor
in the state and to some of the larger
papers and stations outside the state.

This press -radio preview material is
the opening gun on state -wide promotion
of the Winter Show. Prairie Farmer edi-
tors were in last week and plan to fea-
ture the Show in one of their early is-
sues. We will be putting out additional
press-radio stories to papers and sta-
tions from here.

BUT LET US MAKE THIS POINT ONCE MORE.
There is nothing we will put out from
here that will come even close to being
as good promotion as the press -radio ma-
terial you prepare on the local county
Show. You know all the facts we do--
plus a lot more. You know where the Show
will be held, when, who is helping, the
special added features, why the program
is important to the county.

Counties not sponsoring the Show should
keep in mind that no farm family should
have to drive more than 100 or 150 miles
to attend one of the 32 being held. We
drive much farther than that to see a

Only Two Farm Record Book Mats...

Earlier we indicated that there would
be three mats promoting the Illinois
Farm Record Book. Delays in art work
and engraving have forced us to cancel
the third mat. There are only two, and
you should have received both of them.

Editorial Resolutions for the New Year...

If someone were to ask me to suggest
some editorial resolutions for farm and
home advisers, here would be my humble
offerings:

We would resolve...

...to appreciate the fact that most
people read newspapers and listen to the
radio and that these tools offer one of
the most effective and efficient ways to
reach ALL county people with farm and
home educational material...

...to get to know every editor and
every radio station manager personally,
since this is the best way to get good
coverage of my information...

...to have a regular news service of
educational material so that my editors
could count on it and could look forward
to receiving it each week...

...to take stock of the educational
visual aids I could produce to interest
more people in my program and to help
them remember the information I give
them. . .

...to send the extension editorial of-
fice helpful suggestions on how they can
do a better job of helping us in the
counties. . .

AND NOW BEST WISHES AND GOOD
LUCK FOR ALL OF 1951!

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S-Day is January 16...

The term specialist is taking on a new
meaning these days. The men who are
getting the Illinois Legume-Grass Winter
Show ready to go on the road January 16
are fast becoming specialists in the art
of visual presentation of educational in-
formation.

Jerry Cash not only knows about dairy
cows, but he also knows about wiring a
three-way circuit to get the right light
at the right time on the legume-grass
dairy exhibit.

J. C. Hackleman knows the academic
language of forage crops and he also
knows the right way to picture a cow
Jumping over a fence to get to a good
pasture.

Harry Russell and Dick Carlisle can
tell you how many quarts of paint it
takes to cover a plywood table and panel
backdrop.

John Wills is now an expert at the ac-
tual synchronization of the four big
"wheels" in legume-grass management.

Lights have been burning late in the
agricultural engineering building as the
last expert touches are being put on the
10 major legume-grass exhibits which make
up the Winter Show.

We've already seen some encouraging
examples of county promotion. W. C An-
derson announced the Jackson county date
for the show in black, inch-high letters
across his weekly farm page.

Clinton County Farm News...

The other day Supervisor W. D* Murphy
sent up a copy of the CARLYLE UNION BAN-
NER with a notation, "A good farm page.11
We took a look and immediately agreed.

The Student Tells the Teacher...

One of the Joys and headaches of the
editorial office is teaching the course
in agricultural Journalism each fall se-
mester .

Last year one of our interested and
eager students was a young fellow by the
name of Don Weiss. Don was a Journalism
student, but he was interested in farm
news reporting, and we tried to get
across the few things we thought we knew.

One of the things we stressed was the
importance of names- -local names- -in good
farm copy. We stressed the point time
and again.

Now Don is farm editor of THE STAR
COURIER in Kewanee, and the other day he
sent us a letter giving us a report of
his progress. We won't quote directly,
but here roughly is what Don said:

The stuff coming out of your office is
pretty good stuff. But we don't use as
much of it as perhaps we should, because
we like to give the farm news the local
slant with local names. We like to use
more stories from the farm advisers be-
cause they can give the material the lo-
cal angle. . . .

Don learned his lesson well, and now
the student is telling the teacher. He
also paid tribute to the news-conscious
farm advisers in Henry, Bureau and Stark
counties .

The Thought for Today...

Everyone has approximately 365 days to
make the 1951 annual report more impor-
tant than the one for 1950.

1A/51

Extension Editorial Office

University of Illinoi s

College of Agriculture

A Look at Three Methods...

Let's suppose you had one piece of in-
formation that you wanted to get to the
people in your county. We'll say it's a
i-point program for controlling corn
borers this year. Assume that you could
U6e only one method. Which of the fol-
lowing three methods would you choose?

X. Call in each farmer in the county
and explain the four points to him per-
sonally— or tell them to him over the
phone ?

2. Hold a series of corn borer control
meetings and invite interested farmers
to attend?

3. Prepare a story covering the four
points and send it to every newspaper
and radio station serving the county?

Now, try taking a pencil and a sheet
of paper and figuring how long it would
take to present the information using
each of the three methods above.

On the first method, if you allow 10
minutes per call or conference, it would
take 166 hours to talk to 2,000 farmers
in the county. That would be four ho-
nour weeks.

It would probably take from 6 to 8
hours to make the necessary arrangements
and hold each meeting listed under method
2. How many meetings would it take?

But it shouldn't take more than an hour
to write the news story and have copies
made for the papers and radio stations.

The Problem Turned Around . « .

Now, let's look at the same thing a
little differently. Lat's say you have
Just ONE HOUR to spend on getting out an
important piece of information. Just
one hour — no more. Which of the above
methods would you use?

So Much for So Few. . .

The Minnesota Agricultural Extension
Service recently made a study of how the
Minnesota county agents used their time.
Here's what they found out:

In the first place, the agents used
more than 20 percent of their time for
"Operational Functions."' This included
out- of- county meetings, conferences, rec-
ords and reports end so on.

This left 80 percent of the time for
reaching people with information. Of
that remaining time, here is the break-
down:

1. Individual teachlng--office calls,
phone calls and farm visits took 53 per-
cent of the time.

2. Group teaching- -day and evening
meetings, demonstrations, and field days
took hO percent.

3. Mass teaching- -the preparation of
news stories, radio programs, circular
letters received the meager remaining 7
percent of the agent's time.

Wonder how the Minnesota agents would
answer the questions we raised in the
left-hand column?

Invite Editors to Farm and Home Week...

This week's packet contains a suggested
letter you might want to send to your
local newspaper and radio editors invit-
ing them to attend Farm and Home Week.

Since you know your editors and work
with them, the invitations should best
come from you, We're inviting Just a few
magazire, large- circulation newspaper
and network radio editors.

The'"P.S," in the letter refers to the
official program. A copy will be mailed
to all editors next week.

l?t ension Editorial Office < University of Illinois College of Agriculture

Annual Report Bef lections. . . There Were Other Gains . . .

The writing of the annual report is not
our first love. Nor our second. But
the Job does offer opportunity for re-
flect ion- -for appraising successes and
failures.

Stronger County Information Programs.,.

We would mark as the number one gain
in 1950 the increased use of information
materials by you people in the county.
We cannot take credit for that, but it is
a part of the whole information program
of the College and the Extension Service,

A number of new farm pages and sections
were started during the year. Many of
you initiated a regular weekly service
to all your county newspapers. More ra-
dio programs were put on the air by both
farm and home advisers. (A preview of
the North Central Radio Survey report
shows that Uo percent of you are now
"regular broadcasters.") A letter from
J. B. Turner this week states that he is
going back to his broadcasting chores.

While there is still a long way to go,
we felt that the editing of many county
farm bureau publications was better this
year. There was more use of good pic-
tures

We saw some top- flight farm and home
experience stories during the year- -sto-
ries which gave the facts and told who,
what, when and where.

There were at least half a dozen farm
and home advisers who Joined the ranks
of column writers.

All this evidence indicates to us that
you people are recognizing the newspaper
story or column, the radio program and
good circular letters as efficient, ex-
pedient and effective methods of getting
farm and home information to your readers.

We felt there were other gains during
1950. Here are some of them:

The new radio tape service of farm and
home programs was well received and has
promise of growing.

The usage of farm and home news in
weekly and daily newspapers seems to be
increasing. A spot check survey using
an incomplete clipping service showed
that more than 80 out of some 100 Illi-
nois daily newspapers used news releases
from the college during July, August and
September when the study was made.

The work of the College received in-
creased attention from the national farm
magazines. During the year the research
of the College and Experiment Station was
featured in 32 full-length articles and
51 shorts in Successful Farming, Farm
Journal, Country Gentleman and Cappers'
Farmer.

The daily clothing column in the Chi-
cago Daily News reached nearly half a
million readers daily, and plans are un-
der way to syndicate the feature nation-
ally. Now the Chicago Tribune will run
a garden column in their Sunday magazine
section with a circulation of 1 l/5 mil-
lion readers.

Plans for an agricultural Journalism
curriculum were approved, as were plans
for two courses in "agricultural infor-
mation methods" for all agricultural and
home economics students.

Visual aids received increased atten-
tion, although progress on a planned pro-
gram of development has been slow.

The failures? Because space is short,
we'll wait until next year and hope to
list 1950 failures as 1951 successes.

1/18/51

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
LIBRARY

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Farm and Home Week Recordings...

Radio editors Jack Murray and Jessie
Heathman have been working for you again.
They've made arrangements again this
year for you to make tape recordings
during Farm and Home Week for future use
on your radio program or as a service to
your local station.

All of the details are given on the
attached sheet. You'll notice that the
recording studio has been reserved for
definite periods during that day. For
that reason Jack and Jessie would like
to know in advance if you will want to
record and when you would like to do it.
So if you want to make a recording, mark
your preferred time and send your reser-
vation in as soon as possible.

You'll also notice on your Farm and
Home Week program that a number of the
talks and discussions are going to be
broadcast over WILL. You may want to
call this fact to the attention of the
folks in your county who will not be able
to attend in person.

Tips for Editors. . .

The farm news section of The Rock Is-
land Argus recently carried a top-interest
article on the work a mother and her two
daughters were doing in managing their
Mercer county farm. We don't know this,
but we suspect that the county extension
people in Mercer county may have helped
out farm editor Omar Shonkwiler on the
trail of the story.

More and more Illinois daily papers are
hiring farm editors. This means two
things. The papers are using more local
farm news. The editors appreciate good
tips for good stories they can write.
1-25-51

We Need Your Help- -Again. . .

Associate Director Kammlade has asked
Professor D. M. Hall to make a series of
studies on the Legume-Grass Winter Show.
One of the things Dr. Hall wants to study
is the effectiveness- -or lack of effec-
tiveness--of state-wide and local promo-
tion and publicity effort. We have been
asked to help on this part of the study.
And we, in turn, would like to ask your
help.

We would appreciate it very much if
you would keep a file and send us copies
of all press, radio and direct mail pro-
motion material you used to promote the
Winter Show.

This would include: (1) clippings or
tear sheets from newspapers which car-
ried both advance and follow-up stories,
(2) script material or program material
used by your radio stations, (3) stories
and layouts in county farm bureau publi-
cations, (k) direct mail letters and
cards sent to farmers in the counties,

(5) posters and other display material,

(6) a statement of other promotion aids
used.

While we suspect that the bulk of this
material will come from the host coun-
ties, we would also like to have it from
counties that are not having the show
this year.

After Dr. Hall has used the material,
we want to set up an exhibit display.
So your efforts will be doubly appreci-
ated. Thanks in advance.

Ed Bay ' s New Environment . . .

Sangamon county's Ed Bay, who usually
surrounds himself with practical, hard-
working, strong- handed farmers, is sur-
rounded with a different environment in
the picture on p8ge 12 of the January

- +

RECORDING PLAN
1951 Farm and Home Week

Tape recorders will be available for your use at WILL after the general
session meetings Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, February 6, 7 and 8. You will
note in the schedule below that time available is 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. daily, except
4:45 to 5:00. The station has asked us to keep this time clear. Engineers will
be on hand to operate the machines.

There are several ways in which you can set up your programs. You prob-
ably will want to interview some of your county people who are attending Farm and
Home Week. You may want to interview a specialist. You may wish to give a first-
hand report of the week's activities.

All you need to bring is a reel or two of tape from your local radio sta-
tion.

Check the day and approximate time of your proposed recording on the slip
below and return it right away so we can make up a tentative schedule. Keep this
portion to remind you that the studio is room 41 (basement floor) Gregory Hall.
Your time is pm, .

(day)

FARM AND HOME WEEK RECORDINGS

•

TUESDAY - February 6

4:00 Q Ifj 30 [J 5:15 □ 5:^5 Q

I 4:15 □ 5:00 Q 5:30 Q
WEDNESDAY - February 7

4:00 Q 4:30 Q 5:15 Q 5:45 □

> ^:15 LJ 5:00 Q 5:30 □
THURSDAY - February 8

1 *M00 □ 4:30 |H 5:15 □ 5:^5 [J

^.15 □ 5:00 Q~] 5:30 □

Remark s :

(Signed)

Return to:

EXTENSION EDITORIAL OFFICE (County)
330 Mumford Hall
Urbana, Illinois

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MM yM0JT0 • III iifPM 1 iiiip

rtension Editorial Office

University of Illinois

College of Agriculture

Seeing Is Believing. . .

The Legume-Grass Winter Show is pick-
ing up steam as it heads into the third
week. Attendance at the first 8 stops
totaled more than 2500- -an average of
more than 300 per show.

Press-radio coverage of each show
serves as build-up for the shows that
follow. This means that interest will
grow and the crowds will get larger.

Please remember to put us down for cop-
ies of your press-radio-direct mail pro-
motion material on the show.

Painless Information Presentation. . .

Macon county's V/. E Myers firmly be-
lieves there is more than one way to get
information across. His latest tech-
nique is to wrap up the information in
the form of a "drama." The material pre-
sented covered the work of the Extension
Service and the various farmer coopera-
tives in the county. The three-act dra-
ma was given at a series of township
meetings recently. The attendance at the
meetings totaled more than 1600, and My-
ers reports that even though no Hollywood
stars were in the cast, the audiences en-
joyed the efforts of the actors.

Adviser Myers might have an extra copy
of the script if any of you would like to
take a look at it .

Special Farm Editions...

Two special farm editions are due to
come off the press shortly. Jim Somers
reports that the Dixon Evening Telegraph
is ready to put the wraps on its special
farm section. And Bill Tammsus says the
Woodstock Daily Sentinel is planning a
tribute to agriculture with an edition
late in TPebrunrv.

Fifteen Minutes of Radio. . . ■

J. B. Turner, Fayette county, wrote the
other day asking for suggestions on put-
ting together a 15-minute weekly farm
radio show. Since farm radio editor
Jack Murray was out of town for the week,
we took the liberty of presenting our
thinking on the subject.

We wrote "J. B." that it seemed to us
a county farm radio show should do three
things: 1. Give farm families the farm
news of the county. 2. Supplement and
promote the other extension activities
in the county- -meetings, field days, con-
ferences and so on. 3. Present inter-
esting and helpful educational informa-
tion--the same kind of information that
is presented at those meetings and field
days.

To get those three Jobs done, we sug-
gested that the available radio time be
arranged on the basis of a simple 3 -part
format. It doesn't have to be a hard and
fast format, but one that gives the audi-
ence a sense of orderly presentation.

We suggested that the first 3 or I
minutes of a 15-minute show be devoted
to a "Swing Around the County" and in-
clude an informal personal report on what
was going on in the county that week.

The next couple of minutes could be
"A Look at the Farm Calendar" and there
you would plug your "coming events."

Then you could devote from 5 to 7 min-
utes to the "Feature for the Day." This
would be the educational feature in which
one particular problem would be pretty
thoroughly discussed. The problem might
be feeding hogs or laying out a contour
or building a barn. It would be the
spot to have the interviews with farmers
and local leaders.

The last minute or 6o would be "Clos-

•■!''' r- ■ . •
.. . . .» - - .

1 • .1 ,

4 >v..-M - i

enslon Editorial Office University of Illinois

Co lift of Agriculture

Embargo on Mail. . .

The rail strike and the resulting em-
bargo on mail were sturdy blocks in last
week's dissemination of information.

In other words- -we didn't put out any
stories last week because the post office
wouldn't handle the stuff.

Farm and Home Week Aftermath...

Bad weather held down attendance at
Farm and Home Week this year. This put
an additional responsibility on coverage
by press and radio.

Three or four of the national farm mag-
azines were represented. Prairie Farmer
and WLS editors were here for two or
three days. Farm editors from the Chi-
cago Tribune, Chicago Daily News, the
Rock Island Argus, the Davenport Daily
Times and several other daily newspapers
were on hand to whip out copy and drink
coffee. Daily coverage stories were
filed with the three major press associ-
ations--United Press, Associated Press
and International News Service.

Between 25 and 30 presentations were
broadcast "live" over WILL and more were
recorded for future broadcast use.

Now if you have nothing better to do
some long evening, help us try to figure
out how many people were reached with
Farm and Home Week information through
the use of press and radio.

Another Special Farm Edition. . .

The Sterling Daily Gazette sends word
that a special farm edition of that pa-
per is due off the press February 22 with
special emphasis on the work and contri-
butions of the county farm and home bu-
reaus and the Extension Service.

Turner's Radio Audience...

In the last letter we mentioned J. B.
Turner's radio program. Here is a fol-
low-up report. On a Monday broadcast,
J.B. interviewed the manager of the Fay-
ette Service Company about plans for the
annual meeting the next day. In spite
of icy roads, 250 people showed up for
the meeting on Tuesday.

J. B. asked for a show of hands on how
many had heard his Monday broadcast.
More than two-thirds of the people raised
their hands.

Speaking of Badio. . .

Richland county's Ed Barnes said he
tried out our suggestion for a 3-part
format for a 15-minute radio program and
"by gosh it worked fine."

Ed Barnes now has a standing offer of
a free cup of editorial coffee.

Rehling Reports. . .

Farm Adviser A. J. Rehling held a Hen-
derson County Silage Tour Friday, Febru-
ary 2. The temperature the night before
dropped to 16 below, but more than 200
farmers showed up the next day. Groups
from Warren, Mercer, Knox, Stark, McDon-
ough and Hancock counties also were on
hand. Six farms were visited, and at
each farm the farmer explained how and
why he put up his silage the way he did.

How do we know all this? We weren't
there. How did we know? We read about
it in the papers. Just as soon as Rehl-
ing thawed out he wrote a first-class
follow-up story for the newspapers which
gave all the details.
2/15/51

* ft *

Home Economics Editor for '71...

The long-legged bird with bifocals for
roof reading stopped by the chimney of
he Bob Jarnagin house. Before leaving,
e announced that there would be a candi-
ate for a home economics editor's posi-
ion in 1971. The young lady's name is
Susan Kathryn.

When last seen, the bird was flapping
his wings in the direction of the Jack
Murray homestead in St. Joseph.

District Sessions on Information. . .

Monday morning we met with Associate
Director Kammlade, Mrs. Bums and mem-
bers of the supervisory staff to discuss
possibilities for a series of district
sessions on information and promotion
problems. We presented some things we
had in mind. And the supervisors told
us what they thought was good and what
was bad about our ideas.

Definite plans are in the mill for
March 20 and 21 subdi strict meetings in
District I. Tentative arrangements are
being made for a May conference on in-
formation problems in District V. We
plan to adjust the program for each dis-
trict to fit the problems you farm and
home advisers say are the most important
to you.

Henderson County's Hay Day...

The article on page 6 of the February
Agricultural Leaders' Digest is authored
by Farm Adviser Rehling and describes the
Henderson county Hay Day held last sum-
mer.

"It's Just a Little Weekly"...

At times all of us are prone to dis-
count those things we don't know much
about or haven't thought much about.

Once in a while we hear an adviser 6ay,
"Oh, I don't know much about that paper.
I don't send them anything. It's just a
little weekly."

Let's think about that a minute. An
inch is a "little" when compared to a
mile. But when added to the end of your
nose, an inch would not be so "little."

A weekly newspaper with a circulation
of 300 or 1*00 is little when compared
with the Chicago Tribune, with a circu-
lation in the millions or with a county
seat daily with a circulation of 20 or
30 thousand. But an audience of 300 or
kOO isn't so 'little" when you try to
crowd that many people into one of your
educational meetings.

We would suspect that most of your
meetings that draw 300 or 1+00 people get
quite a write-up in your monthly report.
And you wouldn't say we had a "little"
meeting last week with only a couple of
hundred folks attending. You would use
such words as "huge," "most successful,"
"tremendous turnout . 11

Here's something else to think about.
That "little" weekly may be tucked away
in a corner of your county that you don't
have time to visit very often. And may-
be the folks in that area don't drive to
your meetings or to your office so often.
Maybe that little weekly reaching 300,
kOO, 500 or more people could be quite a
help to you and your program if you would
give it half a chance.

And so ends the sermon for today.

2/22/51

iki

:. - ...

iension Editorial Office

University of Illinois

Collftg*' of Agriculture

i,ke Your News Service "Regular"...

Once in a while we hear a farm or home
adviser say, "Yes, I send news stories to
all the newspapers in my county." And
just as we are beaming approval, there
omes this strange and weird qualifica-
ion which reads: "Whenever I have
something to send."

We say that's a strange qualification.
Here's why: Is it possible that there's
a county in the state where a week will
go by when there is absolutely nothing
of importance to be reported to farm peo-
ple? Have some counties been so success-
ful in solving all farm and home prob-
lems that it really takes a while for
something newsworthy to develop? If so,
let's not admit it lest our appropria-
tions be slashed.

There are two main reasons why that
word "regular" has been stressed in talk-
ing about county news services.

First, all. of us tend to do things
easier and better when we do them regu-
larly. Second, most editors will use
more stuff if they can look forward to
getting the stories at the same time
each week. There's a reason for that:

Most editors have the space needs of
their papers pretty well figured out.
They know country correspondence will
take so much room. Advertising will fill
a certain percentage. Society gets a
column or two. If the editor gets three
or four good stories from the farm advi-
ser and home adviser each week, he saves
space for those stories. But if he does
not, he may have his space all assigned
by the time the "occasional" story gets
in.

Some of you who have regular services
have mentioned that if your envelope of
stories doesn't arrive in the editor's
office on the day it's supposed to, you

That Bird Is Here Again. . .

Remember that long-legged bird we men-
tioned last week hovering over the Jack
Murray house. He wasn't fooling. He
came down Saturday morning and left a
package containing more than 8 pounds of
husky boy named Robert.

National k-U Club Week...

We would guess that most of you already
have sent out stories pegged to National
h-E Club Week next week. Youth Editor
Bob Jarnagin has some promotion sugges-
tions going out under special mailing.
You should receive it before you get this
letter.

We had hoped to reissue some of the ^+-H
mat illustrations, but the plates were
held up in the mail on the way to the
printers. Many of you have copies of
most of the mats.

Questions We Couldn't Answer...

Virginia Seidel stopped in the office
the other day with a long list of ques-
tions. She and Hugh Wetzel are on the
k-R visual aids committee. Virginia
wanted to know things like this: How
many farm and home advisers have slide
projectors? How many have movie projec-
tors? How many have cameras for taking
slides? Movies? How many advisers use
black and white prints regularly in their
county publications? She had some others,
but we had said "don't know" so many
times that she gave up.

She said rather pointedly that we ought
to know if we were going to be of help
on visual aids. We agreed. Some time
soon you may get a call for help to an-
swer those quest ions- -and some others.

>* ... ..

i- >-y

:rtfinslon Editorial Office Uni varsity of Illinois College of Agriculture

SPECIAL EDITIOfl

An Editorial Confab Coming Up....
District I. Subdistrict Conferences on....
+ PRESS RADIO VISUAL AIDS

Yorkville- -March 20
Oregon March 21

Reach more people more quickly!

Here ' s the Dope. . .

All members of the extension editorial staff are pulling out of here on the
20th and 21st to meet with you farm advisers, home advisers, assistant ad-
visers, youth assistants, office editors, and anyone else you would like to
bring. Jessie, Claire, Jack, Lyman, Bob, and the Slave Driver- -we' re all
coming.

You've Got Quest ions- -We 've Got Questions...

Let's figure out some answers! How do we know that time spent preparing news
stories and radio programs pays off? What's the best way to set up a county
news service? What about personal columns? Where should the stories come
from, and how should they be written? What's the best way to work with press
and radio editors? How long should a radio program be? How many times a week?
What time of day? What should go into a radio program? Should we buy tape
recorders? What kind? What makes a good picture? Why? What's the best kind
of camera? How can we improve county publications? Those are some of the
questions. There may be others. Bring them along. Let's talk them over.

Ray Anderson May Speak at Lunch. . .Return Attached Reservation Card...

Ray Anderson, associate editor of Farm Journal, author of "Ray's Ramblings,"
and former farm editor of the Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Gazette , has made tentative
arrangements to give us his observations at lunch. We need to make luncheon
reservations! Will each of you farm and home advisers return the enclosed
self-addressed card. Farm advisers show how many men will come. Home advisers
show how many women. If your office secretary helps with news, bring her too.
We need the cards back right away.

J. .

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College Qf.AgrJLriiltura..

"Give Us Good Company"...

Effingham's Clinton Cutright sent us
some of his legume -grass show promotion
material the other day and pointed out a
statistical fact: Averages always build
up the low numbers and pull down the big
ones.

In commenting on our news release giv-
ing the average show attendance at 250
for one week, Clinton says, "If you cant
give us good company, let us stand alone
on our merits. If our roads had been
passable, we would have had 1,000 in to
see the show. As it was, people drove hO
miles to get in when they lived within
three miles of the show place."

In addition to the news stories and
clippings he sent, Clinton pointed out,
"We probably used $200 worth of radio
time but we had no prepared scripts. We
don't believe in scripts on WCRA. They
cramp our style."

That 1 s the kind of talk we like to hear
coming from a veteran radio and news man.

"Paul Did a Good Job"...

Another quotation we picked up this
week came from Eddie Pilchard, who passed
along a marked copy of the White County
Farm Bureau News with a note, "Paul did
a good job here."

The "good job" done by Adviser Pittman
was a front-page double -spread k-VL story
carrying the head, "America Must Turn
to Youth for Added Strength, for Better
Way of Life, for Improved Standards."
That's a pretty good quotation too.

What do your editors think are the most
important farm problems in the county?

3/8/51

The Hume Record Farm News...

Dairy specialist Jerry Cash sent us a
copy of The Hume Record the other day
and called our attention to the College
of Agriculture farm and home news on the
pages. The Record, an 8-page tabloid
weekly, carried 6 farm and home news sto-
ries from here.

Jerry, who knows quite a bit about
Hume, says "This paper must be one of the
smallest weeklies in the state." Hume
has a population of less than 55°*

As we've said before, don't be misled
by the size of the paper. If it's from
my home town, I'll read it from front
page to back page.

To Henry County Editors...

"We appreciate the cooperation we have
received from the press and radio in pub-
licizing our Henry County extension ac-
tivities. Much of the success of the
recent Henry County U-H Camp Fund Drive
is due to the support we received from
press and radio editors.

"We could cite many other examples
where publicity through the press and ra-
dio has played an important part in im-
proving farm family living in Henry Coun-
ty.

"From time to time we are confronted
by special problems which may affect Hen-
ry County farmers. Right now we have
two problems. I am passing the follow-
ing information along to you and you may
use any or all of the material if you
wish."

Those are the first three paragraphs
of a recent letter Adviser Henry Flake
sent to newspaper and radio editors in
his county calling their attention to
two troublesome problems.

, v . v.. • •-•!

« . ,* ✓ r

1 ■.

"Two for the Shov" . . .

The lights are burning late this week
as the editors here get ready to close
up shop next Tuesday and Wednesday and
head for Yorkville and Oregon. The oc-
casion is the series of two District I
subdistrict information workshops with
farm and home advisers, assistant advi-
sers and anyone else in the county office
who wants to attend.

The two days promise to be full ones —
and we hope mutually helpful. Here is a
preview of some of the things we hope to
hash over:

1. Newspaper and radio coverage poten-
tial for each county in the two subdis-
tricts. We've been gathering some news-
paper circulation and radio audience
facts and figures. They tell quite a
story.

2. Tips and sources of information
around which news stories and radio pro-
grams can be built. Where does the news
come from, and how do we recognize it
when we see it?

3. Suggestions on steps to take in
building a sound and solid county infor-
mation program.

k. The high points and some practice
in the actual writing of news stories.

5. Just a bit about cameras and photo-
graphic techniques .

Ray Anderson, associate editor of Farm
Journal and former farm editor of the
Cedar Bapids, Iowa, Gazette, has promised
to be our guest at the noon luncheons .
And Ray will give some of his obser-
vations on writing farm and home news
material for both newspapers and maga-
zines .

College of -Agri cu ltur?

"The Coverage Radio Gives a Guy" . . .

Agricultural engineer Ben Muirheid was
listening to his car radio the other day
while driving to work. He caught a re-
mark from a faint station about soil con-
servation, so he tuned in the station
and turned up the volume .

The speaker was Farm Adviser J. B.
Turner. J. B. was interviewing a coun-
ty farmer about the preview showing of
the Oliver film, "Neighbors of the Land"

Ben was so impressed with the informa-
tion he received from the broadcast that
he sat down and wrote J. B. a letter and
sent us a copy. He finished up his let-
ter with this statement:

"The thing that really impressed me
after hearing your program was the tre-
mendous coverage radio gives a guy. I
am like a lot of other people in that
I lose sight, sometimes, of how radio
can stretch out over the miles in all
directions and dispense information
quickly, effortlessly, and with little
expense ."

We have never said that half as well.

k-E Special Editions . . .

We haven't seen them all, but our con-
gratulations this week go to the exten-
sion workers and k-K Club leaders in
Sangamon and Johnson county for excellent
k-E special editions in the Waverly Jour-
nal and Vienna Times, respectively . Top-
notch reporting in both of them.

3-15-51

i J ■

xtension Editorial Office University of Illinois College of Agriculture

We Get Some Lessons on Promotion...

From time to time we have tried to put across
our ideas about successful promotion. We've never
figured we had a corner on ideas. And now we know
that we don't.

At the risk of embarrassing J. B. Turner with
frequent mentions, we would like to add a post-
script to last week's item. You'll recall "J. B."
planned the meeting for the premiere showing of the
Oliver film on soil conservation.

He was good enough to send us a copy of the let-
ter he wrote to Rolie Eakin, chairman of the
Fayette County Soil Conservation District. The
letter followed Mr. Eakin* s request for a review
of the steps taken in promoting the show.

We thought you would be interested in taking a
look at the review. It is an excellent outline of
how a successful advance promotion program should
be handled. A copy of J. B. 's letter is attached.

Editor Covers h-H. Fund Drive Dinner...

From Christian county, Farm Adviser Cliff Love
writes: "I am enclosing the front page of the
Morrisonville Times and also the page that carries
our regular weekly news releases. They have been
giving us good agricultural publicity each week.
The dinner meeting for our U-H drive at which E. I.
Pilchard was present was covered by the editor,
Mr. V. Lauer, who gave us a big write-up."

It goes without saying that Editor Lauer attended
the dinner meeting because he received a special
invitation from Adviser Love.

3/22/51

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March 10, 1951

Mr. Rolie Eakin
Vandalia, Illinois

Dear Mr. Eakin:

When you were in my office on March 3 planning the publicity campaign
for the premiere showing of the motion picture "Neighbors of the Land" you
requested I furnish you with three copies of all the publicity activities
that our office was responsible for preparing and mimeographing and mailing.
I am enclosing copies of all materials which we have forwarded.

I. This contains the following copies:

1. Clipped sheets from the Vandalia Union, Vandalia Leader, Vandalia,
Illinois; Ramsey New's Journal, Ramsey, Illinois; St. Elmo Banner,
St. Elmo, Illinois; Farina New's Journal, Farina, Illinois; and
the Greenville Advocate, Greenville, Illinois (Bond Co.). All the
above papers were furnished engraved cuts to use. I also sent
photographs and stories to the Hillsboro Journal, and the Montgom-
ery County News, Hillsboro, Illinois (Montgomery Co.).

II. Radio:

1. Letters were sent to:

(a) Hadley Read, Extension Editor, University of Illinois, Station WILL.

(b) Ted Mangner, Farm Editor, St. Louis, Missouri, Station KMOX.

I have announced this program twice on our own program. Miss Diveley has
announced it twice on the Vandalia News. I requested farm advisers in twenty
counties to announce it on their programs.

III. Letters to district and county organizations:

(a) Letters over my signature were sent to twenty farm advisers in sur-
rounding counties.

(b) Letters prepared in our office were sent out, over your signature,
to twenty soil conservation districts boards.

(c) A letter to Mr. Parson of the Mississippi Valley Implement Dealer's
Association, over your signature. A copy of the announcements sent
out from Parson's office to all implement dealer members in South-
ern Illinois.

(d) Cards. Fourteen hundred frank cards were sent out, over my signa-
ture, to Fayette county farmers.

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IV. Bank's Announcement:

I contacted Mr. Rogier as suggested, asking his cooperation of writing
to the officials of the banker's association. Mr. Rogier felt that due
to the brevity of time, it would be better to send it direct to the banks,
therefore, he sent out over two hundred copies to all banks in this sec-
tion of Illinois. I furnished him with the publicity material, however,
he took the liberty to add some sponsers. I did not catch this addition
until he had the stencil made, however, I checked with Mr. Cassity and
we decided it would be all right to release as written.

V. Letters to Agricultural Teachers:

(a) Letters were sent to all agricultural teachers in Fayette county
plus Croxville in Bond.

(b) Letters were sent to all G. I. Instructors in Fayette county.

VI. Announcements at Meetings:

(a) I had the opportunity to make an announcement of this meeting to
one hundred farm leaders in the 23rd Congressional District at a
district meeting in Olney, Illinois on March 5»

(b) On March 7 1 made an announcement at the District P.M. A. Mobiliza-
tion meeting held in Vandalia. One hundred fifty people represent-
ing P.M. A. Extension Service, S. C. S. and F.H.A. were present.

(c) Civic Clubs. I announced this meeting at the Vandalia Rotary Club
last Tuesday. It was announced at the Vandalia Chamber of Commerce
meeting last Tuesday night. It will be announced at the Lions Club
meeting on Monday.

I feel through the mail program we planned and the announcements at
the four meetings we have reached 2,250 people. No doubt the radio and news
papers have reached many more.

We were happy to cooperate with you in getting this meeting publicized
and glad to make our facilities and help available to get the materials in the
mail.

We used one stenographer the first day, three the second, and two the third
day in this publicity campaign.

Yours truly,

(S) J. B. Turner

J. B. Turner
Farm Adviser

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Extension Editorial Office University of Illinois College of Agriculture

We Looked at Some Facts...

In Subdistrict A of District I, 5k
weekly newspapers reach 7^,535 families.
Seven dailies reach 158,8^1 families.
This means that 233,376 families are
reached by newspapers in this nine-county
ea.

In Subdistrict B, not counting Cook
ounty, 105 weekly and daily papers reach
^3, 977 families.
For the whole district, again not count-
ng Cook county, 166 newspapers reach
77,353 families.
Those were some of the facts we looked
at last week during the district confer-
ences on information problems. Take a
look at them again. They tell quite a
story. They tell of the tremendous "ex-
tension" that newspapers can give our
farming and homemaking stories.

In Winnebago county, for example, the
circulation figures for the 2 daily and
k weekly papers add up to 119,368. Mc-
Henry county has 9 papers reaching more
than 18 thousand families. LaSalle has
6 papers reaching more than 22 thousand
families.

We also looked at a radio coverage map
for this district. Audience coverage
areas of the local stations alone com-
pletely black out the 20 counties in the
district .

There were other facts to be discussed.
What does research have to say about the
effectiveness of information methods?
How do newspapers and radio compare with
meetings as methods of presenting help
on farming and homemaking problems?
Where do farmers and homemakers say they
get information to help them do a better
job of farming and keeping a home?

We Discussed Some Opinions...

All of the time at the district con-
ferences wasn't spent in looking at
facts. We discussed some opinions--our
opinions and the opinions expressed by
the advisers.

We exchanged views on the ingredients
of a "balanced county information pro-
gram." We discussed personal columns,
county publications, circular letters,
radio programs and the layout of a regu-
lar weekly news service.

Everyone didn't agree with everyone
else, but that's what made it enjoyable.

Wayne Churchill said he thought the
time he spent on radio was the most prof-
itable .

Frank Shuman said a full- page picture
spread on camping in the Moline Daily
Dispatch was responsible for increasing
donations 50 percent in the areas of his
county where the paper circulated.

L. D. Graham said he thought personal
experience stories were touchy to handle,
and Ray Nicholas said he wasn't sure he
would agree with that.

Well, that will give you the idea.

More to Come. . .

Supervisor Harold Gordon has asked us
to reserve Friday, May 25, for a district
information session on information prob-
lems with farm advisers of District V.

Supervisor W. D. Murphy says the sub-
districts of District IV may want the
dates of May 23 and May 28 for the same
purpose*

Like the blushing maiden, we're Just
waiting to be asked.
3/29/51

•f r, ■ „• t.

P. S. TO "IT SAYS HEBE"

At Lawson Culver's suggestion, we're sending a tape recorder to the
tree-planting operation at the southern Illinois k-R camp on April 6. The
plan is to pick up programs for WILL and local station use.

You're welcome to use the machine to make your own program. Or you
may get dubs of the programs Jack Murray makes. In either case, bring or
send along a tape .

The other day Supervisor Gertrude
Kaiser received an attractive, illustra-
ted circular letter from Carroll county
Home Adviser Dorothy Footitt. At the
bottom of the letter was this note:

"We are trying to use some of the dis-
trict training school information on
effective publicity."

Jessie Heathman, who held forth on the
value of circular letters during our
sessions in District I, has a free cup of
coffee coming for putting her stuff a-
cross.

Compliment for Tape Service...

Farm Program Director Dick Faler of
station WTAD in Quincy recently sent in
an order for some of the tape-recorded
programs and commented: "Use of these
programs has caused favorable comment
from our listening audience. We shall
continue to use them on a regular basis."

**********

„ t — , — — ~— -

tainly easy reading," and while he does
not say so the obvious question is wheth-
er or not the College of Agriculture and
Extension Service should consider pub-
lishing educational information in the
ultra- simple form.

C. R. Elder Will Discuss Television,..

C. R. Elder, extension editor and di-
rector of information for Iowa State Col-
lege, will discuss educational television
on Monday morning, April 9> during the
monthly extension staff conference.

Iowa State College owns and operates
the only educational television station
in the United States and at present is
on a daily 10-hour schedule.

Title of Elder's discussion will be
"Television Equals Radio Plus Visual Aids
Plus Common Sense J"

We are sure that if this notice reaches
you in time, and if you would be inter-
ested, there would be room for you to
attend. Meeting will be in the Faculty
Lounge of the Illini Union.

SPECIAL INFORMATION on Spring C lean-Up
is in the packet.

J V

Editorial Confabs Coming Up...

Next week all of us will pull out of
here for a meeting with you folks at the
Edward sville subdi strict meeting. Then
on the 23rd we will be at Effingham, the
2kth at Bloomington and the 25th back
here in Champaign to wind up the sched-
ule for April.

The way we look at it, you've got some
questions and we've got some questions.
Between us perhaps we can figure out
some of the answers. We have in mind
building our discussion around the gen-
eral theme-- "Press, Radio and Visual Aids,
in a Balanced County Information Pro-
gram."

We need to do some thinking about these
questions: How do we know that time
spent preparing news stories and radio
programs pays off? What's the best way
to set up a county news service? What
about personal columns? Where should
stories come from and how should they be
written? What's the best way to work
with press and radio editors? How long
should a radio program be? What time of
day? What day of the week? What should
go into a radio program? Should we buy
tape recorders? What kind? What about
pictures? What makes a good one? Why?
What kind of camera should be used?
How can we improve county publications?
How effective are circular letters? How
can they be made more effective? Is it
worth the time it takes?

Those are some of the questions. We
hope you will have others. We hope you
will feel free to tell us what 1 s wrong
with some of the things we are doing or
trying to do or should be doing. We'll
tell you what we think.

, V12/51

The Power of Television...

Last week we were in Iowa- -mostly for
a brief vacation and to attend the meet-
ing called by Secretary Brannan in Des
Moines.

We came home tremendously impressed
with the power of television. Coir ob-
servations were backed up by C. R. Elder,
extension editor at Iowa State College,
who spoke at extension conference Monday
morning.

We were in three farm homes where tel-
evision had become the number one medium
for news, information and education. We
saw some mighty good television shows,
and we saw some mighty poor ones. These
things strike us;

1. Television offers extension one of
its most powerful and effective tools
for reaching farm men and women with
educational information.

2. A good educational television show,
well presented, can compete with enter-
tainment shows.

3. Besides reaching large numbers of
people, television has marked advantages
over other educational methods. You
reach people in their own homes- -In their
own environment. Everyone has a front
seat in a comfortable chair. He is not
distracted by trying to see over someone
else's hat or by having some fellow poke
him in the back with his knee. He can
look at a chart or a piece of machinery
10 feet away and not 200 feet away.

4. To be effective, television re-
quires the best of extension demonstra-
tion. Put another way, a topnotch visual
extension demonstration would be a natu-
ral for television.

What does all this mean? To me it
means that we had better get ready for
television as fast as we can,

Extension Editorial Office University of Illinois

The Value of Radio. . .

In the Packet . . .

College of Agriculture

In discussing extension radio at our
monthly extension conference a while
back, Farm Radio Editor Jack Murray pre-
sented some conservative but amazing
figures on the value of radio time used
by Extension in Illinois.

On WILL, the University station, we
have a daily hour farm show. Five days
a week we have a half-hour home show and
another 15-minute home show. If we had
to pay for the time at standard adver-
tising rates, the cost per year would be
$33,600.

Our syndicated news service goes to
more than 70 radio stations in the state.
We think most of the stations use it.
But if only half of them use the script,
which averages 10 minutes a day, the
value of the time on a commercial basis
would be $1^5 ,200.

A minimum of 10 stations use the syn-
dicated tape service each month. The
value of the time given to these programs
by commercial stations is conservatively
estimated at $30 ,000.

An average of two special programs a
week are furnished to WMAQ and WGN in
Chicago 52 weeks a year. Two programs a
week are furnished to WENR in Chicago
for 20 weeks during the summer. The val-
ue of these special programs is $42, 900 .

The North Central Radio Survey shows
that an average of 35 percent of you farm
and home advisers broadcast at least
once a week. The conservative total
value of this time would be $65 .500.

Simple addition of these figures will
show that the total estimated value of
the radio time Extension gets free each
year is $317,200.

The farm advisers' packets this week
contain another in the series of pictori-
al mats prepared by Dr. Roland W. Bart-
lett. You'll notice that the chart dem-
onstrates the world leadership of the
United States in steel production.

WLPO Features h-E News...

Bill Kostellic, farm program director
for WLPO in LaSalle, recently outlined
his new plan for increasing h-E news on
his farm shows.

Bill, who is doing an excellent farm
reporting job, mimeographed a supply of
"4-H news outlines." He distributed
these outlines to 4-H leaders and direct-
ly to 4-H Clubs in his coverage area,
with a request that club reporters or
leaders fill them out whenever there was
interesting news to report.

He says, "This whole business just
started a month ago, and the response
has been fairly good so far. Apparently
the idea appeals to the club members
themselves, because most of the outlines
have come back directly from the club
reporters. As a result of this campaign,
several clubs have been asking to do pro-
grams— something that didn't happen too
often last year."

New k~E Columnist...

Charles W. Federman, Jersey county's
assistant farm adviser, has joined the
ranks of column writers.

V19/51

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Extension Editorial Office

University of Illinois

College of Agriculture

In the Packet ♦ . .

Farm advisers will find a new mat list-
ing available farm lease forms and pub-
lications in this week's packet. If you
still have the old mat which lists these
publications, throw it away. This one
looks about the same, but it is a revi-
sion.

Editorial Comment on Farm Problems...

Newspaper editorials on farm problems
are sound indications of a newspaper's
real and sincere interest in agriculture.

The Cairo Evening Citizen recently de-
voted half of its editorial columns to
the problem of "getting and keeping good
farm help." Much of the editorial was
based upon the work of economist J. B.
Cunningham and his suggestions for wage-
plus-bonus agreements.

Farm Adviser Les Broom has had much to
do with keeping the Citizen posted on
current farm activities and farm problems.

In Reflection. . .

With the exception of the May 2k meet-
ing with farm advisers in District V, we
have just about wound up our information
workshops. We enjoyed them immensely.
We hope we were able to express some of
our thoughts on county information work.

We also hope that you have had time to
do some reflective thinking. We had to
take an over-all approach. You have to
tie it down with action in the county.
We would like to know how our over-ell
approach fits with the particular prob-
lems you face. If you have time, let us
know.

Editorial Travels...

Jessie Heathman and Jack Murray leave
Thursday morning for a radio education
meeting in Columbus. They'll be back
Monday morning. The editor leaves Fri-
day morning for an Editor's Advisory
Committee meeting in Washington and will
be back May Ik.

The Value of Annual Reports...

One of the problems to be discussed at
the Washington session is experiment sta
tion annual reports.

This problem breaks down into a number
of different questions. One of the big
questions is "Who should be the main au-
dience for an annual report?" Some say
"other research workers." Others say
"farm leaders." Still others say "farm-
ers themselves."

What do you say?

How to Write News Stories...

There was not much time at the district
meetings for a session on "how to write
news stories." We were not even sure
that you people considered it a problem.

Some of you, however, said you would
like to have a workshop on the actual
techniques of news story writing. It's
something we might think about for next
fall or winter.

Public Sentiment Is Everything. . .

"Public Sentiment is everything.
With Public Sentiment nothing can fail.
Without it, nothing can succeed." So
said Abraham Lincoln.

5/3/51

m m

Extension Editorial Office University of Illinois College of Agriculture

TV at Radio Institute...

Television is here to stay. Overworked
as it is, that still expresses the feel-
ing of those of us who attended the
Radio-Television Institute at Columbus,
Ohio, last week. This baby in swaddling
clothes is destined to become tomorrow's
giant in mass education.

TV in Extension. . .

Ohio extension probably leads the mid-
west in use of television as a teaching
tool. Almost a dozen stations are scat-
tered through the state. More than one
agent has a weekly program.

The College of Agriculture has all the
commercial TV time it can handle. Plan
is to get specialists and agents experi-
enced in TV for day when channel "thaw"
will put many more stations on the air.

Hogs Dying to Get Into TV. . .

Eight hogs died for a special telecast
during the institute. Extension market-
ing specialist Wilbur Bruner used the
carcasses to compare the leaner, money-
making with the fatter, wasteful hogs.

Carcasses, photographs of live hogs,
weight comparison charts, primal cuts
and lean and fat pork chops in frying
pans made up the visuals.

Home economics side of the show fea-
tured home management specialist Thelma
Beall with tips on efficient arrangement
of cupboard space at the mixing center.

Visuals included cupboard, set -in
shelves, bowls, baking dishes and tins,
baking materials and mixing equipment.

5/10/51

TV in Adult Education. ♦ .

Considerable experimentation work in
adult education is under way, and reports
are favorable. University of Michigan,
Detroit University and 20 institutions In
the Philadelphia area have had programs
in operation for at least a year.

All reported response far better than
anticipated, interests of viewers broader
in scope, and programs neither over-
costly nor time consuming. The programs
are carried by commercial stations.

University of Michigan is giving credit
for TV courses. "Man and His World,"
"Living in Later Years," "Beginning Pho-
tography," "Hobbies," "Interior Design"
and "Retailer and Consumer" have been
included so far.

Quotable Quotes. . .

Here are just a few of the gems of wis-
dom liberally sprinkled through the 3-
day session:

C« M. Ferguson, extension director,
Ohio: "The impact of television and
other mass teaching methods on the rural
audience causes one to ponder the rela-
tive effectiveness of the group meeting."

F. C. Burns, extension editor, Ohio:
"Television is a natural for specialists
and agents who do a good job with visual
materials in method and result demonstra-
tion."

Bill Zipf, fnrm director, WBNS-TV,
Columbus: "Television is easier than
radio because pictures rather than words
tell the story."

F. P. Taylor, county agent, Steuben-
ville, Ohio: "The agent who does not
have at least a weekly program is not
giving radio a fair chance to help him
in his job."

.Jtf

Report From Washington...

Last week Jack Murray reported to you
on the Columbus radio-television meeting.
This is a report on our editors' commit-
tee meeting in Washington.

The agricultural job ahead seems to be
definite and clear-cut. We need to pro-
duce more and produce efficiently. "We
need to use efficiently what we produce.
There is top-level agreement on the job
to be done. Beyond that, unfortunately,
the agreement stops. You become de-
pressed by superficial "coordination and
cooperation" over a layer of confusion,
skepticism and distrust. At the same
time there is great confidence in the
ability of the American farmer to break
all production records when the chips
are down.

Extension's role in the speeded-up de-
fense production effort will depend
largely on the role Extension is willing
and ready to assume. We can either lead
or be led. There are plenty of other
groups and agencies ready to take over
Extension's long-time role of leadership.

If we are to continue to lead, we must
do so aggressively and offensively.
Leadership built on defense doesn't move
ahead very fast. We must review and re-
vitalize our methods of reaching people
with information. (if that sounds like
a plug for information methods, we'll
let it stand. It is. )

We can expect change--on short notice.
It will be a waste of time to look for
someone to blame for this change. Our
educational program should be built to
meet the new demands.

Washington Continued...

The USDA is working on the "defense"
aspects of biological warfare. Scien-
tists are worrisd about the introduction
of new plant and animal diseases and the
spread of old diseases into new areas.
There is no need and no desire to scare
farmers or the general public with prop-
aganda about biological warfare. Agri-
cultural leaders, though, should be a-
ware of the threat.

Administrators are working hard to
protect the farm labor supply. But it
will get tighter. There will be a need
to pool ideas and information on labor-
saving techniques and methods. This is
clearly one of Extension's problems.

We were told that every effort was
being made to protect the farmers ' ma-
chinery needs. This goes for parts and
supplies too. But it is only sound busi-
ness for every farmer to take better care
of the machinery he now has.

Should we be attacked by Russia or any
other country, the term "displaced per-
sons" would take on a new and sober
meaning. Agriculture would be expected
to absorb millions of people streaming
from the cities.

In This Week's Packet...

There are two mats in this week's
packet for farm advisers. The first of
this month we mentioned the mat listing
the farm lease forms and publications.
Through an oversight the mat was not
sent. Now it is. And there is another
in the series of mats prepared by Dr.
Bartlett ,

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]:t*msion Editorial Office

University of Illinois

College* of Agriculture

Editorial Gems of Wisdom. . .

' iii

Our Publications Editor Anna C. Glover
was guest speaker at the May extension
conference. Here are a few of the "gems
of wisdom" from her talk on "Effective
Writing."

"Effective writing is writing that
reaches the minds of your readers with
the least effort on their part. In our
extension work, it's writing that gives
them the information they want without
their having to dig it out with a pick..
..or that sparks them into the action
you want."

"One of our great modern problems that
came with improvements in ease and speed
of printing is too many words and too
many big words."

"Ascham, an educator of Shakespeare's
time, said, 'He that will write well in
any tongue must follow this counsel of
Aristotle — to speak as the common people
do, to think as wise men do.'"

"The editors of Wallaces' Farmer fig-
ure that they gained 18 to 66 per cent
more readers by 'talking plainer.' Say
these editors:

"Did you ever wheel into a farmer's
yard, clear your throat a couple of times
and say:

The ability of certain perennials to
take possession of land to the exclu-
sion of a crop under ordinary methods
of tillage makes it necessary to use
special methods for their control.
"Of course you haven't. Most of us
just don't talk that way. But what a-
bout writing? Did the fellow who wrote
the sentence above lose readers by for-
getting to 'talk plain'? Chances are he
did."

5M/51

A Peg for Locals...

Livingston county's Helen Marshall is
telling her county folks about the bene-
fits of home economics extension on a
"newsy" peg. When two cooperators es-
tablished 15 and 20 year attendance rec-
ords for their Home Bureau unit meetings,
Miss Marshall used those cues for stories
in county papers. Each story carried
direct quotes about extension benefits
received. We're ready to make an edi-
torial bet that at least 8,000 families
— half of the county's newspaper circu-
lation— read the stories.

More Than a Little Green Gremlin

It was giant sized. Please correct in
last week's home adviser special on
freezing strawberries — last three sen-
tences in paragraph four should read:
"Mix the sugar thoroughly with the fruit.
Place in the package. As soon as this is
done, seal the package."

Reminder to Home Advisers...

Non- credit short courses in Tailoring,
Slip Covering and Skills in Food Prep-
aration start June 11. Registration is
still open. Details of courses were
sent earlier--direct mail--by R. K. New-
ton, Supervisor of Conferences.

Across Editorial Desks...

The sight of Nicholas' news releases
brightened editorial eyes this week.
Three pages of Lake county farm news
were double -spaced and neatly mimeo-
graphed with wide margins. And each
story emphasized the "why" of a meeting
or demonstration.

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Calhoun county's Stanley Sims has
joined the ranks of county extension col-
umn writers and is doing an effective
job. The column heading reads, "FROM
YOUR FARM ADVISER'S DESK," and Sims'
picture and name complete the identifica-
tion.

The one we saw in the Calhoun Herald
was devoted primarily to timely subject
matter reminders on farming problems.
The items were fairly short and were
well written.

Our only suggestion to Sims was that
he try to work in more local names and
more items on what the local folks were
thinking and doing.

Speaking of Columns . . .

This is just a recap on some of the
remarks about personal columns put out
at the district information meetings.

A personal column is NOT a weekly news
service. The column should be part of
the news service — but not all of it.

Primary purpose of a column is to de-
velop a close personal relationshp be-
tween you and your clients. News stories
are impersonal. Columns are personal.

A column is the place to put bits and
pieces of news, information, comments,
observations and remarks which may not
fit into news story structure. But most
of all it is the place for local names- -
the folks you have talked with during
the week; the things they are doing; the
things they are thinking about.

Pick a question seme week and ask
every person you talk with what they
think about it. At the end of the week,
you'll have more than enough material for
a column. Ask them what they think a-
bout price controls, the price of farm

In Chicago last week Earl Bantz gave a
glowing report on the dinner meeting he
and Home Adviser Esther Seimen had with
the editors of Jo Daviess county.

Earl promised to send me all the de-
tails. When they arrive we will pass
them on to you.

News Service by Cliff Love...

Saw a copy of the Pana News -Palladium
the other day which carried the excel-
lent farm news material put out by Chris-
tian county's news-minded Cliff Love.

In the issue we saw, Cliff made good
use of local names and story variety.
He reported on new weed killers; the
work of "good neighbors" in helping farm-
er Ralph Deihl; the experience of farm-
er Frank Miller, who used ammonium ni-
trate; the early corn planting of farmer
Byron Jacobs; garden tips; and the limi-
tations of lindane.

One top-notch story starts out this
way:

"One farmer reported in the office the
other day that he had Just found 30 acres
he hardly knew he had. In fact, this 30
acres had not been used for anything for
the last several years.

"It was full of briars, brush and
gullies."

The story went on to explain how the
farmer had cleared out the brush, filled
in the gullies and now had an excellent
permanent pasture.

That's what we mean when to talk about
farm experience stories. Some farm ex-
perience stories need not be over 100
words long--but they can teach quite a
lesson.

Return Card for Bartlett Charts.,.

A number of you have indicated that
while you appreciate the intent and pur-
pose of the pictorial charts prepared by
Dr. Bartlett, you have been unable to
use them.

Some of you have suggested that the
money spent for those charts might be
more profitably spent on other kinds of
information material.

As you know, the Bartlett mat series
is a cooperative venture with the Illi-
nois dairy cooperatives. The production
costs of the original layouts are paid
by that group, We pay the cost of proc-
essing the mats. They go to newspapers
and magazines that have requested them,
to dairy cooperative magazines and to you
farm advisers.

Recently we checked the mailing list
and asked all of those on it except farm
advisers to return a card if the Bart-
lett charts were wanted.

Dr. Bartlett is anxious that all farm
advisers who can use the mats continue
to receive them. But we agree with you
that money is wasted if we keep on send-
ing mats you can't use.

For that reason we are attaching a
self -addressed return card. IF YOU WANT
THE DR. BARTLETT MONTHLY MATS, PLEASE
RETURN THE CARD BY JUNE 20.

The Questions Being Asked...

Some of the best news stories can be
pegged on the questions you are asked
during the week. Write the story just
the way you answered the question.

Take a Look at Farm Magazines...

If you remember the figures discussed
at the district information meetings,
you know that farm magazines rate high
with farmers and homemakers as sources
of information. In the Iowa study, a-
bout 70 percent of both farmers and home-
makers said they received helpful in-
formation from farm magazines.

Take a look at the June issues of the
farm magazines and you will know why.
Each of them contains a wealth of excel-
lent and practical farm and heme infor-
mation.

True, some of the material must face
up to the charge of being "overplayed."
But for the most part it is checked and
double- checked with competent authorities.

Look at the Illinois material in the
June Farm Journal. The story by Cash
and Russell on page 37 was based on the
hay- judging experiences of the legume-
grass winter tour. The story on pages
U8 and k9 covers the experimental work
of the agronomists on interplanting.
Assistant Editor Lyman Noordhoff has a
picture "farm experience" item on page
58. Kenneth Imig has the same kind of
"farm experience" item on page 63.

There are times when you feel that the
magazines " scoop" you on material. There
may be two sides to that. It may be
that you received the material long be-
fore—but in a less attractive form.
And there may be times when the magazine
does get it first. We hate to be scooped
too. But take a look at the size of the
editorial staffs on each of the maga-
zines. That's part of the reason.

6/7/51

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elusion Editorial Office

University of Illinois

College of Agriculture

Farm Women Tour Wisconsin...

The farm page of THE DAILY DISPATCH,
Moline, recently carried a full-page
picture spread on the Wisconsin tour by
the Bock Island Home Bureau.

Fourteen exciting pictures helped tell
the story of the visit of the Rock Is-
land wcmen to major points of interest
in the dairyland region. Included on
the tour were stops at a cheese factory
in Monroe, the Swiss Colony at New Gla-
rus, Swiss Embroideries factory, Pet
Milk Company and the grotto near Dickey -
ville.

The trip was made by bus, starting at
5:00 in the morning. It ended at 11:00
that night.

Rock Island's Heme Adviser LoiB Mitch-
ell insists that the wcmen themselves
"carried the ball" on arrangements after
she made the suggestion. We were especi-
ally interested in the newspaper cover-
age of the visit. We have seldcm seen
anything better.

Mrs. Mitchell says farm editor Cliff
Lant, of the DISPATCH, went up a day a-
head to pick the spots where he wanted
photographs. Then he met the group at
their first stop and accompanied the
women on the entire tour.

You can't beat that for newspaper co-
operation.

Cost of the trip to the wcmen, inci-
dentally, was about $6.50 each.

More About Columns...

Did you see the story on page 10 of the
June issue of BETTER FARMING METHODS? A
Washington county agent tells why he be-
lieves in a personal column. Worth read-
ing.

6/14/51

Stories With a Punch...

"The hows and whys of meringues were
demonstrated at a recent minor lees on
leaders' school for heme bureau members.

"Mrs. LaVerda Taylor, assistant heme
adviser, gave the demonstration and told
the. standards for meringues.

"She pointed out that the meringues
must be light, tender and have a rather
crisp crust, be smooth and have a pleas-
ing taste. She went on to emphasize that
meringues may be mixed by rotary beaters
or electric mixers."

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Well, that will give you the idea.
That's a story with a punch. It was
written by Logan county's Mabel Albrecht
for the Logan county papers.

The story went on with the details on
meringues to the point that we wanted to
dash right heme and try one.

In a note to Jessie Heathman, Miss Al-
brecht explained, "A result of the train-
ing at district meetings."

We all blush with pride.

Front Page Farm News...

Dr. "WGK" passed along a copy of the
Jerseyville DEMOCRAT NEWS which was lit-
erally stuffed with farm news items.
The big story on the front page was a-
bout the visit of young French farmers
to study farming methods. The weekly
farm page also was packed with news and
featured a personal column by Chuck Fed-
erman. This week's clover bouquet to
Farm Adviser Frakes and his crew.

aMMjMtJUtMMIi
A JT H A H

Information on the proposed new egg
law in this week's packet for farm ad-
visers.

17 CV

tiff w

^nslon Editorial Office University of Illinois . College of Agriculture

Last Call for Bartlett Chart Card... The Story of 4-H...

In this letter, dated June 7, we asked
you to return a card by June 20 if you
wished to receive future pictorial charts
prepared by Dr. Bartlett.

We have received 27 requests that the
mats be continued, while 18 of you have
asked that your names be dropped from the
list.

A new mat goes out this week to those
requesting it. If you want the series
and have not returned a card, let us
know by return mail.

Editors Attend Jacksonville Conference..

Home Economics Editors Jessie Heathman
and Claire Ciha attended the Fourteenth
Citizenship and Home Bureau Organization
Conference at Jacksonville last week.

They brought back press clipping evi-
dence frcm the Jacksonville COURIER and
Jacksonville JOURNAL which proved con-
clusively that the meeting was well
covered. Twice a day press releases
were prepared for the local newspapers
and for state-wide press-radio release.

In addition, the hard-working girls
made seven 15*minute radio recordings
with women frcm Ik counties for later
use on WILL.

In between times they arranged for
pictures, attended sessions and soaked
up ideas on improving home economics and
heme bureau information work.

They report mounting interest in tele-
vis ion- -when? what? how?

Many counties want more help with
radio.

The women said more information was
needed on the basic extension program
and on the relationship of the heme Bu-
reau to extension work at county, state
and national levels.

The story of k-B Club work has been
told many times- -in speeches, in the
press, in national publications.

But one of the best Jobs of telling
the story was done in a simple, monthly
offset publication put out by the Coles-
Moultrie Electric Cooperative.

The story was written by John G. Wag-
goner, manager of the cooperative.

Mr. Waggoner's introductory note to
the story tells better than anyone else
could tell why it was written:

"There is a story I have been wanting
to write for a long time. It concerns a
fairly large group of young people, 10
to 21 years of age, lightly and informal-
ly banded together in k-E clubs. Per-
haps such a story will not only clarify
the position and activities of the U-H
Clubs in the minds of non-members and
their parents but this may be helpful to
parents of members as well.

"I have become reconciled to the fact
that I shall never 'find time1 to write
this story, so I shall 'take time.' If
my laboriously selected words, together
with my photos of obviously amateurish
quality, contribute even a little to
better understanding of this exceedingly
worth-while movement, or should this
provide the needed encouragement to a
hesitating boy or girl to Join a U-H
Club, I shall consider my time and ef-
forts well spent."

If Mr. Waggoner has extra copies of
the May issue of his paper, he probably
would be glad to send one to you. The
address is Mattoon.

6/21/51

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University of Illinois

Colle8e Qf Agriculture.

A Belated Bouquet to Elaine . . .

My gosh, we thought we had hit a gold
mine of home economics information the
other day when we ran across a hack
issue of the EDWARD SVILLE INTELLIGENCER.

The issue was for May 8, and Mary Lig-
on had sent it over with the suggestion
that we take a look at the kind of infor-
mation job being done by Madison County
Home Adviser Elaine Wendler.

We took a look and it gladdened our
heart. Five of the fourteen pages of
the paper were filled with top-level
ideas for the home. The special atten-
tion was part of "Clean-Up Week," and
Elaine had given a practical demonstra-
tion of tying in basic home economics
material with a current news peg.

Here is a partial list of the stories:
Use of color in the home, refinishing
floors, elimination of stains, use of
lighted valances, refinishing furniture,
painting tricks, lighting suggestions,
house hazards, cleaning paint brushes.

Nearly all of the stories called at-
tention to the fact that additional in-
formation could be obtained from the
home adviser's office.

With that kind of county information
we will soon be out of a job in this
office.

Nice Words for Bunn. . .

We've mentioned before the excellent
picture features in the Champaign County
Farm Bureau News. One of the latest
good efforts was on painting, repairing
and installing metal roofs. Large,
sharp, clear pictures were used to help
tell the story.

Illustrate to Motivate...

If you think illustrated circular let-
ters are hard to work up, drop a line to
Randolph county's Glenn Coffey.

Glenn invited his farmers to go on the
county tour of the Dixon Springs Station
with a circular letter which had five
clever illustrations.

What's more, the headline was at the
top of the letter on a billboard sign
which read- -"COUNTY TOUR TO DIXON SPRINGS
MONDAY, JUNE 25."

Next to the sign was the information,
"Leaving Farm Bureau Building in Sparta
at 7*30 a.m. Meet at Administration
Building at Dixon Springs at 10:00 a.m."

A drawing of a picnic basket brought
home the point that you were supposed to
"Bring your lunch and thermos jug."

And the pulling power was in a review
of the highpoints that would be "seen"
on the tour.

Home Garden Illustrations...

The Extension Service in Washington has
sent us 100 illustrated "spot," on home
gardening to brighten up circular let-
ters.

The illustrations can be easily traced
on a mimeo stencil, and we are sending a
set to each home adviser in thi6 week's
packet .

Next "Week:
meeting.

6/28/51

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Hosts to the Editors...

Next week, starting Monday, July 16,
editors from nearly every state will be
here for the annual meeting of the Amer-
ican Association of Agricultural College
Editors,

We expect from 150 to 175 editors,
representing state agricultural extension
services and experiment stations and the
commercial agricultural editorial field.

Essentially, these annual meetings are
workshop sessions. Primary aim is to
share experiences in the use of mass in-
formation methods for the dissemination
of agricultural and home economics in-
formation.

There is also opportunity to look at
some of the big, over-all problems af-
fecting college editorial work.

_You Are Invited . . .

Some of you who are especially inter-
ested in information methods might like
to sit in on some of the sessions. You
are invited. "Here is a brief run-down
of the program highlights.

D. Howard Doane starts things off Mon-
day morning with a critical appraisal of
the kind of Job colleges are doing in
reporting agricultural research.

Monday afternoon is devoted to a re-
view of television in the educational
program. Richard Hull, Director of Ra-
dio and Television at Iowa State is the
speaker. He will be followed by a dis-
cussion panel featuring state editors
who have had experience in the use of
this new medium.

More About AAACE. . .

There's a full day Tuesday, with the
lead-off discussion on agriculture's
public relations problems. Lester A.
Schlup, Chief of the Division of Exten-
sion Information, is the speaker.

Next will be a lecture -demonstration
on the use of atomic by-products in
agricultural researchty Dr. C. L. Comar,
agricultural biologist with the Atomic
Energy Commission and the Tennessee Agri-
cultural Experiment Station.

In the afternoon, Dean Wilbur Schramm
of the University's Division of Communi-
cations reviews the need for studying
the effectiveness of information methods.

Schramm will be followed by Lyle Web-
ster, Director of Information, USDA, on
the policies and procedures of his of-
fice.

Problems of training agricultural edi-
torial workers receive attention on Wed-
nesday.

The conference closes Thursday morning
with a review of United States foreign
policy, led by Francis Russell, Director
of the Office of Public Affairs for the
Department of State.

Needless to say, next week will be a
busy one. If the news services run
light, you will know why.

Mat of New Agronomy Head . . .

As you all know, Dr. M. B. Russell be-
comes the new head of the department of
agronomy September 1, A mat of Dr. Rus-
sell, along with a background informa-
tion story is in this week's packet for
all farm advisers.

7-12-51

Extension Editorial Office University of Illinois College of Agriculture

Recovering Slowly . . .

The extension editorial office is slow-
ly getting "back to normal this week
after playing host to what we modestly
proclaim as the biggest and "best AAACE
annual meeting on record. More than 190
agricultural college editorial workers
from ^3 states were on the campus last
week attending the sessions. No small
part of the success of the gathering is
due to the able assistance in planning
and execution provided by the staff in
Miss Anna Glover's publications office.

We were happy to see several members
of the extension staff drop in on some
of the sessions. One of the best things
to come out of the meeting was the spir-
it of cooperation extended on all sides
by the University and its personnel.

Outlook Packets on Time . . .

Last week farm advisers received the
first PROMOTION FOB 1951 LIVESTOCK OUT-
LOOK MEETINGS . The two sheets were la-
beled that way and were meant for your
August county publications. Larry Sim-
erl wrote you May 21 that "the boys in
the Extension Editor's office will send
you some help. . .before August 1." To
which one adviser replied, in effect, so
Larry says, "This I gotta see first."

Well, your last week's pint-sized
"packet" arrived about July 20, in time
for your August county publications. Now
this week you'll find a 7 -page promotion
packet to complete our help from here.
Use the aids in every possible way for
about three weeks before your meeting.
And why not get several local feeders to
comment on how it has paid off for them
to attend previous outlook meetings?
That should make an effective promotion

Danes Look Us Over...

Every now and then it is our pleasure
to welcome visitors from other countries.
Currently we are host to K. M. Anderson,
farm adviser in the Danish extension
service; Axel Nielsen, secretary of the
Royal Danish Agricultural Society; and
Aage Bo- Jensen, secretary of the Danish
Co-operative Wholesale Society and Union.

The men are visiting Illinois and other
states to study the organization, func-
tions and methods of agricultural infor-
mation services.

While here, they attended the agricul-
tural college editors' meeting. During
the past two days they have taken a
close look at our information effort s--
and yours.

In a special tape recording, Anderson
and Vermilion Adviser 0. W. Hertz con-
trasted extension work in Denmark and
the U. S. USDA plans to use the record-
ing soon in a coast-to-coast broadcast.

Christian Science Monitor...

The Illinois k-R camping program gets
a nice writeup along with some other
states in the Christian Science Monitor
issue of July 5« A six-column banner
headline proclaims, "Teamwork Extends
Camp Activities for ^-H Club Members."

Three paragraphs of the story are de-
voted to a short history of the Illinois
camping program and how gifts of land
from the Public Service Company of North-
ern Illinois and from Robert Allerton
got the program under way. Much credit
is also given to ^-H'ers for undertaking

the mighty task of raising half a million
dollars for their own camps.

July 26, 1951

.1.

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3xtension Editorial Office University of Illinois College of Agriculture

Progress on WGN-TV Show. . . AAACE TV Comments...

As you may know, the college is working
with Chicago station WGN-TV on plans for
a possible farm-home weekly television
series starting this fall. Both the
college and the station are exploring
every avenue before making definite com-
mittments .

As you would expect, answers to many
questions must be found. Some of the
questions have to do with audience--
"How many farm families in the area have
TV sets?" "Are those who don't have sets
now planning to buy them?" "Do farm
families even want a farm show?"

There are other questions concerning
cost, sponsorship, type of programs, per-
sonnel, and union arrangements.

We tried to find answers to the audi-
ence questions by making a spot survey.
Farm advisers in the 13 counties within
a 75-mile radius of Chicago helped out.
Each adviser received 500 cards which he
sent to names picked at random from his
mailing list.

The cards are still coming in. We
haven't tried to summarize them. But
the results are obvious. Attitude is
overwhelmingly in favor of a farm tele-
vision show. A good many of the farm
families in the 13- county area have sets.
Most of those who don't have sets will
buy them within a year.

What it means is this. The college
probably will get its feet wet in TV
this fall. It should learn to swim by
spring. There are strong indications
that the TV "freeze" will "thaw" in '52.

With the "thaw" and subsequent build-
ing of local stations, will come one of
extension's great opportunities.

We hope to be ready if you need help.

• 8/2/51

At the recent AAACE meeting here on tfce
campus, television- experienced people
from other states gave us some idea what
a powerful teaching tool this TV baby
will be. Here are some of the comments:
Mrs. Mar jam Kelly, Kentucky consumer ed-
ucation specialist: "Our marketing show
has 75$ of the potential audience in the
Louisville area with a competing sta-
tion on the air I I would have to attend
a good many meetings to reach the same
number of families I reach on one TV
show."

Francis Byrnes, Ohio extension editor;
"Extension can take a lesson from con-
mercial advertisers in reaching people
with information. The advertiser must
reach a maximum number of people --and
reach them effectively. He sees in tel-
evision the opportunity to demonstrate
quickly to thousands of people the vir-
tues of his product."

George Axinn, Delaware extension editor;
"Our weekly extension show has the
greatest mail-pull on WDEL-TV. Our
people who have been on are convinced
television is easy, it's fun, and for
extension workers, it's a natural. Any
specialist or agent who does a good job
demonstrating before a live group will
do well on television."
Sam Beck, New Jersey extension editor;
"Our home demonstration agents are re-
porting a severe drop in attendance at
extension meetings due to the counter-
attraction of television. We have de-
cided that if the women won't come to
our meetings, we will go into their homes
via TV."

We have a manila folder full of simi-
lar enthusiastic comments on television
by those who have used it and found it
effective in extension teaching.

■r

University of Illinois

College of Agriculture

Special Edition for Agriculture...

In the rush of the past few weeks we
failed to mention the excellent U6-page
"Green Thumb" edition of the Woodstock
Sentinel.

Daily

This special edition
for agriculture came out July 9 , "but
work on the editorial and advertising
material started early last spring.

Primary responsibility for planning
and organizing the agricultural releases
fell on the shoulders of Bill Tammeus,
who long ago recognized the value of the
local newspaper in telling the farm
story.

Much of the edition is devoted to
stories on the historical development of
the agricultural services in the county.
Bill worked out the stories the paper
6hould contain and then assigned the
writing chores to those leaders who knew
the facts and knew the history. Stories
that couldn't be assigned Bill wrote
himself- -and there were a goodly number
of these.

The front page of the paper featured
special messages from Governor Stevenson,
Dean Rusk, Secretary Yung, Charles Shu-
man, Art Page, Paul Johnson and others.

The kQ pages run roughly 50 percent
advertising and 50 percent editorial
material .

It takes a lot of hands to put out a
^8-page special edition, but the public
relations of agriculture in McHenry
County is stronger because of the effort .
And agriculture's public relations could
stand a little strengthening.

8/9/51

Are Farmers Rich? . . .

A while back Marion county's Rex Rhea
sent in a copy of the farm page of the
Centralia Sentinel. The Sentinel does a
top-notch farm news reporting job under
the direction of Farm Editor Perrine,
but this particular page especially
caught our eye because the headline read,
"Are 8o percent of Marion County Farmers
Rich?" •

And that question served as the basis
for the lead editorial. The editorial
pointed out that only "rich" farmers
could afford not to use soil conservation
practices. Since 80 percent of Marion
County's farmers did not follow a con-
servation program, the assumption might
be made that 80 percent of the farmers
were so rich they didn't need to.

With the lead editorial to arouse in-
terest, the rest of the page was devoted
to a striking editorial-pictorial pre-
sentation of the why and how of soil
conservation. There were photographs of
the Use Capability Map and the Land Use
Map. There were instructions on how to
make a soil map, and a half dozen other
stories on conservation problems.

Fulkerson1 s Forkings . . .

If you get a chance, take a look at
Herb Fulkerson' s new column in the Marion
Daily Republican. The title is "Fulker-
son'6 Forkings," and it does what a col-
umn should do — it tells what the farm
people of the county are doing and
thinking .

■i i ■ .

•<-..

« .•

An Idea for Sharing Ideas . . .

We have an idea, and we would like to
have your thoughts on it. The idea is
this:

During the past year we have seen some
excellent examples of county information
work. We have seen good farm adviser
and home adviser columns. We've seen
some good farm and home pages in local
newspapers, good local stories, outstand-
ing news pictures. A number of you have
started regular weekly news services to
your county newspapers. And there are a
surprising number who have regular radio
programs .

We've tried to use this weekly letter
as a means of sharing ideas on county
information work. But trying to tell a-
bout something is never quite as good as
seeing it yourself, (That's a plug for
visual aids. )

So we thought it might be interesting
to all of you if we could arrange a more
efficient sharing of ideas. The logical
time to do it would be during the Fall
Extension Conference. We would set up
various classes of county information
work — news services, columns, pictures,
slide sets, county publications and so
on. Then we would invite all of you to
send in examples of your work in each of
these classes.

These examples would be put on display
throughout the conference. You could
spend some time looking over what some
of the other counties are doing, and you
probably would pick up an idea or two.

We would like to know what you think
of the idea. If we get as many as 200
postcards saying it is a good idea, we
will go ahead with it.

State Fair Coverage,..

State Fair broadcasts are being handled
by tape this year rather than by direct
pickup. There are a number of reasons .
Efficiency and economy are the two most
important. And we have questioned in
the past whether we could justify spend-
ing a whole week of farm and home broad-
cast time on one activity.

Assistant Editor Bob Jarnagin repre-
sents the office as information liaison
between the Junior Fair and the main
press headquarters.

Speaking of Fairs . . .

The hard-working extension folks in
LaSalle County get this week's blue rib-
bon for the excellent advance promotion
on their County 4-H Club Show and Junior
Fair. We received a packet which con-
tained four advance news stories, a Fair
program and two picture mats with cut-
lines. The one picture was an aerial
view of the k-R Club grounds and the
other was a view of the trophies to be
awarded at the Fair,

Heathman on ABC Network Pickup...

Jessie Heathman is at Michigan State
College this week lending a hand on the
press- radio coverage of the National
Home Demonstration Council meeting.
Part of her activities will be the prep-
aration and voicing of a pickup from the
meeting for the Saturday American Broad-
casting Company Farm and Home Hour.
Broadcast time is 12:30 Saturday, the
10th.

8/16/51

.wow

Extension Editorial Office

University of Illinois

College of Agriculture

We've Been to State Fair...

For the past several year6, at least
one or more members of the extension
editorial staff have attended the State
Fair full time to help give more ade-
quate coverage to the Junior Department
show. Until this year, Jessie Heathman
and Jack Murray spent five or six full
days at the fair broadcasting two home
economics programs and the farm hour
over WILL direct from Springfield, To
save time and money this year, all fair
broadcasts over WILL were put on tape in
two days1 time there and brought back to
be played from the studio in Urbana. Bob
Jarnagin represented the office on the
news side and spent five full days as
liaison man between the Junior Show and
the main fair publicity office.

We feel that from our end--the pushing
end- -the story of what goes on at the
Junior Show gets fairly well told during
the fair as far as the winners go. That^
unfortunately, is about all that the
metropolitan press can afford to handle
because of space limitations. But we
also have a feeling that the real story
of the hundreds of 4-H and vocational
agriculture boys and girls who take part
in the show every year is not fully told
where it counts the most. That is right
back in their home town daily and weekly
newspapers. We believe that the local
papers are interested in what their
county youngsters do at State Fair, but
we also believe that they don't do very
much to cover the story of these kids.
We think that they'd print more if it
was made available to them.

8-20-51

How Does It Look To You?...

Showing, exhibiting, and demonstrating
have all been made feature educational
highlights of the entire h-E Club year.
For the Juniors, going to State Fair to
show off a prized animal or dress tops
all the other activities of the summer's
work. If it is that important to them,
it should be that important to us who
are trying to teach more young people
the advantages of k~K training.

Are we doing the job that needs to be
done in promoting their fair activities?
If not, what can we do to improve?

You are the people who have access to
the local newspapers. You have a fairly
good idea of how well this story is being
told in your county. Are you satisfied
with the news coverage that is being
given to your local youngsters who work
just as hard and deserve just as much
credit as the blue-ribbon winners?

What Are Your Suggestions?...

We would like to have your suggestions
about how we can improve our usefulness
to the Junior Department Show. The sys-
tem now in operation works fine as far
as it goes in reporting the work of the
youngsters who win ribbons. But how
about the hundreds who don't win ribbons?

One thing you people who have radio
programs could do would be to bring a
tape or two to the fair and let us help
you prepare your own program with your
county youngsters to be played back home
on your local radio station.

We haven't reached the maximum poten-
tial yet for State Fair junior coverage.
We are willing to make a drastic revision
in our present setup.

xt ens i on Editorial Office University of Illinois College of Agriculture

Only 19b to Go...

Couple of veeks ago we mentioned the
possibility of snaring ideas on county
information work during the Fall Confer-
ence o We said if we received as many as
200 postcards in favor of the plan we'd
go ahead with ito

As of right now we have 6 important
votes in favor of the idea. This Just
leaves us 19^ to go.

First "yes" voter was Jim Somers, Lee
County o And this week we were flooded
with cards and letters from Fred Hoppin,
Byron Hutchins, Glenn Garvin,, Wilbur
Smith and Paul Wilsono Our feelings
are hurt because we have not heard from
a single home adviser, and we know that
some of the girls are doing excellent
work.

But we have slightly revised our orig-
inal quota. If we can double the num-
ber of cards and letters we have received
so far, we will set the machinery in mo-
tion o

In case some of you didn't read the
Driginal message, we suggested that we
could outline various kinds or classes
Df county information work. Then we
ifould invite each of you to send in ex-
imples of your work within each class,
tfe would make a display of all the ma-
terial, and you could look it over du-
ring the Fall Conference.

And without checking with the "powers
that be," we have toyed with the idea of
jetting up some "unofficial" times when
re could have some bull sessions on in-
formation problems for those interested.

3-29-51

Value of Manure Goes Up...

Along with everything else, inflation
has hit the manure market. Many of you
farm advisers have used an illustrated
mat which said manure was worth $3 per
ton in increased crop yields.

Well, manure won't grow any more bush
els of corn or wheat or oats than it
would a few years ago, but the crops are
worth more. So we have had to revise
the mat.

Manure is now worth $7 a ton in in-
creased crop yields, and the revised mat
is in this week's packet to all farm ad-
visers.

A Penny (postcard) for Your Thoughts

Last week the staff took charge of
this column and outlined our need for
your thinking on coverage of the Junior
Show at the State Fair. Most well-
thought-out suggestions could be put on
a penny postcard. That's a pretty cheap
way to win friends and influence people.

Reach Mary People With Many Ideas , . .

During AAACE meeting Dean Wilbur
Schramm made a pointed distinction be-
tween propaganda and educational infor-
mat ion. Propaganda, he said, is dedi-
cated to reaching a relatively few key
people with a single, rather simple idea.
Information, on the other hand, is dedi-
cated to reaching a great many people
with a great many difficult ideas. Our
job in extension is a tough one. The
engineers must retool industry. We must
retool minds o

rank "%m m prf!t\

OUnKgg

ixtension Editorial Office

University of Illinois

College of Agriculture.

'Home Grown" Visual Aids...

Keith Hinchcliff happened to see our
suggestion for sharing ideas on county-
information work. He wrote a note the
other day and said:

"I like the idea of Farm and Home Ad-
visers bringing examples of their infor-
mation work to the Fall Conference — but
why not go all out and have them bring
their home grown visual aids too (slides,
models, pictures, movies, etc)? It's
surprising how much good demonstration
material there is around the counties
which might be shared."

And Lake County's Ray Nicholas says
he's in favor of the idea and hopes the
other I99 will be too.

In Next Week's Mail..,

In order to save the cost of the post-
cards that the rest of you plan to write,
can announce right now that the proj-
ict is in.

In next week's mail you will receive
all of the details — either in a special
mailing or attached to this letter.

This will be the trial year. If you
like the idea, we will do it again next
year.

tort Se ntences- -Easy Words. . .

One of the keys to good writing is the
ise of short sentences and easy- to- under-
stand words. There's no point in writ-
ing if people don't know what you're
trying to say.

Special Story on Corn Fungus...

Few stories are harder to handle than
disease or disaster treats. Overplaying
the threat creates undue alarm and often
hasty action. Underplaying the threat
leads to complacency and no action stall.

That problem exists now with the corn
fungus disease Helminthosporium turci-
cium.

The first stories went out last week
from local newspaper reporters. The
stories were alarming- -probably much too
alarming. The College issued follow-up
reports which were less exciting, but we
hope factual. There has been criticism
that the College is not fully aware of
the danger.

There is no way to know positively
just how bad the disease is or will be
before the season is over. But farmers
need the best information available.

There's a story in this week's packet
which attempts to give a summary report
as seen by the disease specialists here.
It is for your information and use in
local newspapers and on the radio.

Spread on Dixon Springs . . .

Dixon Springs Superintendent Bob Webb
sent us a clipping of a half-page pic-
ture spread on the Station which had ap-
peared in a recent Sunday issue of the
Paducah Sun-Democrat . An excellent
coverage and public relations Job. It
resulted from a visit by the newspaper
reporter to the Station during a tour by
Kentucky farmers.

9-6-51

0)1 1

mmm

extension Editorial Office University of Illinois

College of Agriculture

Any Questions?

By this time all of you should have
received the suggestions on "Sharing
Ideas on County Information WorkTT? The
dope was mailed out last Saturday.

We don't expect each of you to enter
every class. As we've said, this ain't
no contest and you don't get no prizes.
But if each of you sends along material
for some of the classes, there should be
a lot of good ideas floating around.

There has been a question as to whether
the press entries should be clippings
from newspapers or the news service as
it leaves the office. We had in mind
the story or service as it leaves your
office, but if you want to include both
the service as it leaves your office and
clippings from the newspapers, so much
the better.

Other Good Ideas . . .

We know that we haven't covered all of
your good work in the Ih classes. So if
you have other materials which you think
would be of interest to the group, send
them along, and we'll set them up.

We'd like to see all of the newspaper
farm and home pages, local posters,
homemade publications which you have
issued on special problems — and anything
else on information.

Two More Cards . . .

McHenry's Bill Tammeus and Macon's
Warren Myers sent along cards voting for
the plan to share ideas. So the re-
sponse has been 100 percent in favor.
And just now Madison's Elaine Wendler
sends a card of approval with a plug for
the "bull sessions."

This Girl Reads Her Mail...

The ink wasn't dry on that last sen-
tence before the second mail arrived
with the first entry. That's fast action,
and the girl who reads her mail and acts
is Lorennie Berry from Piatt County.
We've notified the post office to expect
a heavy run of mail.

All Set for District II...

Next week most of us will be on our
way to Pittsfield and Galesburg for the
District II subdistrict meetings on
county information problems. We hope all
of you in District II are putting down
your ideas, your problems and your ques-
tions. We'll tell you what we think and
why we think it, and we hope you will do
the same.

The meeting at Pittsfield is on the
20th and the one at Galesburg on the
21st.

The Future of Television. . .

Will County's Wayne Churchill is con-
vinced that television will force dras-
tic changes in Extension's way of doing
business. He says the new medium is a.
"natural" for extension education. Farm-
ers in television areas already are
staying away from meetings because they
would rather stay home and "see and
hear" television.

By the end of this month we will have
the complete report on the farm tele-
vision audience in the Chicago area.
Work done so far is showing a surprising
picture. We'll give you all of the de-
tails as soon as we have them.
9/13/51

If 111 f t£fl

UUK

;xtension Editorial Office

University of Illinois

College of Agriculture

Editorial Entries Boiling in...

Entries of county information work are
starting to roll into the office. All
of the material looks excellent. So far
this week we've received material from
Johnson county's Catherine Attebery,
Jersey county's Ruth Erl, Mason county's
Grace Armstrong, and Will county's Betty
Wingrove. (Farm advisers please note
that the above entries are all from the
feminine members of the county extension
teams . )

But making sure the male side of the
team is not completely shut out are
top-notch entries from dependable Jim
Davies, LaSalle County assistant farm
adviser. The ratio so far, though, is
still five to one in favor of the home
advisers .

We would like to have all entries in
by October 1 so there will be plenty of
time to arrange the displays.

In This Week ' s Packet . . .

There's another in the series of Bart-
lett pictorial charts in this week's
packet to farm advisers . It shows the
need for food in various countries of
the world.

WGN Farm Recordings . . .

Norman Kraeft, farm program director
for WGN in Chicago, will be here next
Monday and Tuesday for a tape recording
session. The schedule calls for k5 ag-
riculture and home economics recordings
during the day and a half he will be on
the campus .

Kraeft is also the WGN liaison man on
plans for farm television.

The Students Return...

The students are back. The campus is
again swarming with young men and women
intent upon becoming educated. Classes
started Monday.

Personally; this is a time for mixed
emotions . It is good to see so many
young people so intent upon going to
college. At the same time, it is a
little discouraging to know how little
they will really learn.

Most of the young people associate
learning with the formal classroom. They
have become accustomed to " being taught."
And^ for the most part, they accept what
is taught" without question.

Few have stopped to realize that most
of their learning --most of their educa-
tion- -will come after they are out of
school. Unfortunately, not enough of
them are prepared to efficiently contin-
ue their learning process when they get
out . They have not had enough opportu-
nity to develop their ability to think
or their ability to analyze, to weigh
facts, to make decisions. Too many have
merely developed their ability to remem-
ber- -to remember at least until the end
of the semester.

What does this have to do with edito-
rial work? Just this:

The average college graduate sells or
carefully stores away all of his text-
books when he gets through school. From
that day on he must depend upon his news-
papers, his magazines; his radio and now
his television set for his sources of
information. These become his textbooks
for adult education.

If you do not think that is so, imag-
ine for just a minute what would happen
if all the presses and all the stations

-?w~v7 S

■ 1,1 .

;xtension Editorial Office

University of Illinois

College of Agriculture

Chief Read Bites Dust

..V

Heap Chief Flying Fingers Read get
strike by thunder-bird arrow in right
side. Smoke signal bring medicine man.
Medicine man say Chief need appendix out
right away. Chief look quick for way
out, but none. Appendix out, Chief out,
all out but us Indians. Get well quick.
Make smoke signals, war dance in big
tepee two weeks. Us Indians shoot bull
anyway meantime.

(signed)

The Indians

Kraeft Makes k5 Recordings. . .

Norman Kraeft, WGN's hard-working farm
director, chalked up k^> interviews with
agriculture and home economics special-
ists during his 2-day recording session
here last week. Norm will use the inter-
views on his early- morning farm show to
the tune of two a week during fall and
winter. While he was here, we continued
exploratory talks, started several weeks
ago, on a possible WGN-College of Agri-
culture television series. Most recent
development is completion of a prelimi-
nary report showing a large potential
rural audience for television in the
Chicago area. We'll give more details
on this report next week.

Don't Forget the Display. . .

A reminder: Your samples of informa-
tion work for display at fall conference
should reach us by October 1.

So far we have received Ik entries
from 13 different people, the latest
from Elinor Scott, Whiteside home ad-
viser. So it looks as if there will be
at least a fairly representative sample
of county information work to display.
All of the samples that have come in

1st Round Information Workshops. . .

On September 20 and 21 we held district
meetings on county information problems
at Pittsfield and Galesburg. This com-
pletes the first state-wide circuit foi
this series. There are other important
information problems for future meetingr
if you want them, such as county publi-
cations, television, visual aids, etc.

At Galesburg, in discussing use of ra-
dio as one part of a balanced county in-
formation program, Knox county's A.'R.
Kemp must have felt like an experienced
hand. He's been broadcasting on WGIL,
Galesburg, for some years now and at
present has four programs a week. Ar-
rangements are almost complete for Home
Adviser Wanda Sward to start broadcast-
ing on the fifth day. With the change
back to standard time, their program
will shift from 6:30 a.m. to Just before
noon. Either is good for farm listeners
How does "A. R." do it? With a tape
recorder. He formerly made his own tapes
right on the post. Now they're all re-
corded at the studio by union engineers.

Also at Galesburg, we saw the regular
Friday 2-page farm section of the Reg-
ister-Mail, handled by Farm Editor Henry
Clay. A story on a pasture improvement
tour and a column for homemakers, both
evidently from the advisers, ranked high
among the 16 stories and 3 pictures.

We're really pleased with the way you
folks have put some of our recommenda-
tions into practice. For instance,
Jersey county's Chuck Federman's person-
al column, Dorothy Footitt's illustrated
circular letters in Carroll county, and
Earl Bantz's dinner meeting with his Jo
Daviess county editors... to mention only
a few. We know there are many more fine
examples .

K mm

stension Editorial Office

University of Illinois

College of Agriculture

,4ore About TV Survey, .

As you know, there is a good possibil-
ity that the College will get some tele-
vision experience this fall. WGN-TV has
asked our help if their proposed farm
and home television program goes through.

We wanted to get some idea of what the
audience potential might be for a farm
show in the station's coverage area. So
we asked farm advisers in 12 northeast-
ern Illinois counties within a 75-mile
radius of Chicago to send 500 cards each
to farmers selected at random from their
mailing lists.

Each farmer received a card containing
the following questions, which required
answers of yes or no:

1. Do you have a television set?

2. Do you plan to buy a television
set within the next year?

3» Have you seen a television program

during the past month?
k. Would you like to see a farm tele-
vision program regularly?

6,000 cards sent; 1,0^3
returned.

cards (17$)

Results From 12-County Area. . .

1. Of the 1,0^3 farmers answering,
60k (58$) had television sets.

2. Of the 60k with sets, 591 (98$)
said they would like to see farm
TV regularly.

3- Of the k39 without sets, 33k (76$)
said they would like farm TV regu-
larly.

k. Of the 1+39 without sets, 129 (29$)

plan to buy a set within a year.
5. Of the 1+39 without sets, 27U (62%)
saw TV during the month immediately
preceding receipt of the card.

Conclusions. . .

We have answer breakdowns for various
distances out from Chicago. For example,
70$ of the farmers answering who live
within 25 miles of Chicago had sets .
Here are some conclusions we can draw:

1. Farmers have television sets. The
proportion of farm families owning
sets decreases as the distance from
Chicago increases. Even so, near-
ly half of them living 50-75 miles
from Chicago have sets.

2. Farmers who do not own sets have
access to them. Almost a third
will buy sets in the next year.

3. Farmers would like to see a farm
television program regularly.
Farmers owning sets are almost
unanimous (98$) on this point.

Significance. . .

The city television audience is es-
tablished. A sizable rural audience is
present and growing.

Recognizing these facts, Chicago tele-
vision stations are in a good position
to service a large rural audience with
farm programs and, at the same time,
promote mutual cooperation and under-
standing between farm and city people.
Programs are needed that will:
Appeal to the city viewer in terms of
his interests — food, clothing, prices,
family living, etc.

Appeal to the farm viewer in terms of
his interests, with particular emphasis
on encouraging him to produce a better
product for his city customer.

Point out to both groups the need for
continuing research to increase effi-
ciency of food production and utiliza-
tion and to improve family living.

10 htei

Extension Editorial Office University of Illinois College of Agriculture

Day Off for Bandolph Rural Youth... Elaine Took Us Seriously...

Concrete evidence on how news pays off
is volunteered by Glen Coffey of Ran-
dolph county. Assistant youth adviser
Florine McConachie published a six-month
schedule of Rural Youth activities on
the front page of the county farm bureau
newsletter. Among the educational fea-
tures listed was a discussion on banking
and banking practices. One of the di-
rectors of the First National Bank of
Sparta saw the schedule and offered to
help with the banking program. Result:
The bank sponsored a trip to St. Louis
for the Rural Youth, where they visited
the Federal Reserve Bank and took in the
afternoon ball game.

I Iowa Farmer Likes Illinois Circulars...
Miss Anna Glover and her publications
staff are on the receiving end of a fine
compliment tossed their way by a Denison,
Iowa, farmer. In a letter received by a
national farm magazine and passed along
to us, this gentleman says, "Of all the
circulars I receive in my home, those
from the College of Agriculture at the
University of Illinois are best written
and illustrated . "

FBFM Stories Enclosed...

We would like to call your attention
to six farm adviser "special" stories in
this week's packet. The stories are
promotion pieces for membership drives
in four Farm Bureau Farm Management asso-
ciations covering 58 counties. The
stories are labeled "FBFMS Membership
Promotion." Those of you outside the
areas covered can use them as news sto-
ries with slight editing.

Some of the rest of you did too. But
Elaine Wendler, Madison county's home
adviser, took to heart some of Lyman
Noordhoff 's suggestions on the value of
a personal column in a balanced county
information program.

According to Mary Ligon of the super-
visory staff, Elaine contacted the edi-
tor of the Edwardsville INTELLIGENCER
and asked if he thought a special column
would be worth while. He not only was
delighted, but gave the column front
page promotion before it started. Sev-
eral other papers are now carrying the
special features.

On her public relations side, Elaine
uses her column to invite home bureau,
PTA, club, lodge, and other interested
groups and individuals to meetings.
Elaine feels that the column is doing a
good job of spreading word about the ex-
tension program.

Word Get s Around . . .

Get off a train in a strange town and
immediately have people recognize and
greet you. That was the recent experi-
ence of I. E. Parett of the I. A. A.

Parett boarded a cab in Effingham, only
to be greeted by the driver, "Where to,
Mr. Parett?" As he checked in at the
hotel, the clerk said, "Oh yes, you're
the speaker for the county home bureau
annual meeting!" The Effingham women
did a good job of promoting their meet-
ing with pictures and stories in the lo-
cal papers.

lg/lD/51

Extension Editorial Office
Getting to the Heart of the Problem...

Meeting here this week are members of
the professional improvement committee
of the American Association of Agricul-
tural College Editors. These people,
who have come from as far away as Cali-
fornia and Washington, D.C., are digging
into the core of basic problems in in-
formation work.

The group does not expect to solve
problems at this meeting. Rather, they
hope to root them out into the light.
Once the big problems are exposed, they
will be hammered into bite-sized chunks.

Finding the answers will take time and
research. But eventually the committee
hopes to be able to give concrete an-
swers to some of your basic questions
like, "How effective are information
methods, and how much time should I put
in on them?"

We Counted 27...

Twenty-seven counties were repre-
sented in the idea- sharing "exhibit" on
county information work during the fall
conference. Frankly, we were surprised
and delighted to see that many come in.
In the district workshops we found that
nany of you are doing a better job, per-
haps, than we had given you credit for.
Phe display in the conference room last
*eek certainly confirmed that fact.

A spot check of comments on the cards
rou turned in shows that there is con-
siderable interest in more informational
lelp in both district and state conf er-
mces. And your No. 1 problem is con-
nected in some way with developing bet-
ter working relationships with editors.

We will take a closer look at the
:ards to see what more they can tell us.

College of Agriculture
Stage Whispers . . .

It was hard to pass up an opportunity
during the conference to talk shop. Here
are just a few of the random comments we
picked up :

Arlene Wolfram, Mercer county, on use
of photos in newspapers : "They tell me a
picture is worth a lot of words, and I
believe it. A picture with a story at-
tracts more attention than a story alone.
Pictures showing projects we work on in
meetings are promoting wider interest in
the extension program. We work closely
with the local papers, and they cooperate
by sending photographers out to the
meetings ."

Stanley Sims, Calhoun county, on per-
sonal columns: "The column is getting me
acquainted with farmers I didn't know
before. It seems to break the ice by
giving us something to talk about when
we first meet. Sometimes it's the fact
that the farmer may not agree exactly
with what I've written that brings him
in. Once he's in, the contact is made."

Mrs. Hazel Adams, McDonough county, on
follow-up stories : "Follow-ups get good
treatment generally by both newspapers
and radio. Many women who have missed
meetings have told me they got' the essen-
tial information in the newspaper story.
Club representatives and others who read
about extension meetings constantly ask
for repeat demonstrations for their
groups . "

Rural Community Workshop . . .

Enclosed in this week's packet you
will find two mimeographed sheets tell-
ing all about the Rural Community Work-
shop at Allerton Park on November 20-21.
Also enclosed is a fill-in type story
for you to rework for your local papers.

University of Illinois

xtension Editorial Office

University of Illinois

College of Agriculture

Here's What You Said...

About That Fourth Question...

During the Fall Conference you were
good enough to express your views on the
plan for sharing ideas on county infor-
mation work. We asked three questions ,
and here is what you said :

Do you want this idea of exhibits
of county information tried again?

Out of 1^2 who answered the question,
137 said YES; h said NO, and 1 said it
was immaterial.

We've not had time to thoroughly study
your replies to that fourth question.
You'll remember we asked this: Besides
not having enough time, what is the major
problem affecting the use of information
methods in the county?

Your answers were pointed and signifi-
cant . Most of you indicated problems
that could be solved. Some of you are
faced with situations that can't be
easily remedied.

2 . Would you rather see the idea used
at the state conference or at district
meetings?

Out of Ikk who answered the question,
80 voted for the state conference; k*>
for district meetings; 11 for both state
and district; 5 for neither; 1 didn't
know, and 2 said it was immaterial.

3 . Would you like to see the material
rated or scored?

Out of ikh who answered the question,
76 said YES: 60 said NO; and 8 had res-
ervations of one kind or another.

Without making a detailed statistical
analysis of these data, it seems safe to
draw these conclusions: Nearly all of
you seem to feel that the idea is sound.
You voted two to one for the state con-
ference over district meetings, but you
are about evenly divided on the sugges-
tion of scoring the material.

We will pass along your views to the
supervisors .

We will give you a full report as soon
as there has been time to group the
replies into major problem areas . Here
are some spot answers:

"Lack of cooperation. Newspapers,
radio and extension workers all at fault . "

"I do not feel qualified to write good
reports , "

"Lack of training and experience in
editorial work."

"Accurate reporting."

"Better techniques and approaches
needed . "

"Selecting information."

Well, that gives you an idea. Hope to
have the summary ready by next week.

Farm Advisers Will Receive...

In the packet this week are two items
for farm advisers. The fir6t is a set
of three mat layouts on the Farm Record
Book, along with suggestions for using
them.

The second is a copy of the program
for Cattle Feeders' Day.

iitension Editorial Office University of Illinois College of Agriculture

What Are Your Problems?... What Are the Solutions?...

Last week we promised to give you a
tabulation of your replies to this ques-
tion: "BESIDES NOT HAVING ENOUGH TIMS.
WHAT IS THE MAJOR PROBLEM AFFECTING USE
OF INFORMATION METHODS IN THE COUNTY?"
That summary is attached to this letter,
and we think you will enjoy looking it
over.

There were 117 replies. Ninety per-
cent of them fell into five major areas.
The other ten percent had to be classed
in the familiar "miscellaneous."

The top-ranking problem seems to be
lack of adequate training in the use of
information methods. Of all the replies,
kO (3^ percent) placed this item as the
number one headache.

In second spot, and closely related to
problem one, was "unsatisfactory press
1 relationships." Thirty of you (26 per-
cent) said that was your major worry.

Coming in third with 15 votes (13 per-
cent) was "inadequacy of material from
the state office."

Fourth, with 11 votes (9 percent), was
"lack of audience acceptance," and fifth
with 10 votes (8 percent) was "inadequate
coverage by press-radio outlets."

Well, that's it. That's what you
said. If provision could be made for
more and better training in information
methods and more satisfactory relation-
ships with newspapers, 60 percent of you
would have your problems solved.

Now, what are we going to do about it?
As the old saying goes, "Barkis is will-
ing."

11/1/51

Once you figure out exactly what your
problems are, it's not so tough to think
about solutions. There are a number of
possibilities. Which ones are used or
whether any are used is pretty much up
to you people in the counties.

The district conferences this year
attempted to get the over- all county in-
formation job in focus. There wasn't
much time for detailed discussions of
specific problems.

So perhaps one solution would be to
tackle specific information problems at
district conferences. On a workshop ba-
sis we could take up such items as "Writ-
ing Educational News Stories," "Organ-
izing and Writing That Personal Columny
"How to Organize and Produce an Educa-
tional Story on Slides," "Selection and
Ways to Use the Tape Recorder," "Writ-
ing Feature Stories for Farm and Home
Magazines."

Another way might be to concentrate
all of this material in a major workshop
on information methods which might last
three or four days or even a week. Such
a workshop would be held here on the
campus, and we would bring in the best
authorities we could find on the various
subjects.

Annual dinner meetings with press-
radio editors offer one of the best ways
to improve relationships with these peo-
ple.

Another possibility would be for two or
three counties to go together and hold
an all-day conference with editors. We
would be glad to help with such a program.

Now, we would like to have your ideas.

■I

xtension Editorial Office

University of Illinois

College of Agriculture

Your Thoughts on This Dilemma...

I Here's a neat dilemma that's hard to
figure out. Take a look at it.

Fact 1; Research shows that mass in-
formation methods influence more farm
changes than other methods. Personal
contacts influence 17 percent of the
changes; group contacts influence 26
percent of the changes; and mass infor-
mation methods influence 38 percent of
the changes; while 19 percent result from
indirect influence. (From a summary of
studies by USDA's M. C. Wilson.)

Fact 2: Illinois county extension
workers report that their major problems
in making effective use of mass infor-
mation methods are LACK OF TRAINING and
UNSATISFACTORY RELATIONSHIPS WITH EDI-
TORS. Sixty percent of the advisers
list these two problems as most import-
ant.

Fact 3? A recent survey by the Col-
lege of Agriculture shows that nearly a
third of the agricultural graduates in
the last 5 years have taken first jobs
in the field of education. It is reason-
able to assume that most of these gradu-
ates are in positions requiring dissemi-
nation of agricultural information.

Fact h: The College of Agriculture
requires no undergraduate training in the
field of information methods or editori-
al work. This year only about 1 per-
cent of the eligible agricultural stu-
ients are taking the one ELECTIVE course
offered in that field.

There's a free cup of editorial office
offee for each of the best ten solu-
:ions to the dilemma.

1/8/51

Speaking of Facts...

Sometime ago Robert Leigh, assistant
director of Alabama Polytechnic's Re-
search Interpretation Council, conducted
a study to find out how many improved
ideas about farming Alabama farmers were
using and where they got the ideas.
This is what he found out:

1. The average Alabama farmer reported
using 23 ideas about improved farming
practices.

2. 56 percent of these ideas came from
mass information outlets.

3. 20 percent of the ideas came from
group meetings.

U. 2k percent of the ideas came from
neighbors and friends.

In other words, Alabama farmers said
they got more new ideas from press , ra-
dio, bulletins and visual aids than from
all other sources.

Hers's a breakdown of the answers on
specific mass information outlets: farm
magazines, lb<$>; newspapers, 13»6#; cir-
cular letters, bulletins, and circulars,
10.8$; radio, 10$; visual aids,

In This Week's Packet...

There's an interesting story on concen-
trated milk all wrapped up in mat form
in this week's packet to farm advisers.
The mat is another in the series pre-
pared by Dr. Bartlett.

Distribution of Educational Mats«..

During the November district meetings
you will be asked to give your views on
procedures for handling future distribu-
tion of educational mats. We need your
advice.

xtension Editorial Office

University of Illinois

College of Agriculture

International Circular Letter* . .

Thia is an item about two excellent
projects — building international under-
standing and using illustrated circular
letters. Both are credited to the ener-
getic extension crew in Whiteside county.

There came across our desk the other
day one of the most striking and attrac-
tive circular letters we have ever seen.
It was addressed to the Rural Youthere
of Whiteside county, and the headline
read "Whiteside Rural Youth INTERNATION-
AL FRIENDSHIP PROJECT- -A Community Serv-
ice Pro ject_ With International Impllca-
tions."

The body of the letter vas surrounded
by attractive sketches of foreign scenes
and costumes. There was a Dutch boy and
girl, a Hawaiian dancer, a Mexican youth
with a broad hat. And there were others.

It was impossible to put this letter
down without reading It. And this is
what we read: "Would YOU like to enter-
tain one or two youths from Copenhagen,
Delhi, Peking, Terre del Fugo, or Buenos
Aires in your home over the Thanksgiving
holidays?"

The invitation to build international
understanding went on to explain that
37 students of the Universityof Illinois
would be guests of the Whiteside County
Rural Youth group over the holidays.

According to visual-minded Frank
Shuman, all of the credit for both the
project and the letter goes to Youth
Director Garland Grace, Assistant Farm
Adviser Ralph Johnson, and Office Sec-
retary Marilyn Geerts. Illinois takes
off its hat to the Rural Youthers of
Whiteside county.

; 11/15/51

Recognizing h-E Leaders...

If all local 1+-H volunteer leaders re-
signed today, the U-H Club program would
collapse tomorrow. We sincerely believe
that. Next week many of these leaders
will be recognized at the State 4-H Vol-
unteer Leaders' Day and Banquet in
Springfield.

Part of this recognition, of course,
results from letting other people know
about the contributions of the men and
women who guide the local clubs.

We are anxious to be of what help we
can. As you know, we will have tape re-
corders on hand for you to use in making
recordings with your delegation. (Be
sure to bring your own tapes.) Arrange-
ments are being made to take pictures of
some of the county delegations for news-
papers requesting them. Personal invi-
tations have gone out to the daily news-
papers with farm editors.

More About Recordings...

Bill Mason, assistant farm radio edi-
tor, will have a tape recorder at the
International Friday afternoon and Sat-
urday morning, November 23 and 2U. If
you want recordings of U-H Club members
entered in the Junior Feeding Contest,
bring along an extra tape, and Bill will
be glad to work with you. Get in touch
with Bill before the 23rd, or see him up
there. Messages can be left at the Ju-
nior Feeding Contest Headquarters.

Jack Murray will be in charge of Club
Congress recordings. If you want a re-
cording with your delegates, bring a
tape and see Jack--or send a tape with
one of the delegates.

xtension Editorial Office

University of Illinois

College of Agriculture

The Proof of the Pudding...

Jersey county youth assistant Charles
Federman sent in one of the test examples
we 've seen of advance and follow-up news-
paper coverage on 4-H Achievement Day.

In a letter to Bob Jarnagin, Chuck
says, "This paper is a county paper and
has a circulation of over three thousand.
It reaches most of the homes in the
county."

Chuck modestly pointed out that he
thought the paper had done a pretty good
Job. Eere'B what that "pretty good Job"
looks like:

There was a U-column banner headline
on the advance story which ran nearly a
column long. A 2-column, 3-line feature
head called attention to the first fol-
low-up story, which carried the pictures
of three Jersey county state 1*-H winners.
The final follow-up, which took up muoh
of one page, had 7 pictures and a couple
of columns of type.
Altogether the paper devoted more than
5 column inches to stories and 75 col-
inches to pictures in telling the
'oiks in the county about 4-H Club work.

is Stories You Need...

From McLean county, Gene Mosbacher
lent word that farmers needed more infor-
ltion on the relationship between the
fiage of leaf blight and corn stalk rot.
le asked plant disease specialist Ben-
' imin Koehler if he could prepare some
iterial and suggested that we use it
'or a news story.
As a result of the tip, we pushed the
tory out to all dailies in the state
or release last Saturday. You probably
aw a copy in your information packet.

In Front of the Crowd...

This is a little late for comment, but
all of you should take a bow for your
leadership in the use of newspapers and
bulletins.

If you looked at the statistical sum-
mary handed out during the Fall Confer-
ence, you probably noticed that you are
way out in front of the crowd both in
news articles published and in bulletins
distributed.

To refresh your memory, the average
county agent last year had 10U neve arti-
cles published. Farm advisers in Illi-
nois averaged 3^2 — more than three times
as many.

The average U. S. home agent had only
96 news articles in the local papers,
while Illinois home advisers averaged
316 each.

You also distributed about twice as
many bulletins during the year as the
average county extension worker.

On use of radio, though, our showing is
not so good.

A Stack of Mail. . .

The home economics editorial girls
here Just brought in a stack of mail and
said, "This proves the power of the
press. "

All of the mail resulted from a short
squib used in one of the Chicago news-
papers and on station KXIC, Iowa City,
saying that directions were available
for making a laundry cart.

Although only a small percentage of the
people will ever write in for material
offered on the radio or in a newspaper,
that's one way to make sure you're being
heard and read.

IK// i f VS;0' • ..

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ixtension Editorial Office

University of Illinois

College of Agriculture

Jotes From Club Congress...

Some of the most influential editors
Ln the country are giving full and com-
plete attention to one story this week.
That is the story of k-R Club work.

Editors from the national farm maga-
zines, from the big city dailies, the
press associations, the slick paper week-
lies and the county weeklies- -they are
here in Chicago at Club Congress. They
have one objective- -to help tell the peo-
ple about the farm boys and girls of the
United States who are working and play-
ing as members of the k-R organization.

Chicago radio stations, the networks,
and local and coast-to-coast television
shows have set aside big chunks of time—
costly time — so that more people will
know and understand the why and the hew
)f k-R.

The story of k-R is being told: dra-
natically, impressively, through hun-
ireds of outlets to millions of people.

But wait a minute. Is the story being
;old? Is this the story- -the right sto-
ry? The awards? The winners? The scholar-
ships? The dinners? The trips? Is it?

Or is the story of k-R the story of the
3oy or girl down the road who has learned
;o have a little more love for farm ani-
ils, who has become excited about high-
Jr standards for crops, for health--for
Lmself as a person? Is that the story?
Or is k-R the story about the boys and
Lrls who have learned there are many
".hings to be accomplished by working to-
gether that can't be accomplished by
>rking alone.

11-29-51

Club Congress Continued...

The answer, of course, is that k-R is
not one story. It is many stories. The
Club Congress is one story, and it is be-
ing told. If many of the other stories
are told, though, you people in the
counties will have to do the telling.

And even though this has been said
many times before, some of the best sto-
ries are told--and will be told — by the
local editors who have been helped to
know k-R, You can help.

***##*

Press-radio-television coverage of the
Congress is a tribute to efficient cover-
age organization.

So far (Monday) more than 75 press-
radio editors have registered. All of
them want the regular material prepared
for them. Most want special services.

More than 30 press conferences are
scheduled. For each of them, arrange-
ments must be made for the press photog-
raphers, the press association editors,
the feature writers.

Here's the radio-television picture:
More than kO live radio network shows.
Countless numbers of local programs. At
least 10 network television shows, with
6 of them going coast to coast. As of
now there are Ik local television pro-
grams on the schedule.

Before the week is out, the radio re-
cording unit will have chalked up between
500 and 600 tape recordings.

That's something of the coverage job
of the 1951 k-R Club Congress.

xtension Editorial Office

University of Illinois

College of Agriculture

Recognizing U-H...

A couple of weeks ago we mentioned the
excellent advance and follow-up news
coverage on Jersey county's k-TL achieve*
ment activities.

No sooner had we pulled the item out
of the typewriter than in flew another
topnotch example from Hazel Barackman,
Bureau county home adviser. Her "proof
of the pudding" consisted of clippings
from the Princeton papers.

And before we could turn around, Youth
Editor Bob Jarnagin called our attention
to the eye-catching spread on k-E Club
work in the Bloomlngton Pantagraph.

Now we suspect the woods are full of
such good examples. If the flower fund
were not so low right now before Christ-
mas, we would send four- leaf clover bou-
quets to all of you.

Hog-Feeding Publication. . .

Information-minded livestock special-
ists Harry Russell and Dick Carlisle ob-
tained a copy of U5DA publication, "How
Heavy Should I Feed My Hogs?" for each
farm adviser. Your copy is in the pack-
et. It is a good source of information
for local news stories and radio programs.

Sheep Management Mat . . .

These same two specialists have started
the wheels moving to turn out some edu-
cational mats on livestock problems. The
first one, on sheep management, is in
this week' 8 packet along with a support-
ing news story for your use.

Speaking of Educational Mats...

Thanks much for expressing your views
on the way the distribution of educa-
tional mats should be handled.

Unfortunately, a preliminary count in-
dicates a fairly even vote between Op-
tion I and Option III. We hope soon to
discuss this problem with the supervi-
sors and to work out an acceptable oper-
ating procedure.

As you have learned from extension ex-
perience, there is probably no one plan
which will be completely satisfactory to
everyone .

Temporarily, at least, we do have some
help with art work. We want to make the
most efficient use possible of this help.
So if you have suggestions for subjects
which you would like to see treated in
educational mat form, give us the bene-
fit of your thinking.

Annual Report News Stories...

County annual reports are due next Mon-
day. Most of you probably have yours
written by now. Perhaps you already
have your copy in the file- -neatly tucked
away where none of your farmer or home-
maker clients can see it.

Why not bring it out in the open? Why
not tell the people of your county what
extension accomplished in 1951? Why not
write a series of news stories based on
your work during the past year? Why not?

What are the problems? How were they
attacked? What was accomplished? What
are the big Jobs for 1952? Those ques-
tions are all news story leads.

12/6/51

extension Editorial Office University of Illinois College of Agriculture

Point 2: Establish a regular weekly
service of information materials to all
newspaper and radio editors.

Identify yourself and your county on
the news service masthead. Make your
material attractive to the editors.

Point 3i Consider a personal column as
a part of your weekly news service.

A column offers you an opportunity to
establish a more personal relationship
with the audience you are serving.

Point k: Make the most effective use of
radio facilities available to the county.

Consider a regular radio program of
your own, or share time with other agri-
cultural leaders. Use a tape recorder
to broadcast over distant stations.

Point 5« Originate and use illustrated
circular letters regularly as a means of
getting information to farm people.

The circular letter is fast, efficient
and inexpensive. But it must be attrac-
tive to make the message effective.

Point 6: Improve county farm bureau pub-
lications if they are to play a role in
your information efforts.

There are exceptions, but most county
farm bureau publications need improve-
ment in both make-up and content.

Those Were the Six Point6...

Those were the six points. Where do
we need to go in 1952?

K Benchmark of Progress...

Soon we will say goodby to 1951. As
*e do, most of us will pause briefly to
take stock. In an informal way, perhaps,
ie will measure our accomplishments a-
jainst what we had hoped to accomplish
then 1951 was Just a babe.

Here in the editorial office we will
:redit 1951 as the year the first series
)f district information conferences were
leld. But where do we stand now in coun-
;y information work? Let's take a look.

in Editorial Review. . .

Just in case you misplaced your copy,
'e are enclosing the "Editorial Review,"
he news publication born at the district
eetings. In it and at the meetings we
ttempted to establish the six points
hich we felt were essential in a well-
rganized, efficient county information
rogram.

If you have time before the end of the
ear, we would certainly like to have a
ote from you on the over-all status of
our information program.

Pint 1; Get acquainted with and know
srsonally each newspaper and radio edi-
_QT in the county.

You'll remember we suggested a number
•? possible ways to accomplish this
pint. We included personal visits with
he editors, inviting them to serve on
ounty extension committees, and holding
nnual dinner meetings.

A3/51

'J-

;xt ens Ion Editorial Office

University of Illinois

College of Agriculture

:V:.

) 3^0

I kfe

FROM THE EXTENSION
EDITORIAL OFFICE

JLGSu

ctension Editorial Office

University of Illinois

College of Agriculture

The Art of Communication . . .

The other day we made the observation
that the Job of Extension was basically
Job of effective communication. And
that maybe if ve gave Just a little long-
er look at Just what communication is,
we could do a better Job. This is what
we were trying to say:

Communication is simply the conveying
or transmission of "something" from the
mind of one person to the mind of an-
other. That "something" can be a fact,
an idea, an opinion, an attitude, an
emotion—or perhaps a number of other
things. If the communication is done
well, that "something" is conveyed or
transmitted with as little "loss" as
possib le.

The simplest kind of communication is
•rhere two people sit down and talk to-
gether. We say they are "exchanging"
Ldeas or information. Actually, there
re two processes of communication going
>n. And all of us know that even in this
imple process it is sometimes hard to
ommunicate our ideas or opinions or
acts effectively. We say, "You don't
inderstand what I'm trying to say." Or
re say, "No, you Just don't get it."

Now, there may be a number of reasons
toy the person we are talking to doesn't
get it." One reason may be that we are
t8ing words and phrases and expressions
ie is not familiar with. Or he may have
uilt up attitudes, prejudices and emo-
ions which "block" the signals we are
rying to get across. There are other
easons.

In Extension, the Job of communication
eualihr is a little more difficult. Tn

most cases, there are three people and
three minds involved.

First, there is the person who has the
knowledge or information — the specialist,
the scientist, the author of the bulletin.

Second, there is the person who is the
audience — the farmer ,homemaker, U-H Club
member .

And third, there is the Extension work-
er who ie the interpreter or the "commun-
icator."

The Job of the interpreter or the com-
municator is to get the information from
the mind of one person and transmit that
information to the mind of another. It
is a 3-way process, and the successful
communicator is proficient in each of the
three phases of the process, like this:

1. We must know where and how to get
the information we want to transmit. We
must know how the scientific mind works.
We must understand the subject being dis-
cussed or written about by the scientist.
And we must be able to apply the informa-
tion in terms of the needs of our audi-
ence.

2. We must know the audience we are
trying to communicate with. We must know
how they think and why they think that
way. We must knov about prejudices, at-
titudes, educational levels.

3. We must know the techniques of con-
veying information. This means the per-
son-to-person approach, the group ap-
proach and the mass approach. We must
know the strong points and weak points
of each method.

That, as we see it, is the Job of Ex-
tension. If we are successful communi-

\a a

1 1

ooofnl l?v+aina( r\rt

IT SAYS HERE (Supplement)

Special to Farm and Home Advisers

A COPY OF TV SURVEY ENCLOSED

Your copy of the results of our informal rural tele-
vision audience survey is enclosed. As you may recall, we wanted
to get an idea of what the audience potential might be for a farm
TV show in Chicago. Advisers in 12 northeastern counties each
sent 500 cards to farmers selected at random from their mailing
lists.

Since the survey actually was only a spot check and
not a scientific Btudy, no attempt was made to project the fig-
ures. But from one standpoint, it already has served a useful
purpose.

WGN-TV officials tell us that on the "basis of the re-
port, they have initiated an experimental noon-time market show,
sponsored by the Chicago Board of Trade and the Mercantile Ex-
change. WGN farm director Norm Kraeft teams up with livestock
reporter Butch Davis to present the daily show.

We are convinced that television has a long and useful
life ahead in Extension education. Serious and detailed planning
of actual programs gets under way here this week.

-30-

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xtension Editorial Office

University of Illinois

College of Agriculture

Sims Sold on Personal Column...

If some of you still wonder whether a
personal column would be worth the time
and effort, you might talk with Stanley
I Sims the next time you see him.

Here are some quotes we picked up from
Stan's annual report on Calhoun county
Extension activities for 1951 •

"As a result of the District Conference
on information problems held at Edwards -
ville, ...I was encouraged to write a
personal column. There are two local
papers- -the Calhoun News and the Calhoun
Herald. Both papers receive the same
news each week.

"This column has aided me in reaching
many farm people that I could not have
possibly reached by personal contact. In
fact, the people I meet for the first
time make the comment: 'I see your pic-
ture in the paper,' or 'I read your col-
umn . '

"The personal column is an excellent
fay to notify farmers concerning Exten-
ds ion activities."

That says it pretty well.

Speaking of Columns . . .

Tazewell county's C. F. Bayles took a
.ook at the jobs to be done in 1952 and
Lecided a weekly personal column might
>e one of the best hired men he could
;et .

He was in the office not long ago dis-
ussing some of the ways and means of
;etting the column started.

We would guess that C. F. will "meet"
ore new Tazewell county people in 1952
han he did in 1951.

We'd like to hear from some of the rest
f you who started columns last year.

/3/5S

Hancock County Uses Padio . . .

Farm and city people in Hancock and
surrounding counties can tune in to WCAZ,
Carthage, every day at 1:15 and hear an
excellent local farm and home news show.

According to Assistant Farm Adviser
Curt Eisenmayer, the daily radio program
is a cooperative venture with the county
extension team joining hands with other
agricultural leaders in the county.

Here is a rough idea of the daily
schedule :

Monday --PMA, FHA, MPC, rotating

Tuesday- -FFA

Wednesday- -Eisenmayer, SCS, rotating
Thursday--Vocational home economics

Friday — Home adviser and home bureau
Saturday — Farm Adviser George Re id
Eisenmayer is responsible for schedul-
ing the show, and he says they try to
get programs lined up three months in
advance .

Three-Way Educational Cooperation...

The local newspaper and local business
firms have joined hands with Hamilton
county's Francis Kittinger to promote im-
proved poultry and dairy production in
the county.

The result is a regular full- page news-
paper spread on each of these problems
in the McLeansboro Times -Leader . Francis
furnishes the editorial material for the
pages. The local business firms support
the program and help pay for the page
through special tie-in ads.

The advantages are numerous- -and obvi-
ous. The newspaper is reaching people
who probably wouldn't be reached any
other way. The editor is interested in
the educational program. So are the
local business firms. Everyone benefits.

Reprinted from January 3 issue of Effingham Daily News

THE LAMP LIGHTER
By F, F. McNaughton

Did you get that postcard?

The one about hens.

700 of you got them Wednesday.

700 more should get them in the same mail with this paper.

It asks 12 questions.

It can mean money to you.

That is, it can mean cash to you if you give the 2 minutes time it will take to
jot down the answers and drop the return half of the postcard in the mail box,
already addressed to Farm Adviser Clinton Cutright.

It requires NO postage.

But one Beecher City farmer thought it was so important that even over the ice he
brought his reply in person to the Farm Bureau at once.

But one reply, a dozen replies, even scores of replies are inadequate. HUNDREDS
Df replies are needed.

Basic decisions are to be made on the results of this survey.

Everybody knows, as the card says, that "for years, Illinois farmers have been
selling eggs at lower prices than elsewhere."

Vcting as a result of the new egg law, the Effingham County Farm Bureau has decided
:o correct this

• if farmers will cooperate.

)ne thing sure: Other nearby counties are going to do something about it. Not 10
linutes ago, J. B. Turner, Fayette county farm adviser, was in asking me to come to
1 BIG meeting on this subject on January 10 in Vandalia. Thsy are so excited about
.t over there that Harry Rogier, the banker, telephoned me personally and also in-
rited me to come over to the January 10 meeting.

'oultry is a $1,14-82,000 business in Effingham county.

t deserves attention.

'lease mail the card in. university of ILLINOIS

LIB RAW

Any farmer not getting one should ask for one.)

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[tension Editorial Office

University of Illinois

College of Agriculture

Farm and Home Week Promotion. . .

There are a number of items in this
week's packet--all designed to help do a
better job of promoting and covering
Farm and Home Week here on the campus
January 28- 30.

All of you home advisers will find a
3uggested illustrated circular letter
rtiich you may want to reproduce and send
to your county homemakers. The folks
around here rate this year's Farm and
3ome Week program for women just about
fine best that's ever been planned.

Farm advisers will find a similar sug-
jested letter which might be reproduced
ind sent to selected farmers in the
:ounty.

?ape Recording Plan.

Many of you may want to take advantage
)f the radio tape recording facilities
rhich will be available each day in Room
•1, Greogry Hall. The complete details
>n this service are enclosed in this
>acket. If you plan to make recordings,
re should appreciate it if you would
heck the day and the hour that would be
onvenient for you.

pecial Radio Broadcasts...

For the important audience who won't
•e able to come to the campus for Farm
nd Home Week, we have arranged a spe-
ial series of broadcasts on University
tation WILL.
There is a story in the packet which
ells about these broadcasts, including
he complete daily schedule. You may
ant to send this story to all of your
ocal papers.

AO/52 .

Impact of an Interested Editor...

Monday W. D. Murphy sent us the front
page of the January 3 issue of the Ef-
fingham Daily News. With the page , he
attached this note:

"Here's what an interested editor can
do. Of course, someone did something to
interest the editor."

Murphy's pleasure--and our pleasure--
came from Editor F. F. McNaughton's col-
umn, "The Lamp Lighter," which is avidly
read by Effingham county and other south-
ern Illinois readers.

We enjoyed the column so much that we
are taking the liberty of reprinting it
on the attached page.

The interest and confidence of citizens
such as Editor McNaughton are essential
to the success of our extension efforts.

Advance, Build-up, Follow Through...

We went to Bob Slayton's Mason county
silage tour the other day. In spite of
snow and cold, there was an excellent
turnout of farmers. Bob was pleased; so
was livestock specialist Dick Carlisle.

When we came back to Bob's office to
thaw out, we picked up copies of Bob's
promotion efforts for the tour.

In early December, Bob put out his
first "advance" story. It was a feature
story on the use some of the county farm-
ers were making of surface silos. Pic-
tures were included. Then mention was
made that these surface silos could be
seen on the coming-up tour.

A week or so ahead of the tour, Bob
ran another story or two in the local
papers and sent out an illustrated post-
card invitation to "build up" the inter-
est.

Now he plans to "follow through" with
a complete news report on the successful

ctension Editorial Office

Ohio Agents Survey Radio Listening...

Here's a report from the Ohio Agricul-
tural Extension Service which we think
will interest many of you:

"How interested are farmers in farm
radio programs?

"This question bothered three Ohio
county agricultural agents and one asso-
ciate agent, and they set out in special
study problems this past summer to find
out .

"Radio listening habits of farm people
were surveyed in three northwestern Ohio
counties — Allen, Auglaize and Putnam. In
Hocking county, both radio listening and
newspaper reading habits were checked.

"County agent Herbert Hadley, Allen
county, County agent 0. L. Musgrave,
Putnam, and Associate agent F. G. Wiley,
Auglaize, pooled their talents and
drafted a questionnaire that was mailed
to every farmer in each of their coun-
ties. County agent Harold Ruggles had a
similar questionnaire, that also includ-
ed newspaper queries, for use in Hocking
county.

"Because the survey form was identical
for the three northwestern counties, the
results can be summarized for the three,
as follows:

"Of the farmers replying to the ques-
tionnaire, 96.6 percent said they lis-
tened to the farm radio programs, 523
said they listened between 5:30 and 7
a.m., while 772 indicated they listened
between 12 noon and 1 p.m.

"Attempting to learn what types of in-
formation farmers would like to hear
nore about on the radio programs to
rfhich they listen, the agents listed
five types of material and asked farmers
;o check the one about which they wanted
oore on the air. This is how they voted:

College of Agriculture

"General Farm News, 403; Improved Farm
Practices, 317; Farmer Experience Sto-
ries, Ikk; h-R and FFA Activities, k6,
and Calendar of Events, kk,

"Nine percent of the farmers voting in-
dicated they had television sets, and 2h
percent said they had radios in their
barns.

"Results of Ruggles' survey in Hocking
county were somewhat similar:

"Ruggles also found that the column he
writes each week for a local newspaper
is read by nearly 1,100 farm families.
As with radio, the survey indicated that
700 farmers would like to see more infor-
mation about production practices in
crops and livestock in his column, and
500 would like more timely suggestions
of things to do.

"After reviewing the survey results,
the agents summarized their feelings
about their information activities in
this fashion.

"Hadley: 'There is a place for both
an area and a local (radio) program for
the dissemination of farm information by
the county Extension workers.'

"Musgrave: 'Radio is an excellent
source for disseminating agricultural in-
formation, especially through the larger
area of radio listening audience.'

"Wiley: fIt is important to have some
radio contacts, not only to pass on farm
information, but have outstanding ^--Hters
and other farm people appear on radio
broadcasts. This, to me, is a highlight
in their lives and also helps pass on
useful farm information. '

"Ruggles: 'It would appear that I'm
doing a fair job of reaching the people
in the county with agricultural informa-
tion by newspaper but need to do some-
thing to reach more people by radio. r"
1/17/51

University of Illinois

Extension Editorial Office

University of Illinois

College of Agriculture

Tvo Birds. . .One Typewriter . . .

Morgan- Scott home adviser Frances King
gets double duty from her news type-
writer. Frances has had a radio program
for some time. One day her county in-
formation chairman, Mrs. Theodore Pierce,
suggested to Cecil Tendick, farm editor
of the Jacksonville Journal -Courier ,
that the material used on the radio
would make a good news column. Editor
Tendick agreed. Now Frances i6 a col-
umnist in the Journal-Courier with no
extra effort.

This is another way of saying that all
your county newspapers and all your
county radio stations should get copies
of your REGULAR, WEEKLY NEWS SERVICE.
You can make carbon copies, mimeo, or
ditto-- just so the copy is neat, clean
and easy to read by the dim light of a
linotype machine.

s Attractive as a Seed Catalog"

During the editors' meeting here on
the campus last summer, president
Stoddard said something like this:

Our educational information material
is in stiff competition. Our news sto-
ries, our letters, our bulletins and
circulars must compete with the movies,
the magazines, and the seed catalogs
for the attention of the farmer and his
wife. Unfortunately, we do not always
present our educational material as at-
tractively as the material is presented
in the seed catalogs. We should.

Slayton Follows Up...

We have a copy of Bob Slayton'1 s follow-
up story on the Mason county silage tour.

Illustrated Circular Letters...

The USDA Extension Service has issued
an excellent handbook on "How to Make
Circular Letters Attractive." We or-
dered enough copies to supply each of
you in the counties, but the order was
reduced,
around.

So we don't have enough to go

We are sending one copy to each home
adviser in this week's packet. Would
each of you share your copy with the
farm adviser and with others on the
county extension staffs.

There are a few left here, so if some
of the rest of you would like especially
to have a copy for yourself, drop us a
card or letter.

Speaking of Illustrations...

Supervisor Harold Gordon passed along
a copy of John McCue's illustrated let-
ter announcing a special county dairy
meeting. The illustrations were not
fancy, but they got the point over.

From time to time, we have hoped to
issue sets of sketches and drawings
which you could trace on your letters.
Before too long the "hoping" may turn to
fact. Associate Director Kammlade has
indicated that the editorial artist
which we have hired on a temporary basis
may be assigned a permanent position.

The young lady is Mrs. Bette Morton,
and you will see much of her work on the
Farm and Home Week exhibits.

3 feitZ52

Extension Editorial Office University of Illinois College of Agriculture

Short Thoughts on a Short Week...

This is a short column this week. We don't
have time to write more. And you probably
don't have time to read more anyway. This is
written at about the exact middle of Farm and
Home Week. We are bothered by some things:

Is Farm and Home Week an effective or an
efficient technique of "informing the public
about new things in agriculture?"

Of the total registration, how many actual
farmers are here? Are they the same farmers
who came last year and the year before that
and before that and that?

Is the information really new? Or is it
just partly new and mostly the same old stuff
warmed over?

Are we spreading our efforts too thin?
Would it be better to use a rifle instead of
a shotgun?

Out of 200,000 farm families in the state,
how is it that only a few- -3, 000 to 4,000--
come to Farm and Home Week? Are the ones
that stay home the ones that need the infor-
mation most? What's the best way to reach
them?

Commerical-News Salutes Agriculture...

Again this year the Danville Commercial-
News has given a resounding salute to agricul-
ture--especially Vermilion county agriculture.
On Sunday, January 20, the Commercial- News
came forth with a 32-page farm supplement,
paying special tribute to the Vermilion Coun-
ty Farm Bureau. Energetic Orin Hertz ran
capable interference for the issue.

We twisted Orin's arm until he got us a
copy of this farm section for each farm ad-
viser. The copies should go out to you this
week. You may want to show your copy to your
local newspaper editor, with the suggestion
that such a supplement would be a good idea
in your county.
1/30/52

Step Up and Shake Hands.. Ti

There are some new folks in the office
we would like to have you meet. And the
next time you're in town, we'll make the
introductions more personal.

As many of you know, assistant exten-
sion editor Claire Ciha leaves us this
week. Claire and husband Al are heading
for Milwaukee, where Al is to be on the
city planning staff.

Taking Claire's place is Anne Retzer,
who has been turning out reams of copy
during the past two years as a graduate
editorial assistant in the office. Anne
will receive her master's degree in home
economics this week.

The long, slim guy with his feet under
the desk Just inside the door is Ken
McDermott. Ken is a coffee drinker from
Missouri who roved to Wisconsin to take
graduate work as a member of the agricul-
tural editorial staff there. For the
past two years, he has been on the agri-
cultural editorial staff at Missouri.

His big Job here will be to head up
our program of undergraduate teaching in
agricultural Journalism and to give
added push to the work we would like to
do with you folks out in the state.

One More Word About Us . . .

All of you home advisers will want to
get better acquainted with Evelyn
Hutcheson. Evelyn was a home agent in
Surry county, Virginia, for about six
years before deciding her first love was
editorial work. She is working half-
time as a graduate editorial assistant,
and her Job this semester will be to im-
prove our editorial services for you
home advisers.

Visualizing a la Jim Somers...

Here's an idea we think is a knock-out.
Maybe some of the rest of you have used
it, but we first heard about it from Lee
county's versatile Jim Somers.

Jim is convinced that the labor pinch
will get worse before it gets better.
That puts the emphasis on labor-saving
ideas. Nothing new about that--but wait:

A number of the good, cooperating farm-
ers in Jim's county are camera fans and
own 35 mm. cameras. Jim is asking these
men to take color shots of labor-saving
equipment they are using- -or equipment
being used by the neighbors. Particular
stress will be placed on equipment the
men have made or ideas they have devel-
oped. He'll supplement these farmer pic-
tures with shots of his own taken during
the spring and summer months.

Next winter, when the short labor sup-
ply is pinching even worse, Jim figures
he can have a series of darned good
labor-saving meetings built around the
color slides he and his farmers have
taken x during the year.

What could be more convincing than hav-
ing a farmer showing his own slide of a
piece of labor-saving equipment and dis-
cussing it at the same time?

Jim is also adding visual punch to his
landscaping demonstrations. He plans to
take a number of aerial shots showing
farmsteads before landscaping. Then he
will take a series of progress shots af-
ter the plantings are made. The pictures
will be used in newspaper spreads pro-
moting landscaping.

2/7/52

Ford County Short Course . . .

Farm adviser Arnold Rowand did a neat
bit of advance promotion on his Ford
County Agricultural Short Course.

Every farmer in Ford county received
printed announcements on the short
course. The first day was scheduled for
February 6 and the second day for Febru-
ary 13. An advance registration card
vent out, along with the special promo-
tion material.

Arnold also enlisted the help and co-
operation of the vocational agriculture
instructors in the county. Each instruc-
tor received the announcement material
with a supply of the cards and also a
number of placards for posting in local
business establishments.

When he sent the material for our sug-
gestions, Arnold said, "I feel like I
had Just pulled both triggers on the old
shotgun and am waiting anxiously to see
if any ducks fall."

We'd say he had the gun aimed right,
and the ammunition looks deadly. In
fact, we're ready for a duck dinner.

Spreading the Poultry Story...

At the request of poultry specialist
Sam Ridlen, the editorial office was
represented last week at two district
meetings of the Illinois Poultry Associa-
tion. Our assignment was to point out
ways and means for spreading sound poul-
try information farther and faster.
Most of you have heard about some of the
plans that are in the mill, and there
will be more details later on. Bob
Jamagin and Jack Murray did the honors
for us.

Special Legume-Grass Edition...

Bob Jamagin and Lyman Noordhoff are
in Hamilton county for two days this
week on a special mission. The mission
is to help information-minded Francis
Kittinger wrap up a special newspaper
supplement on legume-grass production
and utilization.

Francis, in cooperation with the local
newspaper, laid out plans to issue a U-
page "extra" which would drive home the
need for more acres of legumes and grass
in Hamilton county. He asked us for
help, and in a weak moment we said "yes."

There is obviously a practical limit
to the amount of such field work we can
do. But we will gain much by sinking
our teeth into off- campus production
problems once in a while.

"A Little Farmin'". . .

That's the title of a new column au-
thored by Jo Daviess' Earl Bantz. We
saw it in the county farm bureau publi-
cation, and we assume it goes to all the
newspapers in the county too.

Earl has a good writing touch. One
column starts, "Farmers are asking about
seed oats, and the story is still the
same." That's an easy, friendly style.

Front Page Hoppin. . .

We've been holding an alfalfa bouquet
for several weeks waiting to give it to
Logan county's Fred Hoppin for the front
page spread he received on one of his
early winter meetings. The story not
only reported the meeting, but told what
was said.

2- 11+ -52

Xi.1

Extension Editorial Office

University of Illinois

College of Agriculture

Let's Try It Again. . .

It may be February doldrums, but there
still seems to be much misunderstanding
about "who gets what news services from
the editorial office and "who is sup-
posed to do what with which."

So let's beat the thing out on the
stone once again. If you still have
questions after this, we'll have you ex-
plain it to us.

1. This office puts out one service
that goes to every weekly newspaper in
the state . The masthead on this service
reads either "FARM NEWS For Weeklies"
or "HOME NEWS For Weeklies." This serv-
ice is mailed to all weekly papers on
Thursday of each week, and the material
is for release starting on Monday of the
following week.

2. We also prepare a joint service
which goes to every daily newspaper in
the state. The masthead on this service
reads either "FARM NEWS For Dailies" or
"HOME NEWS For Dailies." This service is
mailed three times each week, with re-
leases for two days in each mailing. On
Tuesday, for example, we mail out to all
daily newspapers the stories marked for
release the following Thursday and Fri-
day. On Thursday we mail the releases
for Saturday and Monday. And on Satur-
day we mail the releases for Tuesday and
Wednesday .

3. Now these same daily stories--
exactly--are also sent to all radio sta-
tions in the state--BUT on a radio mast-
head. The stories are the same, but the
mastheads say either "FARM NEWS For
Radio" or "HOME NEWS For RadioT

We 're Still Trying. . .

k-. This is the important part, so
hang on carefully. You advisers get an
"information packet" that is mailed just
once each week--on Thursday . In order
to supply you with as much subject mat-
ter background as possible, we have sent
you copies of all the stories that we
have mailed directly to weekly and daily
newspapers. You don't get copies of the
radio service, because it is the same as
the daily service.

Home advisers get copies of the home
stories prepared for weekly papers and
daily papers. Farm advisers get copies
of the farm stories prepared for weekly
papers and daily papers.

5. Since these stories are mailed
directly to the papers, it was never in-
tended that you would use them as such
in your county news service to your pa-
pers. Many of the stories are bound to
be late, since the daily stories we mail
out on Saturday for release the follow-
ing Tuesday and Wednesday are not in-
cluded in your "packet" until the follow-
ing Thursday,

6. You have also mentioned duplica-
tion, and that is natural since we often
send the same information in a little
different form to both weeklies and dai-
lies. You get copies of both services.

7. We have thought it would be of
more service to you to receive all infor-
mation materials in one packet once a
week. If you would prefer, we could
mail you copies of the daily service
three times a week--the same way it goes
to the daily papers.

» • 1

If You're Still With Us...

8. In the past we have tried to in-
clude in your packet each week a number
of "special" or "fill-in" stories. These
stories do not go to any other outlets.
They are exclusively for your use. We
have also tried to produce a limited
number of educational mats for your ex-
clusive use.

9 . We realize that this service has
been skimpy. But there is a reason for
it. We sincerely feel that the less
"ready-made" stuff from us you use in
your county news service, the better. We
would rather think that our material is
another one of your sources of subject-
matter facts. But these facts should be
tied to the local situation and given
the local treatment.

10. Since we reprocess nearly all of
the information that goes out in the
weekly service and reissue the material
for the dailies, we think some of the
confusion can be eliminated by sending
you copies of only the daily news serv-
ice stories. At least we will try that
for a while.

2/28/52

Extension Editorial Office
Editorial Whirlpools...

Somewhere out west there's a whirlpool
that coughs up the objects it swallows.
You can toss in a handkerchief - wait an
hour - and up it comes.

No matter how often you try, you can't
get rid of the handkerchief. It keeps
bobbing up.

Last week we had to face up to the
fact that perhaps we have been guilty of
tossing handkerchiefs into editorial
whirlpools.

The point is this: During the past
year we've spent a lot of time arguing
the point that information methods can
help you do a better job of teaching.

At the same time we will have to admit
that we have not done a very good job of
supplying you with useful information
aids--editorial helps that will in turn
help you build and maintain an effective
county information program.

The Job of supplying aids or helps on
a planned basis always seemed to get
tossed back into the whirlpool.

It happened because nobody ever really
pinned down exactly what helps were
needed- -and how they could be produced,
distributed and used.

This week a small editorial task force
headed by Ken McDermott and Evelyn
Hut che son started exploring the problem.
They hope to come up with a plan that
will be of real value and service to you.

Suggestions and illustrations for cir-
cular letters, monthly calendars of farm
and home jobs, radio and writing tips,
mats and story briefs for local stories
are Just a few of the items they are
considering.

It would be helpful to Ken and Evelyn
if you would send them your ideas and
suggestions on the kinds of information
helps and aids that would be useful to

College of Agriculture
Series II Coming Up...

Just a year ago, the editors here were
putting the last dabs of poster paint on
a batch of homemade visual aids for the
subdistrict information workshops.

Those visuals were designed to support
our contention that mass information
methods are legitimate extension teach-
ing tools, and to spell out what we
meant when we talked about a "balanced
county information program." That was
last year.

Now you have said, in effect, "All
right, maybe we'll buy the idea--maybe
we won't. But we've got to have more to
go on in making the decision."

Giving you more to go on is what we
hope to get done in our second series of
workshops just coming up.

First target dates are March 20 and
21--subdistrict meetings in Jacksonville
and Galesburg. The following week it's
the northern route to District I in
Yorkville and Oregon. District III
comes in April.

We are building the second series
around writing—writing so vou will be
understood .

Following your suggestions, we will
try to make this a down-to-earth, prac-
tical session. Emphasis will be on news-
writing-- clear, concise, logical writing.
This is the style of writing that we be-
lieve is so basic to the success of your
information program.

We will have a few things to get off
our chest about writing. But most of
the good will come through the actual
writing you will do.

3/6/52

University of Illinois

Extension Editorial Office
New Column By Bayles . . .

If response from Tazewell county's
weekly editors is as enthusiastic as
ours, we'd guess that C. F. Bayles has
struck pay dirt with his proposed new
personal column.

Bayles recently sent a letter to the
editors of each of his 13 county week-
lies, enclosing a proposed introductory
column and a sample of proposed subse-
quent columns .

Here's how he introduces the new serv-
ice to readers of the 13 papers :

I'm starting this personal column to
all Tazewell county folks in an effort
to meet all of you. With 2,^00 farms in
the county, it's impossible to visit
each of you at home, even once every
five years. It's also impossible to
talk with each of you personally at our
various county extension meetings. So,
with the cooperation of the editor of
this newspaper, I'm writing this message
each week to all of you.

"We'll talk about Tazewell county farm
and home doings, extension meetings,how-
I-did-it stories from successful farmers,
a few of ray own comments sometimes, and
other interesting topics. Your sugges-
tions are always welcome on what to
write about.

"The column will be pretty much a per-
sonal visit in a different way- -on a
mass basis through this newspaper. I
hope you'll consider it almost like a
personal letter to each of you each week.
I'm going to think like that when I'm
writing it."

C.F. finishes out the column with a
down-to-earth discussion of the value of
farm records, ending with: "The Illinois
Farm Record Book is a good one for rec-
ord keeping, and I'll be pleased to help
you start your farm business out on a

College of Agriculture
Hinchcliff at Workshops . . .

Keith Hinchcliff will team up with us
in presenting the second series of sub-
district information workshops.

Keith's demonstration on remodeling
your "Model-T" farmhouse will furnish
raw material for some of the stories you
will write.

We thought an actual demonstration
would give everyone a common starting
place in planning, organizing and writ-
ing stories.

U--E Club Week Promotion...

Macoupin county's assistant farm ad-
viser Bob Wack gets this week's bouquet
of editorial orchids.

We've seen a copy of his special four-
page k-E Club edition, published by the
Carlinville Democrat on Thursday, March
K Confidentially, it's a "honey."

Since all the space but 18 column
inches out of TOO or more total is paid
advertising, there is probably at least
one newspaper editor in Macoupin county
who is thoroughly sold on 4-H Club work.

Judging from the advertising support,
it would seem also that many of Carlin-
ville 's merchants, banks and other insti-
tutions are friends of h-E.

Bob used some of the special h-E mat
illustrations in working up the edition.

We have also had a look at the special
4-H Club edition of the LaSalle county
Organized Farmer. Jim Davies deserves a
couple of those orchids too for liberal
use of photographs, illustrations and
feature stories pointing up LaSalle
county club work.

No doubt many of you put special edi-
torial effort into National ^-H Club
Week. On the national level, television
was used extensively for the first time

University of Illinois

Extension Editorial Office

University of Illinois

College of Agriculture

Legume-Grass Edition...

The enclosed special 4-page legume-
grass edition of the McLeansboro Times-
Leader represents the combined editorial
sweat and handiwork of Hamilton county's
F. W. Kittinger and Lyman Noordhoff and
Bob Jarnagin of our office. A case his-
tory of the edition is attached.

This was our first field experience in
tackling a major information problem on
an individual county basis. We did it
for two reasons--to be of service and to
get the experience.

Perhaps we should be doing more of
this type of work. Should we? If you
have an urgent information problem that
can't be handled through the mail or in
district information workshop, let us
know about it. Maybe we can help.

Spray Service Report . . .

Under separate mailing, farm advisers
will receive the first of the 1952 Week-
ly Spray Service Reports this week.

As you know, these reports tell what
insects are appearing in each area, when
to spray and what spray mixtures to use.

Your local radio station will also re-
ceive a copy of the report each week.
It might be a good idea to check with
your farm editor to offer your sugges-
tions on how to use it.

Promote Fly Sprayer...

Early returns from advisers' orders
for mats on the automatic fly sprayer
show Ik of you asking for 76 mats. On
the leaflet, "Spray Every Day the Easy
Way," 18 of you have ordered some 3,600
copies. Both are fairly encouraging.

From Editors, Not So Good...

Not so encouraging, though, is the re-
quest of only nine editors so far for
about 60 mats. There are about 750 week-
ly and daily papers in Illinois.

Some of you have probably already con-
tacted your local editors, perhaps per-
sonally, to discuss use of the mats.
All of you should do that. Your visits
can make a tremendous difference in the
editorial support you get in trying to
put more sprayers onto farms in your
county. Here's a fine opportunity to
practice the "Know Your Editor" part of
a balanced county information program.
You may be surprised at the results.

2nd Round of Workshops . . .

The extension editors will be out feel-
ing the county "pulse" for the next two
weeks in the second round of district in-
formation workshops. We are scheduled
at Jacksonville and Galesburg in Dis-
trict II on March 20 and 21 and at York-
ville and Oregon in District I on March
25 and 26. Also scheduled is one ses-
sion at Urbana for District III on April
25. Topic for discussion this year, as
requested by you in those districts, is
how to write.

We are dividing the load at these meet-
ings, so you won't see all of us at one
time. However, there'll be enough of us
on hand to give you the help you want
and really make these workshop sessions.
They're planned so you'll have an active
part in the program with a minimum of
talk from us. We believe that the quick-
est and best way for you to learn how to
write is to write.

3/20/52

CASE HISTORY OF A SPECIAL EDITION

These two pages tell briefly the background and facts leading to the
publication of the special four- page legume- grass edition of the McLeansboro
Times-Leader on February 28, 1952.

The Problem

Besearch and farm experience show that Hamilton county farmers, like
farmers in other Illinois counties, would make more money and at the same
time put their farming operation on a sounder long-range basis, if they would
increase the number of acres of legumes and grasses on their farms. Farm ad-
viser F. W. Kittinger' s problem was to make more rapid progress in getting
the job done.

Approach to the Problem

Kittinger had been moderately successful in using special dairy and
poultry pages to stimulate farmers' interest in improving their operations in
those areas. He felt that a special legume- grass edition, used to supplement
the other phases of his educational program, might add "push" to it and speed
up the job. The Extension Editorial Office was invited to help, with editors
Lyman Noordhoff and Bob Jarnagin assigned to the project.

Taking an Inventory

Here's how Kittinger and the editors sized up the job:

The Need: More Hamilton county farmers to get more information on
the value and benefits of profitable legumes and grass.

The Vehicle: A special edition to supplement other phases of the
educational program.

Assets:

1. An information-minded farm adviser with a message to tell.

2. A cooperative and interested weekly newspaper editor.

3. A paper that would reach most of the farm families in the
county .

k. Two extension editorial representatives to assist with the
writing and layout.

5. The experience of a number of farmers who are doing a good
job in using legumes and grass.

6. Plenty of supporting research data from the College and
Dixon Springs.

Local Experience Best

The adviser-editor team decided from the start that the most effec-
tive sales message would be the experiences of local farmers. These success
stories would be supplemented by research and subject-matter stories.

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Getting Started

The first Job was to list areas where stories were needed. These
were selected: over-all county picture; soil improvement and management; leg-
umes and grass in the livestock program; soil conservation; reforestation;
green manure; seed crops; experimental data at Dixon Springs that would apply-
to Hamilton county.

The next Job was to get the names of farmers who were doing a good
Job in the specific areas and arrange a trip to visit them on their farms.

Advertising Support

In the meantime, pictures, layout, advertising and other details of
publication were discussed with the editor. The edition was to be financed
by advertising by two local business concerns, using in part educational adver-
tising mats and copy previously prepared by the editorial office to support
the 6-point dairy and other programs. Advertising space totaled one page,
leaving three pages for copy.

Rounding up the Information

Kittinger, Noordhoff and Jarnagin spent the greater part of two days
visiting farms to gather story ammunition and writing up the experiences of
the farmers. Final copy, advertising and photographs were delivered to the
editor by late afternoon of the second day. One important cog in making the
whole Job easier to handle was the office space provided in the basement of
the courthouse for the editorial writing and layout work. The room was iso-
lated and quiet, and a large table provided plenty of space for a couple of
typewriters and layout sheets.

Distribution

The special edition was included with all copies of the paper which
were mailed that week. In addition, the Hamilton County Farm Bureau paid for
extra copies and postage to mail the edition to county farmers who were not
subscribers, so that every farmer in the county had a chance to read and study
the information it contained.

Effect

What effect the special edition will have on promoting more acres of
grass and legumes in Hamilton county remains to be seen. However, the pictures
and stories cannot fail to have some effect on those who look at and read them.
We feel that the efforts of the information specialists and the farm adviser
were well worth the time and expense of getting the material together and get-
ting it printed. If nothing else, the special edition will serve for a long
time as a source of valuable information rounded up in one place on printed
pages for those farmers who sincerely want to improve their farms and their
farming practices.

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University of Illinois College of Agriculture

Extension Editorial Office

Word Gets Around...

Word on meetings gets around, especial-
ly the way McHenry county's Bill Tarameus
does it. Bill promotes his meetings
through most of his available outlets,
including his newspapers and radio sta-
tions. In addition he sends out circu-
lar letters and sees to it that coopera-
tors like the GI and vocational agricul-
ture instructors have the information.

At a recent meeting on calf raising,
Bill decided to find out where those who
attended got word about the meeting.

Here are the information sources and
the number of farmers who listed each

source:

Circular letters ....67

Newspapers .31

Radio 22

Neighbors 5

GI class 3

FFA meeting... 2

Other:

Wife heard on radio 1

Father heard on radio..... 1
Wife read in newspaper .... 1
Wife heard on telephone... 1

Brother told me 1

Postcard 1

Bill makes information work for him.

Introduces Farmers...

Clinton county Farm Adviser Floyd
Smith has a new feature in the Carlyle
Democrat- -a monthly column in the Farm
Bureau Issue introducing a Clinton coun-
ty farmer.

In the first column Floyd led off with
a story about the Clinton Farm Bureau
president. In future issues he plans to
build the story around the farm's opera-
tions rather than the man himself. So,

choosing the farmer will depend on his
story, and Farm Bureau membership won't
make any difference.

Floyd's idea looks to us like an ex-
cellent way to promote good public rela-
tions among farmers, businessmen in the
community and the newspaper.

Floyd also has a personal column — "Now
and Then With the Farm Adviser" --which
appears every week in all the county pa-
pers. But he thinks the introduction of
Clinton county farmers is front-page
material. We agree. And we'd like to
add that this kind of information should
carry the farm adviser's name as author
if he writes it or supplies the material.

Illustrated Cards...

The other day we received an invita-
tion to a landscape planning meeting in
Mercer county. After one look we almost
decided to attend!

Home Adviser Arlene Wolfram and Farm
Adviser Howard Haynes combined their
talents and worked some illustrations
into the special card invitation sent to
all Mercer county families.

The illustrations caught our eye im-
mediately. They were printed in green
ink, while the rest of the card telling
about the meeting was printed in black
ink. We read the card carefully to see
what the attractive illustrations were
about, and chances are that Mercer coun-
ty families did the same thing.

It took extra time and trouble to run
those cards through the mimeograph twice
to get green pictures and black printing
but the effect was worth it. We're bet-
ting the meeting will be well attended.
3/26/52

Extension Editorial Office University of

This Is Personal-. .

Not long ago a fellow called from Wash-
ington and said, "Would you consider a
year's assignment with the Mutual Secu-
rity Agency in Paris, France?"

That's how it all started, and there
followed a couple of weeks of mental
struggle with a two-horned dilemma. How
should one balance the many challenging
Jobs to be done at home against the op-
portunities for service and stimulating
experiences on a foreign assignment?

Well, the dilemma was resolved, and we
leave Monday, April Ik, for Washington
and from there to Paris. It was not an
easy decision, and it may not be right.

The Year Ahead . . .

It is gratifying and at the same time
humbling to realize that leaving here
for a year will cause hardly a ripple.
Few editorial shops can boast of such
experienced and talented personnel. At
the request of the editorial crew, Jack
Murray was asked to put this corner in
better order as acting extension editor
for the year. He will probably wonder
how I spend my time, because the office
runs itself.

The agricultural press services are
solidly set behind the able guidance of
Bob Jarnagin and Lyman Noordhoff , with
editorial assistant Mary Donahoe serving
as Girl Friday. Ken McDermott is gather-
ing up the reins on our information
teaching-training program. Bill Mason
will continue to ride herd on the WILL
Farm Hour and other radio services.

Jessie Heathman is recognized as the
top college home economics editor in the
country — and the same would be true if
you left out the word college. Anne
Retzer is following in her footsteps as

4/3/52

Illinois College of Agriculture

The Year Ahead (cont.)...
a partner in that editorial kitchen,
with Evelyn Hutches on learning the busi-
ness as a graduate assistant.

Bette Morton is giving us the much-
needed help, guidance and direction in
agricultural and home economics art.

The all- important front office is
headed by Louise Ward, who sees that
deadlines are met, letters answered, re-
quests filled, stories filed, pictures
ordered... With her is Alice Heneberry,
who tends the stenographic fires in the
home economics editorial section.

And there is a new fellow we would
like to have you shake hands with. Owen
Glissendorf poured himself a cup of edi-
torial coffee on April 1 and decided it
was good enough to persuade him to stay
for at least a year. Owen is an agri-
cultural journalism graduate from Wis-
consin who limbered his typewriting
fingers as economics editor at Michigan
State .

There's Pioneering To Do...

This can well be a year of pioneering
developments. Cooking in the kettle
are plans for a regular newspaper farm
page service- -complete with ad layouts,
illustrations, stories, editorials. We
want to stop talking and start doing
something about improving our editorial
services to you county people. Farm
and home television is beckoning. The
budding art and visual aids service is
ready to burst into full flower.

All those things and others are wait-
ing to be done, and the people here are
intent on keeping a hot fire under the
kettle.

Best of luck to all of you for the
next year — Hadley Bead.

Extension Editorial Office

University of Illinois

College of Agriculture

Bon Voyage . . t

Extension editor Hadley Eead spent
part of this week cleaning out desk
drawers and counseling with the staff on
the Job ahead. This is his last week in
the office for a year.

By the time you receive this, Hadley
and his family will be on their way to
Washington- -first stop on a trip that
eventually will take them through most
of the countries of western Europe and
often into the shadow of the Iron Cur-
tain.

Hadley has promised to keep us posted
on his experiences and observations
among the farm people in Europe . And
from time to time we'll share these ex-
periences with you. In the meantime,
here's wishing the Beads — Hadley, Mar-
garet, Greg, Mary and Phillip — bon
voyage I

Down With S, FA and E...

Information -minded Bill Tammeus of Mc-
Henry county tried a stunt recently that
aroused a lot of interest. At a pas-
ture tour attended by farmers from sev-
eral counties, he passed out posters to
paste on car windows.

The posters read, "Down with S, FA and
E pastures," meaning Sunshine, Fresh Air
and Exercise. Bill said many folks
asked the meaning of the slogan. With
this show of interest, he had a good
opening to discuss pasture improvement.

Interest even penetrated to the heart
of Chicago. One evening a woman stopped
Bill to ask the meaning of the slogan,
she told him she'd seen two HS, FA and E"
posters in Chicago that day.

fc/10/52

Perisho's Column...

It was nice to open up the rural news
section of the Roche lie leader the other
day to be greeted by the friendly smile
of Ogle county's George Perisho.

His picture graces a weekly column in
which he serves up tempting chunks of
practical, down-to-earth information to
his readers, both farm and city.

Here ' s a sample of the meaty kind of
writing he used to emphasize points
brought out in a recent housing meeting:

"Coal is king for heating economically
but oil and gas have the advantage of
convenience . Badiant heating systems
probably are not as practical for farm
homes as they are for town houses."

George also writes for the town folks:
"if your lawn mower needs to be sharp-
ened, adjusted or repaired, March is a
good time to have this work done."

In one week's column, he gets points
across on controlling wireworms, farm-
housing, lawn and garden care, in addi-
tion to reporting briefly on a ^-H rally
and Ogle county's results in the state
bowling tournament.

In other words, George i6 using his
column to do extension work.

Enclosures . . .

Farm advisers will find two enclosures
in the packet this week:

(1) USDA's fact sheet on 1952 Spring
Clean-up Week gives pointers on what to
do to eliminate fire and accident haz-
ards. The information can easily be
adapted to news stories, personal column
or radio.

(2) Fill-in story on spray broadcasts
lists stations that will carry the re-
ports during the current season. Sta-
tions listed are those that reported
carrying the service as of April 8.

Round 5 Coming Up. . . Radio-TV Institute

April 2k is the date circled on the of-
fice calendar for the District III in-
formation workshop.

Advisers and assistants of Subdistrict
B, plus those in Subdistrict A who are
interested, will meet with the editorial
crew in k2k Mumf ord Hall to discuss writ-
ing problems.

The Urbana meeting generally will fol-
low the pattern of the sessions already-
held this year in Jacksonville, Gales-
burg, Yorkville and Oregon,

h-H Column Headings...

The enclosed illustrations of news-
paper column headings suggested for coun-
ty and local h-K Club news represent a
step in the direction of producing a
wider range of editorial aids for your
county information program.

The mats are the combined handiwork of
editor Bob Jarnagin and artist Bette
Morton.

The order blank at the bottom of the
sheet is for your use in ordering mats
for your newspapers and county publica-
tions. Just enter the quantity of each
mat you want and return the blank. Note
that the selection includes 1-, 2- and
3- column headings.

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