The volume contains accounts for subscriptions, political expenses, livestock shipping, general shipping, feed, coal, twine, wheat, hay, sundries, formaldehyde, non-members' fees, Community Hall loan, general expenses, interest, dividends received from Central, trust account, capital account, benevolent fund, and banking.
The fonds consists of minutes of the Canadian Council of Agriculture, resolutions, financial statements, reports of committees, briefs, and policy statements (1920-1926); documents of an appeal to the federal Cabinet against increases of freight rates (1918); and a report on the activities of the Council, 1925-1930.
Administrative History
The Canadian Council of Agriculture was formed in 1909. It was initially a council of delegates from the United Farmers of Alberta, the Saskatchewan Grain Growers' Association, the Manitoba Grain Growers' Association, and the Dominion Grange, which was based in Ontario. It was later expanded to include representatives from farmers' organizations in other provinces and representatives from farmers' cooperative enterprises. The Council met to coordinate the political and advocacy initiatives of provincial farmers' organizations. It was instrumental in forming the Progressive Party, an influential coalition in the Dominion Parliament of the 1920s. The Council met two or three times a year, and had a secretariat based in Winnipeg. Henry Wise Wood of Alberta served as its president for several years. It became inactive around 1932, and its function was supplanted by the Canadian Chamber of Agriculture, founded in 1935.
Custodial History
The files were retained by United Farmers of Alberta representatives on the Council.
The file consists of: Memorandum [of] Canadian Council of Agriculture in support of appeal to the Governor in Council against judgment of Board of Railway Commission on 15% increase on freight and passenger toll ; Reply of the Canadian Northern Railway Company ; Rejoinder to the reply of the respondents on behalf of the Canadian Council of Agriculture.
The fonds consists of the minute book used by the Onoway U.F.A. Local No. 131 (1924-1942) and Onoway F.U.A. Local No. 527, with membership list (1949-1950); the account book (1919-1935); journal (1926-1936); and cheque book (1933-1934).
Administrative History
Onoway U.F.A. Local No. 131 was organized in the 1910s. By 1919 it was pooling its members' economic resources by shipping livestock and purchasing bulk quantities of feed, coal, and twine. The Local apparently became inactive in 1942. In 1949 some former members organized the Onoway F.U.A. Local No. 527, a Local of the Farmers' Union of Alberta. This organization apparently became inactive in 1950.