Changing to meet the needs of fraternalists.
"Joining Hands To Touch Lives-Fraternalism for the Family and Our Nation'
VESTNIK SPJST Herald Official Publication Of The Slavonic Benevolent Order of the State of Texas, Founded 1897 HUMANITY
BENEVOLENCE
BROTHERHOOD
Postmaster: Please Send Form 3579 to: SPJST Home Office, P. 0. Box 100, Temple, Texas 76503 ISSN-07458800
May 21, 1997
VOLUME 85 NUMBER 21
Take a Closer Look . SPJST Home Office employee Sandra Dubcak examines a wooden windmill, part of a farmyard display built and donated by Johnny Recek of West, Texas. The exhibit is just one of hundreds of unique items and antiques on display at the SPJST Museum located in Temple, Texas. SPJST members are encouraged to visit the museum during the Society's 100th anniversary. (See related item
Family Fun and Important SPJST Dates June 1 June 1 June 6 - 8 June 15 July 4 July 12 - 13
Lodge 47, Seaton Homecoming Picnic Lodge 88, Houston Centennial Homecoming LIT Workshop, LaGrange Youth Leaders Quarterly Reports Due Lodge 24, Cyclone 100th Anniversary Celebration SPJST Bestfest, Bell County Expo Center, Belton For more information, please call: 1 - (800) 727-7578, and ask for: Barbecue Cookoff Information: Gene McBride Golf Tournament Information: Daryl Entrop/Keith Gatewood Tarok Tournament Information: President's Office Lodge, Youth Club and Vendor Booths: President's Office
August 2 August 3 August 23
on page two.)
SPJST State Royalty/Beseda competition SPJST State Youth Achievement Day Youth Club Officers' Workshop —SPJST-
SP. 1ST members share common bonds .
Farm families changing with the times (Editor's Note: Fraternalism emerges as a result of shared experiences. Apart from sharing a common ethnic bond, many SPJST members also share a common bond with land. Recently, the Waco Tribune-Herald featured an article on two Lodge 6, Cottonwood families and how modern times have affected their life on the farm. Thanks to State Field Representative Jerry Kucera for bringing the article to our attention and to the Waco Tribune-Herald for granting permission to reprint the article written by staff writer Brad Reagan.)
eration to other professions. "I liked it. I just thought it was the best way for me to make a living," he said. While fewer and fewer sons and grandsons of farmers are making similar choices, people who are not born into the business can rarely even afford to give it a chance. A 1993 Texas A&M University study estimated that it would cost more than $500,000 in equipment and land to start up an economically viable farming operation. "It's such a capital-intensive business;
it's awfully hard to start from scratch," said Gene Hall of the Texas Farm Bureau. It does not appear that there is much interest in trying, either. The Young Farmers' Loan Program was started in 1991 by the Texas Department of Agriculture to induce people under age 40 to get involved in farming by guaranteeing loans. In six years, the program has loaned money to seven farmers, said Beverly Boyd, spokeswoman for the department.
Farming is like an exclusive social club: You practically can't join unless your father was a member before you Dues include incurring heavy debt; working long, hard hours; and enduring volatile market and weather conditions that prohibit reliance on a steady income. Not surprisingly, membership is dwindling—American agriculture producers made up 4 percent of the population in 1975 and only 2 percent today. Most of those who remain in the business are tethered to the same land their fathers and grandfathers worked in generations past? Larry Mechell is among that group. Of the 13 farms he works, one is the 170acre plot just outside of West that his father bought, in 1946. Larry, 42, started farming soon after high school, without giving much consid-
Pictured, from left, are Lodge 6, Cottonwood members Robert and Lydia Dobecka and Joyce and Larry Mechell. Like many SPJST families, the Dobeckas and Mechells share a common bond with agriculture.
The result is that "our farm population is aging," she said. "We're all getting generations away from our agricultural heritage." Boyd cited census figures that show that in 1959, the average age of farmers was 52.5 years. By 1992, the average was up to 56.1 years. Larry is quick to say that he truly enjoys his job, but admits that recently, he has begun to wonder about his choice to follow his father's lead. "What if I had done something else? Where would I be today? Would I be better off or worse?" he asks hypothetically. "I don't know. It does seem like things are harder now." Larry and his family live on Crabb Road, named after a former county commissioner who still lives there. One road to the south, less than half a mile away, is Mechell Road where Larry and his two brothers grew up and learned farming from their father. Terry Mechell lives there now with his family. At 39, Terry Mechell is almost four years younger than Larry. He first drove a tractor at age 6 and, like his older brother, says farming was the only business he ever seriously considered. He married and developed a profitable 900-acre operation. He grew milo, corn, cotton and wheat and contentedly worked the land with his wife, Julie. Eventually, after 15 years in the business, Terry was faced with the inevitable reality that he would ,have to expand his (Continued on page 4.)