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Illinoi s Agricultural Association 



Voliime 1 



S«pL 20, 1923 



Number 13 



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VALUATIONS COT 

 IN CASS COUNTY 

 AFTBi^HEARING 



Farm Lands Get 10 Percent 



Reduction; Beardstown 



Increased $226,000 



As a direct result of the hear- 

 ing before the State Commis- 

 sion in Springfield, the Cass 

 county Board of Review has an- 

 nounced a fl&t reduction in val- 

 uations of farm lands and in- 

 creases in duck lands and 

 Beardstown, township. 



"The Tax Committee of the 

 ' farm bureau In a meeting with 

 the Board of Review, secured a 

 flat reduction of 10 per cent on 

 farm lands of the county, with 

 an increase on duck land, and an 

 Increase on Beardstown township 

 of |tS6,000, over the aaseas- 

 menta of 1923." writes Vice-Pres- 

 ident J. H. Taylor, who presented 

 the farm bureau case at the 

 Springfield hearlns. 



Further Cat Promised 



"They also promised us an 

 - additional decrease of five per 

 cent on farm lands, providing the 

 tax committee of the farm bureau 

 can present figures to show that 

 the best farm lands of surround- 

 ing counties, and counties of cen- 

 tral Illinois are not assessed at a 

 valuation over $85.00 an acre." 



A full account of the situation 

 in Cass county is given in another 

 story in this issue of the Record. 



Large Supply of 

 Limestone Makes 

 Lower Quotations 



Now is an excellent time to 

 buy agricultural limestone, ac- 

 cording to the Phosphate-Lime- 

 stone department of the Illinois 

 Agricultural Association. Owing 

 to the fact that the demand has 

 been below normal for the past 

 three j.ors, due to the farmers' 

 financial condition, the quarries 

 have a large supply on hand and 

 the price now In many quarries 

 is at a point below its relative 

 share in the cost of production. 



The heavy demand for com- 

 mercial crushed stone for con- 

 crete purposes, bard road making, 

 and building construction has 

 kept the limestone quarries busy. 

 The specifications call for the 

 elimination of all fine material. 

 It is this by-product, known as 

 limeetone screenings, which is in 

 most cases well adapted for agri- 

 cultural purposes and la sold for 

 agricultural limcatoiM. 



GETTING THE CHORES DONE 



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LandValuations Decreased 

 In Seven More Counties 



Seven more county farm bu- 

 reaus have been notified of 

 changes in valuation of real 

 estate for tax purposes which 

 equalize or partly equalize the 

 inequalities in assessments. 

 They are Franklin, Richland, 

 Lawrence, Stark, Christian, 

 Clinton and Kankakee. 



The counties of Randolph and 

 Monroe have held hearings before 

 the Boards of Review since the 

 last issue of the Record. No 

 changes in valuations have been 

 announced in these counties. 

 Franklin Equalizes 



Cuts of ten to twenty per cent 

 were made in full valuations of 

 farm lands in all but one town- 

 ship of Franklin county. In that 

 township land was raised 15 per 

 cent to place it on a level with 

 the other townships. Valuations 

 of city property were increased 

 from 10 to 20 per cent. Mr. 

 Metxger. of the I. A. A. ofllce, 

 who assisted in this hearing, says 

 that these— changes come very 

 near equalizing the situation. 

 Cities Raised in Clinton 



The full valuations on farm 

 lands in Clinton county proved 

 to be about 50 per cent of the 

 sales values, and the full valua- 

 tions of city property about 40 

 per cent of the sales values. Be- 

 fore the farm bureau made an 

 investigation last spring, the as- 

 iMs^on were tnstracted to make 



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a cut of 10 per cent on land. The 

 result' was that a number of as- 

 sessors also made a similar cot 

 on city property. 



The Board of Review has noti- 

 fied the farm bureau that an in- 

 crease had been made in every 

 city except New Baden and Tren- 

 ton. The reduction of 10 per 

 cent niade in land last spring was 

 left the same. 



In Richland 



In Richland County the farm 

 bureau investigation gave a basis 

 for the Board of Review to make 

 changes, however. Farm Adviser 

 W. B. Bunn states that the Board 

 was rather favorable to the farm- 

 er. "It was found that the as- 

 sessed value in eaeb case was 

 practically equal, it b^ing approxi- 

 mately 63 per cent of the actual 

 sales values," writes Mr. Bunn. 

 "Mr. Metzger thought that this 

 county was perhaps paying an 

 excessive state tax. He recom- 

 mended that the assessed value 

 of farm lands be cut to aproxi- 

 mately $20,000 in this county. 

 They were reduced from a gen- 

 eral average of aproxlmately 

 )25.00 to a fraction over $22.00 

 bj^the board." 



^~~~~I^wrence Gets Ont 



In the S^tember 6 issue of the 

 Record it was stated by mistake 

 that Lawrence county was equal- 

 ized. The figures used for Law- 

 (Continued on page <> 



Exchange Sells 

 Peaches Higher 

 Than Growers 



Manager A. B. Leeper reports 

 that the SoDthem IllinoiB Fruit 

 Growers' Bxehange sold sixty car- 

 loads of peaches this year. Last 

 year the Ebuhange sold 400 eai^ 

 loads. The explanation of this 

 big difference is in the sise of the 

 crop, says Mr. Leeper. He states 

 that the crop wss very light; 

 bowever, the Eixehange had the 

 same number of shippers as last 

 year. 



Prices secured by the Bxehange 

 ranged from $3.00 to $3.40 a 

 bushel at the shipping point- 

 Speculators or track buyers of- 

 fered $1.75 to $2.75 a bushel, 

 reports Mr. Leeper. Ttie selling 

 charge to members was 15 cents 

 a bushel. The bulk of the crop 

 was sold in Kentucky, Tennessee, 

 Indiana, Illinois and Ohio. 



SERES DISTRICT 

 CONFERENCES Will 

 STARTJINSEPT. 2S 



Farm Bureau Policies To •• 



Discussed By Officers 



and Advisers 



FEEDIN8 TRANSIT 

 RATES SECURED BY 

 I.A.A. DEPARTMENT 



After the request had b«en 

 made by R. Q. Hinch, Marseil- 

 les, representing sheep feeders 

 of that locality, that the I. A. A. 

 Transportation Department 

 take action to secure a feeding 

 transit rate on the Chicago, 

 Rock Island, and Pacific Rail- 

 road on feeder sheep shipped to 

 that point from western states 

 the Department secured a spe- 

 cial rate, not only to Marseilles 

 but to all points on the Rock Is- 

 land in Illinois, intermediate to 

 Chicago. 



The rate applies to both feeder 

 sheep and cattle and will result in 

 a saving of 13 cents per hundred 

 or approximately $15 per ear on 

 single and $28 on double deck 

 shipments of live stock fed In 

 transit. The total savlqg wlB 

 amount to quite a large sum, as 

 5,000 feeder sheep will be pur- 

 chased by Marseilles farmers 

 alone, It la stated. 



Feeder stock may now be rated 

 from point of origin to Chicago, 

 unloaded on Illinois points on 

 the Rock Island In IIUboIs Inter- 

 mediate to Chicago, ted for the 

 period of 4k year or less, and re- 

 loaded for the market at an addi- 

 tional charge of 8% cents per 

 hundred, which covers transit 

 pririleges. Prevlone to the re- 

 duction, farmers would have had 

 [to pay iiyk cents per hundred 

 for .reloa^nc . ' 



A series of district conler- 

 cnces to ettaWish a better un- 

 derstanding of the problems 

 confronting farm bureaus aiul 

 the I. A. A. wili-be held in 

 each of the Fifteen Congres- 

 sional Districts starting Septera 

 ber 26 and ending October 26. 

 These meietings will be in 

 charge ofi President 8. H. 

 Thompson,! Secretary George A. 

 Fox, and o^her I. A. A. officials. 



Policies, Relationships, and pro- 

 gram of w*rk of the county bu- 

 reaus and Istate association will 

 constitute (he scope of the ooa- 

 ferenees. frhe marketing prob- 

 lem and th4 relation of both farta 

 bureaus an|l the I. A. A. to co- 

 operative Commodity marketing 

 enterprises iwill receive major at- 

 tention on ieach day's program. 



Walton i>eteet. Director of Co- 

 operative llarketing for the A. 

 F. B. F., Mil attend the meet- 

 ings to l^ad marketing discus- 

 sions. It Is likely that Aaron 

 Sapiro. CJ>-operative Marketing 

 Counsel fok- the A. F. B. F., will 

 speak at 4ae or two of the as- 

 semblies. 



All cotti^y farm bureau offleers 

 and execuiive committees, voting 

 delegates, Ifarm advisers, co-oper- 

 ative marketing organization of- 

 ficers andi managers, and others 

 interested jwill attend the confei^ 

 enoes in tleir respective districts. 



The vaHous district meetings 

 will be h41d at the farm bureau 

 offices in the respective places 

 designated at 10 a. m. of the 

 days scbe<^uled. except at Carbon- 

 dale, whe^e the' conference will 

 be at' the INormal School, and at 

 Centralto ju the Pittlnger hotel. 



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PUBLlCrrV CXJXFKRHNCK 



State tttrm bureau publicity di- 

 rectors ii,\\\ meet at American 

 Farm" Bateau Headquarters, Chi- 

 cago, September 20, 21, and 22, 

 primarily to establish poBciea of 

 the farm! bureau in relation to 

 motion pictures. , Other matten 

 of bnreati publicity work wUI be 



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