t 30, 1984 



EP 



TFROM 

 CT MEET ^1 



Bureau ( 

 i ( c u I * 

 k;Boi«t I 



•T. B. 



•ain wasn't 

 irm bureau 



n and dele- 

 he 2l8t diB- 

 TaylorvlUe, 

 wo farmers 

 ilontgomery, 

 [on counties 

 n their cars 



Taylorville 



surer of the 

 talk in the 

 the present 

 Marlccting 

 ition of the 

 big merger. 

 000 Illinois 

 , the I. A. A. 

 leutral and 

 )n the new 

 id. A thor- 

 the best 

 _ is now be- 

 eiation. This 

 as a matter 

 ;tice and not 

 intention of 

 I. members 

 apany. 



meeting the 

 au boosters 

 al farm bu- 

 ! Methodist 

 as "on" the 

 rm Bureau, 



ce of the at- 

 . Cowies re- 

 tion of the 

 Agriculture, 

 lose of the 

 economic 

 re with cap- 

 widely scat- 

 he industry, 

 liTiduals in- 

 >088ibility of 

 ere given by 

 reasons why 

 been uni&ed 

 ipital. 



to overcome 

 on to uniflca- 

 rotection for 

 r and capital 

 laws which 

 !te in Amerl- 

 U. 



Service 



jcutive com- 

 21st district, 

 es of the I. 

 t farmers of 

 le sentiment 

 ission which 

 equlre more 

 n the I. A. 

 departments 

 ; additional 

 ects. 



•a. testing for 

 .de by county 

 t Montgomery 

 ery of Chris- 

 rs who took 

 sion of the 

 ion problems 

 trsing a con- 

 paign against 



names were 

 the roll call: 



. F. Leeper, C. 

 J. P. Enslow. 

 Dews. Q. W. 

 ihultz. C. M. 

 H. W. Rels. 

 iates. Total 13. 

 : R. E. Glfford. 

 Lingle. Walter 

 r. W. H. Turn- 

 oward Turner, 

 resB. Dr. Geo. 

 nd wife, M. E. 

 tal 15. 



John Stout, F. 

 in. A. D. Van 

 }od and wife, 



r. 



31enn Hunter. 

 ^. Wacker. M. 

 art. T. A. Os- 

 ordon, Elmer 

 Wm. Pearson, 



Gebhart. Nel- 



Munzenmaier. 



Rayhlll, C. B. 

 d. Wm. Shan- 

 E. E. McVlck- 

 y Beaty, Wm. 



Andrew Bur- 

 . E. Hay, L. E. 

 i, H. S. Arm- 

 r, Wm. Ensel- 

 ^. Mateer. Wm. 

 Montgomery, 



■^^I 'vNT&yn 

 ' SI owmi do i.xi s-di Aiwn . ..,. 



Volume 2 



bsued Every Other Saturday — Septonber 13, 1924 



Number 18 



FARMERS PAY 70 

 PER CENT SCHOOL 

 TAX, SURVEY SHOWS 



I. A. A. Investigate* 200 Du- 



tricU; Send 10,000 Que^ 



tionaires To Determine 



Rural Viewpoint 



That fully 70 per cent of the 

 community and township high 

 school taxes in Illinois is paid by 

 farmers is information disclosed 

 by a. report covering an all-sum- 

 mer sur\'ey of the Illinois farm- 

 ers' educational problem made by 

 the Illinois Agricultural Associa- 

 tion in co-operation with the Illi- 

 nois ESducational Commission which 

 was created by the Illinois legis- 

 lature to go over the entire school 

 situation, make investigations, 

 formulate recommendations and 

 report its findings to the next 

 meeting of the General Assembly. 



The report, which draws this 

 particular information from the 

 books of county clerks in 35 

 counties, further shows that al- 

 though Illinois farmers pay 70 

 per cent of the community and 

 township high school taxes, they 

 furnish but 40 per cent of the 

 high school pupils. The 35 coun- 

 ties where investigations were 

 made represent fully one-half of 

 the community and township high 

 schools in the state. 



Survey Not Complete 



Out of the 100 school districts 

 reported upon, three districts 

 showed that city people paid more 

 than their proportionate share of 

 the taxes. Only three showed ur- 

 ban and country folks paying 

 equally. In the 94 remaining dis- 

 tricts, the farmers paid much 

 more than their share as is indi- 

 cated by the 70 per cent average 

 for the 100 districts reported 

 upon. Further information will 

 be available when data is sum- 

 marized on another 100 school 

 districts investigated this sum- 

 mer, although the first 100 is 

 taken as representative of the 

 entire state. 



It was the aim of the Illinois 

 Agricultural Association, through 

 its educational committee consist- 

 ing of J. L. Whisnand, Charles- 

 ton, chairman: A. C. Everingham, 

 Hutsonville and E. W. Rusk of 

 Carlinville, to determine where 

 and bow the farmer stands on the 

 school question. 



Use 10,000 Questionaires 



Ten thousand questionaires 

 were mailed to Illinois farm bu- 

 reau members in 94 counties of 

 the state by Dr. G. W. Wlllett, 

 superintendent of the Lyons 

 County High School at La Grange, 

 111., who was employed to manage 

 the investigation in connection 

 with certain research work of his 

 at the University of Michigan. In 

 addition, a University of Chicago 

 student in education, C. B. Al- 

 thaus, was engaged to investigate 

 personally the farmers' angle by 

 visiting as many school districts 

 as possible during the summer. 



He investigated nearly 200 

 school districts in 35 counties 

 ranging from Pulaski in the south 

 to the Wisconsin line in the north. 

 With his personal invesfigatlons 

 plus a htgh percentage of returns 

 from the 10,000 queries to farm- 

 ers furnishing authentic data, the 

 report is given high praise by W. 

 W. Lewton, chairman of the Illi- 

 nois Educational Commission, as 

 being the most complete and ob- 

 viously valuable information ever 

 obtained on the Illinois educa- 

 tional situation. 



Problems Interest Farmers 



In summarizing the informa- 

 tion revealed by the questionaires 

 sent to farmers. Dr. Wlllett set 

 down the following points: 

 (Continued on pftge 4) 



HOW THE I. A. A. PROCEEDS 



Farmers' Auditing 

 Co-op Establishes 

 Spring^eld Branch 



On Sept. 1 the Illinois Agri- 

 cultural Co-operatives .Association, 

 the farmers co-operative audit- 

 ing company, opened in the Sang- 

 amon County Farm Bureau office, 

 in Springfield, the first of several 

 district offices which are to be 

 established throughout the state. 



The opening of the branch office 

 in Springfield is in keeping witli 

 a plan to c<>ntralize activities of 

 the auditing association by dis- 

 tricts, according to Geo. R.TVick- 

 er, general manager of the co-op. 

 Organization by districts will also 

 minimize traveling expenses in- 

 curred in the routine of making 

 audits for farmers' co-operatives. 



The I. A, C, A. headquarters 

 will remain permanently in Chi- 

 cago. Since its organization the 

 association has directed opera- 

 tions from its central office with 

 the I. A. A. 



With the membership of the 

 auditing co-operative now past 60, 

 more farmers' organizations are 

 making application for the serv- 

 ice. As development makes it 

 necessary other district offices will 

 be established, until every section 

 of the state has the services of 

 expert auditing and accounting, 

 according to Mr. Wicker. A 

 branch office will be opened in 

 the northwest district sometime 

 this fall, probably at Ro«kford or 

 Freeport. 



F. .*. Gougler, director of the 

 poultry and egg marketing de- 

 partment is the proud father of 

 Mr. Gougler, Jr., a recent arrival 

 at the Gougler home. Thanks for 

 the cigars, old top! 



Four and one-half per rent is 



the new rate that intermediate 

 credit banks will charge co-op- 

 erative marketing associations. 



I.A.A. SPEAKERS HND 

 FARM BUREAU SPIRIT 

 RUNS AT HIGH LEVEL 



Thompson, Everingham, Bar- 

 ton and Metzger Talk At i 

 Many Meetings; Baseball : 

 Is Feature 



Four speakers. President Sam 

 H. Thompson, Quincy: Frank D. 

 Barton, Cornell; A. C. Evering- 

 ham, Hutsonville; and G. E. Meti- 

 ger. I. A. A. organization director, 

 have spoken at more Farm Bu- 

 reau picnics than any other fox^r 

 men in the state, judging frofti 

 the I. A. A. speakers bureau date 

 list. 



Farm Bureau picnic attendanoe 

 has l)een larger this year, on tlie 

 average, than tor any year ac- 

 cording to A. C. Everingham. 



"Baseball has been a popular 

 feature this year," said Mr. Ever- 

 ingham. "The crowds, taken as 

 a whole, have been the largest; I 

 have ever had. 



•'I don't think tlio spirit and morale 

 of the Farm Bureau was ever bet- 

 ter than was indicated at the pic- 

 nics at whicli I Bpolte," he said, i 



Mr. Everin.gham has spoken at 12 

 county picnics and has three still 

 on his list. 



His picnics have l>een as follows: 



Ettiaiatad 



Date Caunty Town AtttntfauM 



Jul.v 4— La Salle— Ottawa J.OtO 



Aueiiat 14 — Calhonn— Hardin 2.r*o 



ir — Greene— Whitehall l.SBO 



in— Knox— Galeaburg (S.OiM 



cars) SO.OpO 



21 — Cumberland — Greenup . . . wn 



»!— Menard— Old Salem 1.3)0 



£3 — Henderson— Burlinftton, 



Iowa l.-TDC 



27- Gallatin— Rldjrway :!.C|00 



28 — JaclEson — Murphy8lK>rt> . . 3.000 



29— Warren- Monmouth a.dOO 



3fl — Brovn — Mt. Sterling i.m 



Sept. li — Hancock — Carthase — |— 



17— DeWltt— Clinton 



27 — Mercer— Aledo i 



rresident Sam H. Thompson has 



spoken at three county pl<-nic8 as 



follows: EatiiaatM 



Data Couaty Taoa AttM<a«e« 



August 20 — \S'hlteslde — Morrison S.iJOO 



27 — Lawrence — ^Bridgpolt . . -.»— 



28 — Coles — Charleston — , — 



(Continued on page 4) 



Springfield Milk 

 Co-op Prepares For 

 Marketing Contract 



At a recent meeting of the 

 organizing board of directors of 

 the Springfield Co-operative Milk 

 Producers Association a set of 

 by-laws and a marketing agree- 

 ment were considered and adopt- 

 ed. A. D. Lynch, director of the 

 I. A. A. dairy marketing depart- 

 ment met with the board and 

 assisted in analyzing and explain- 

 ing the practical working princi- 

 ples of a marketing agreement. 



The association is not yet in- 

 corporated and will not be chart- 

 ered until a certain number of 

 producers, representing a major- 

 ity of the milk tributaries to the 

 Springfield market, have signed 

 the association agreement and 

 taarketing contract. 



The milk producers at Spring- 

 field lia\e been organized in- 

 foniially for the last five years, 

 according to Mr. Lynch, who be- 

 lieves thoroughly in the princi- 

 ple of "looking before leaping" in 

 organizing co-operative associa- 

 tions. In this time they have 

 learned to work together, have 

 developed leadership and have 

 learned that their organization 

 was not quite solid enough to 

 give the best results. With the 

 period of experimenting safely 

 passed, Mr. Lynch believes the 

 Springfield dairymen are ready 

 for a new, closely unified co-op- 

 erative under the co-operative 

 marketing act. 



PEORU couimr tax 



HGHT RAGES WHILE 

 CUT IS "PENDING" 



City-Manned Board of Review 



Distrusts Watson's Figures; 



He Offers to Leave Data 



With a Conunittee 



The Twin City Milk Prodncers 



Association, a farmers' coopera- 

 tive which pools more than 80 

 per cent of the milk produced in 

 the Twin City section, recently 

 made contracts with all the dis- 

 tributors of St. Paul and Minne- 

 apolis, under which the pool will 

 supply all ' the milk used by the 

 distributors. 



The battle between the Peoria 

 County Farm Bureau and the 

 Board of Review wages merrily 

 on. The Board of Review has 

 fired a volley at the Peoria County 

 Farm Bureau in the city newspa- 

 pers in an effort to win public, 

 and especially city, favor. The 

 Peoria County Farm Bureau, in 

 turn, has stated its position 

 through the newspapers of the 

 county; but the 11 per cent re- 

 duction on farm land valuations is 

 still "pending." The Board of 

 Review consists of three city men. 



Auk 11 Per Cent Cut 



Following an investigation by 

 John C. Watson, I. A. A. statisti- 

 cian and authority on taxes. In 

 which careful comparison of sales 

 values of city and country real es- 

 tate in Peoria county were made, 

 the Peoria County Farm Bureau 

 asked the Board of Review for an 

 11 per cent average cut IVi the as- 

 sessed valuations on farm land£. 

 This reduction in rural land val- 

 uation was calculated to equalize 

 taxes on town lots and countrj' 

 lands. 



ElBht)-flve members of the 

 Farm Burea*i filed legal com- 

 plaints against' the unjust differ- 

 ence in real estate values and were 

 later called in before the Peoria 

 County Board of Review for hear- 

 ings. In the hearing before the 

 Board these men stated that their 

 complaint was that the scale of 

 valuations between city real estate 

 and farm land was not equal for 

 taxation purposes. 



The Board of Review challenged 

 the difference of 11 per cent as 

 stated in the complaints filed bv 

 Farm Bureau members and asked 

 Mr. Watson to return and explain 

 his method of measuring the dis- 

 parity. On the first available date. 

 Aug. 15, he returned to Peoria for 

 this purpose, but found that the 

 Board of Review had arranged to 

 be in the country that day. He 

 appeared again on Aug. 19, which 

 was the first of- two days when 

 land owners who had filed com- 

 plaints Were called in bv the 

 Board. 



Watxon Exidains Method 



In showing how he arrived at 

 his conclusions, Mr. Watson cited 

 opinions from leading authorities 

 on property tax, and the practice 

 of tax administrators in Connecti- 

 cut, Wisconsin, Kansas and other 

 states. The same method was in 

 use in Illinois under former Gov- 

 ernor Lowden's administration. 

 Mr. Watson contended that the 

 method used by the Farm Bureau 

 was the only one which avoided 

 estimates of values by persons 

 who were thinking of tax valua- 

 tions when they made their esti- 

 mates, that if fairly used it would 

 disclose the facts with approxi- 

 mate accuracy, and that the Farm 

 Bureati. and the Illinios Agricul- 

 tural Association had used thip 

 method fairly. 



SavlBK of •le.SOO 



The fact is that for stale ai.. 

 county taxes alone, allowinir for ai 

 increaae in county rates sufflrient t. 

 produce the same amount of t«v 

 Ll!r '!*'' ,'''^";f "' >*'"■' to land own- 

 t^Ll",^""''''^ county which would 

 come from an average reduction of 

 11 per cent in valuation, of farro 

 lands would amount to more tkVl^ 



*,l*JZi.'^l. "*»■• •" P^rTa-'coin" 



farmera. Nor would savlnr h« « 



.trlcted to Stat. and"cou„'ty'";.rd; 



(CoDtiQuftd on pafa s> 



