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THE I. A. A. RECORD 



Pane F^even 



,-Borgelt Tells Flood 



^ Needs of 111. Valley 



Appears Before Commission At Washing- 

 ton in Behalf of Illinois Farmers 



A plea for the inclusion of the Illi- 

 nois Valley in any national flood 

 relief plan was presented to the Flood 



Control Commis- 



Chas. Borgelt 



sion by C h a s. 

 Borgelt of Mason 

 county, r e p r e- 

 sentative for the 

 20th district on 

 the I. A. A. execu- 

 tive committee. 



Mr. Borgelt is 

 probably the best 

 informed 1 a n d- 

 owner in the Illi- 

 nois valley regard- 

 ing flood -condi- 

 tions. He has 

 been prominently 

 identifled with his local drainage dis- 

 trict since its organization in 1900. 

 Beginning with 1902, he has kept rec- 

 ords pertaining to floods in the Illinois 

 bottoms. He was one of the first to 

 recogrnize the tremendous influence of 

 water diversions from Lake Michigan 

 on Illinois floods. 



When asked by Chairman Frank 

 Reid why the Illinois Valley should be 

 included in the flood control program, 

 Borgelt replied: "Because we are 

 taking care of large quantities of 

 water resulting from reversing the 

 flow of the Chicago and Calumet 

 Rivers." 



Mr. Borgelt presented figures show- 

 ing that the Illinois River water level 

 was raised at least three feet following 

 the change in the course of the Chi- 

 «cago River. He was the official 

 representative of the Illinois Agricul- 

 tural Association at the hearing. 



Noted Speakers At -. 



j Coming A. F. B. F. Meet 



MEMBERS of the I. A. A. who 

 attend the annual convention of 

 the American Farm Bureau Federa- 

 tion, Dec. 5-6-7, at the Sherman Hotel, 

 Chicago will hear such well known men 

 as General John J. Pershing, com- 

 mander of the A. E. F. in the World 

 War, Prof. Wm. E. Dodd, foremost 

 American historian of the University 

 of Chicago, Senator Royal S. Copeland 

 of New York, Congressman Lister Hill 

 of Alabama, former governor Nellie 

 T. Ross of Wyoming, Robt. T. Bass, 

 former governor of New Hampshire 

 and others. 



The Federation is looking forward 

 to its greatest meeting. An agricul- 

 tural exposition will be held in con- 

 nection with the convention similar to 

 last year. 



The meeting will open on Monday 

 morning with general reports of 

 officers. Ex-Gov. Ross will speak 

 Tuesday morning. Senator Copeland 

 will be the banquet speaker on Tues- 

 day night, and General Pershing is 



scheduled to address the convention on 

 Wednesday morning, December 7. 



Election of officers, and the report 

 of the Resolutions Committee will take 

 place Wednesday afternoon. 



Presidents of nine state Farm Bu- 

 reau federations will talk 10 minutes 

 each on the outstanding accomplish- 

 ments of their organizations during 

 the past year. President Earl C. 

 Smith will be one of this group. T^ 



Telephone Co.'s Ask 



For Raise In Rates 



THE Cabery Telephone Co., recently 

 petitioned the Illinois Commerce 

 Commission for authority to increase 

 rural telephone rates. At the request 

 of the Ford County Farm Bureau, L. 

 J. Quasey attended the hearing when 

 it was discovered that the Telephone 

 Co. had failed to give legal notice 

 through the public press of its inten- 

 tion. 



The commission, therefore, post- 

 poned the hearing until Nov. 10. 



A similar petition was also brought 

 before the Commission the same day 

 by the Peoples Telephone Co. of Mer- 

 cer county. 



A total of 20,991,333 motor vehicles were 

 registered in the United States in the first 

 six months of 1927. 



NOVEMBER 



By MAHLON LEONARD FISHER 



HARK you such sound as 

 quivers? Kings will hear. 

 As kings have heard, and trem- 

 ble on their thrones; 

 The old will feel the weight of 

 mossy stones; 

 The young alone will laugh and 



scoff at fear. 

 It is the tread of armies marching 

 near. 

 From scarlet lands to lands for- 

 ever pale; 

 It is a bugle dying down the gale; 

 It is the sudden gushing of a tear. 

 And it is hands that grope at 

 ghostly doors; 

 And romp of spirit children on 



the pave; 

 It is the tender sighing of the 

 brave 

 Who fell, ah! long ago, in futile 

 wars; 

 It is such sound as death; and, 



after all, 

 'Tis but the forest letting dead 

 leaves fall. 



4- 



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John C W«t*an 



Freeport Officials 



Hope To Evade Law 



Tax Commission Order For Increase In 

 Assessed Valuations Causes Upheaval 



Freeport officials recently filed a 

 petition asking for a rehearing follow- 

 ing the order of the Illinois Tax Com- 

 mission directing 

 a reassessment of 

 property in the 

 Stephenson county 

 metropolis. 



The order which 

 grew out of facts 

 and figures pre- 

 sented by the 

 Stephenson Coun- 

 ty Farm Bureau 

 and the Illinois 

 Agricultural Asso- 

 ciation was made 

 for the purpose of bringing about 

 equality in taxation between farm 

 lands and city property in that 

 county. 



The records of sales revealed that 

 valuations in Freeport were 20 per 

 cent lower than farm lands, although 

 assessed valuations of lands were no 

 higher than those in other counties. 



The order resulted in an upheaval 

 of interest and sentiment pro and con 

 on tax matters, j v ;;1 ■ ■'.."* ■; 



Comment reported in the Freeport 

 Journal ^ Standard which devoted 

 column after column to the tax situa- 

 tion, was varied. One bank president 

 charticterized the order as "a fraud 

 and a conspiracy," but other business 

 men took a more rational view. 



"No doubt the tax commission was 

 correct in finding gross inequalities ifHk^ 

 the" taxation of real estate in Yre^ 

 port," said F. E. Furst, president of 

 a local manufacturing concern. 



"Reassessments have been ordered 

 in other counties," said H. A. Hillmer, 

 local grain and coal merchant, "and 

 I believe if the valuations and assess- 

 ments have not been fair they should 

 be corrected. I think the farmer has 

 proven that his taxes should be low- 

 ered." 



John C. Watson, tax director for the 

 I. A. A., presented figures showing that 

 to place farm lands on the same level 

 as city property would require an 

 average cut of 24.78 per cent in farm 

 valuations or an average increase of 

 32.94 per cent on town and city lots. 

 These figures were griven to the 

 Board of Review, but no action was 

 taken to alleviate the condition. The 

 Farm Bureau was forced to appeal to 

 the State Tax Commission. 



L. M. Swanzey, Theo. Ellis, Thomas 

 Niblo, James Daws, Harry Snyder, 

 Ray Folgate, G. A. Mitchell, Frank 

 Fleuchtling, and M, F. Koltman repre- 

 sented the Farm Bureau, and Donald 

 Kirkpatrick and John Watson the I. A. 

 A. before the Commission. 



Southern Illinois fruit and vegetable grow- 

 ers will hold a meeting at Harrisburg; Nov. 

 21-23. The annual meeting of the Illinois 

 Horticultural Society is scheduled for Dec 

 14. 15, 16 at Urbana. \ ,. 



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