{"database": "openregs", "table": "congressional_record", "rows": [["CREC-1996-10-21-pt1-PgS12455", "1996-10-21", 104, 2, null, null, "TRIBUTE TO MARSHALL B. DURBIN, SR.", "SENATE", "SENATE", "TRIBUTETO", "S12455", "S12456", "[{\"name\": \"Howell Heflin\", \"role\": \"speaking\"}]", null, "142 Cong. Rec. S12455", "Congressional Record, Volume 142 Issue 143 (Monday, October 21, 1996)\n\n[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 143 (Monday, October 21, 1996)]\n[Senate]\n[Pages S12455-S12456]\nFrom the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]\n\n                   TRIBUTE TO MARSHALL B. DURBIN, SR.\n\n Mr. HEFLIN. Mr. President, just before the sine die\nadjournment, the Alabama Business Hall of Fame at the University of\nAlabama announced that the late Marshall B. Durbin, Sr., would be\ninducted posthumously into the Alabama Business Hall of Fame. Marshall\nDurbin was the sort of business visionary blessed with the ability to\nturn his dreams into the reality of accomplishments.\n  Born to O.C. Durbin and Ola Culp Durbin February 27, 1901, in Chilton\nCounty, AL, Marshall Durbin, Sr., passed away in November 1971, leaving\nbehind him then four brothers, five sisters, a widow, a son, and what\nis now one of the top poultry companies in the United States, with\nfacilities in three States, markets as far flung as Russia and the Far\nEast, annual sales of about $200 million, and more than 2,200\nemployees.\n  To gain a more complete understanding of Marshall Durbin, Sr., it\nhelps to turn the pages of history back to the late 1920's when the\nenterprising young Alabamian--whose formal education ended at third\ngrade--moved off the family farm to the big city of Birmingham to enter\nthe real estate business. But the stock market crash of October 1929,\nfollowed by the Great Depression, led him quickly to the conclusion\nthat this would not be the most profitable course to follow. Reviewing\nhis options, Mr. Durbin decided that regardless of economic conditions,\n``People will want to eat.'' So in 1930, with $500 in funds borrowed\nfrom his bride, the late Eula Sims Durbin, he established a retail fish\nstand. Two years later, he added poultry--and a second stand.\n  From those small retail stands Marshall Durbin Cos., grew into its\npresent-day status as a vertically integrated company, complete with\nits own hatcheries, breeder flocks, contract growers, warehouses,\nprocessing plants, cooking plants, feed mills, fleet, and distribution\nfacilities. The growth in Marshall Durbin Sr.'s business was mirrored\nby that of the Alabama poultry industry, which today has a major impact\non the State's economy. By producing more than 882 million broilers, it\nprovides employment for some 55,000 Alabamians and income for almost\n4,000 farmers--and has a total industry impact of almost $7.5 billion.\n  During his years of industry leadership Mr. Durbin actively supported\norganizations that would contribute to its growth--and the growth of\nhis State. For example, he was a cofounder of the Southeastern Poultry\nand Egg Association, served as president of the Alabama Poultry\nProcessors Association and was cofounder of the Alabama Poultry\nIndustry Association. On the national level, he was a cofounder of the\nNational Broiler Council and the first president of the National\nBroiler Marketing Association, plus he served 15 years as a member of\nthe board of directors of the Institute of American Poultry Industries.\n  ``His principle business philosophy was hard work and lots of it,''\nremembers Marshall B. Durbin, Jr., who succeeded his father as head of\nMarshall Durbin Cos., after working in the business with him for many\nyears. ``In the early years, he would be on the streets making personal\ncalls to hotels and restaurants at 4 a.m.--calling on the chefs in\nperson. There was a lot of competition, and often the company that got\nthe business was the first one there. ``He always tried to be the first\none there.'' Mr. Marshall, Junior, is a very good friend of mine and we\nhave talked extensively about his father and his legacy over the years.\n\n  Another place Marshall Durbin came in first was in his belief that\nchicken could be a viable business in the South. In the pre-World War\nII era, the Midwest seemingly had a lock on the market due to the\nproducers' close proximity to ample supplies of corn and grain. Mr.\nDurbin worked long and hard to help convince railway companies to move\nto larger railcars and concurrently reduce rates, selling them on the\nargument that by the reduction they could increase volume and profits.\nThis led to a shift in agricultural economics, with the South producing\nmore chickens and the Midwest focusing its efforts on growing more corn\nand soybean to feed those chickens. He also led the way in promoting\nthe nutritional value of chicken; it was at his urging in the early\n1960's that the National Broiler Council initiated, with Kellogg's Corn\nFlakes and the Cling Peach Association a joint advertising program\ncentered around this theme and aimed at women's magazines.\n  Mr. Marshall, Junior, also remembers his father, who over the years\nfurthered his education with such readings as ``Plutarch's Lives'' and\nWill Durant's ``The Story of Civilization'', as a fair man. ``He was a\ngood leader--a fair leader. I remember him as stern but friendly. Of\ncourse as happens in most businesses we sometimes disagreed on how\nthings should be done because of the generational differences. But I\ncan remember that for a while after he died when I had a problem I\nwould still find myself getting up and going into his vacant office to\nask for advice * * * by then I had learned that his counsel was\ngenerally right.''\n  The son says he believes his father, who in his later years found\ntime for fishing and always reserved his Sundays to take his\ngranddaughters to the zoo and then out for hamburgers, would most like\nto be remembered for the way he helped set the course for the poultry\nindustry in not only Alabama and the Southeast, but in the United\nStates.\n  Perhaps Marshall Durbin, Senior's most significant legacy in that\nregard stemmed from his tenure on the U.S. Department of Agriculture\nNational Advisory Committee in the middle 1960's. At the time, the USDA\nwas in the process of introducing a proposal to impose production\nquotas and price controls on the poultry industry. Having seen what a\ndetrimental effect similar policy measures had wreaked on the cotton\nindustry, Mr. Durbin used his membership on the National Advisory\nCommittee to position himself in the leadership of the opposition to\nquotas.\n  The result of those months of work in Washington, DC, are still felt\ntoday. Thanks to the efforts of Marshall Durbin, Senior and those who\nworked with him, no lids were imposed on poultry-production, and unlike\nKing Cotton, long ago dethroned in the world market, the poultry\nbusiness has grown exponentially. For example, when Mr. Durbin went to\nWashington to first battle for this cause, the United States\n\n[[Page S12456]]\n\nwas producing 2.3 billion chickens annually, while in 1995 some 7.3\nbillion birds were produced. And over the years, Alabama has been the\nbeneficiary of much of this growth--as is evidenced by the fact it is\nnow the third largest poultry-producing State in the Nation.\n  Even 25 years ago the relevance of Marshall Durbin Senior's national\npolicy work in the District of Columbia was well known. As then said\nthe Southeastern Poultry Times, ``His influence there was credited with\nhelping to keep the poultry industry free of production and price\ncontrols and today the poultry industry is among the remaining `free\nenterprise' industries of agriculture.''\n  Around the State, his efforts were also well recognized, as evidenced\nby his 1969 induction in the Alabama Poultry Hall of Fame. And upon his\ndeath in 1971, the trade magazine ``Broiler Industry'' drew upon the\nwords of Ralph Waldo Emerson to best capture the industry leaders'\naccomplishments, writing, ``if, as Emerson said, `an institution is\nlengthened by the shadow of one man,' then Marshall Durbin, Sr., was\nsuch a man * * * he was a man who always knew where he was going, and\nhow he was going to get there--a true natural leader * * *. He was one\nof the best integrated broiler operators in the United States.''\n  But perhaps the final tribute to Marshall Durbin, Senior, is that he\ngave his vision the roots to continue to grow.\n\n                          ____________________"]], "columns": ["granule_id", "date", "congress", "session", "volume", "issue", "title", "chamber", "granule_class", "sub_granule_class", "page_start", "page_end", "speakers", "bills", "citation", "full_text"], "primary_keys": ["granule_id"], "primary_key_values": ["CREC-1996-10-21-pt1-PgS12455"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.2797701638191938, "source": "Federal Register API & Regulations.gov API", "source_url": "https://www.federalregister.gov/developers/api/v1", "license": "Public Domain (U.S. Government data)", "license_url": "https://www.regulations.gov/faq"}