ECORD 



reasons 



THE I. A. A. RECORD 



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Pajfe Seven 



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i?adisSi:eW5 



The daily farm program of the I. A. A. from 

 Station WJJD, Mooseheart (265 meters) is 

 broadcast between 12:30-12:45 p. m. Monday 

 to Friday inclusive. Hear the daily Chicago 

 livestock market from the Producers, and each 

 Friday the weekly market review. Outlook 

 reports, reviews, and talks by I. A. A. staff 

 members, officials, and leaders in farm tboufht 

 are broadcast daily. . . 



THE I. A. A. Forum from 

 Station WLS, Chicago, 

 will be held at 6:30 to 7:00 p. 

 m. on Thursday nights instead 

 of Wednesdays, beginning May 

 2. The change was made neces- 

 sary because of the inaugura- 

 tion of so-called daylight savings 

 time in Chicago, May 1. The 

 programs will be broadcast at 

 6:30 central standard time, 

 which will be 7:30 Chicago time. 



The proposed dairymen's co-opera- 

 tive bargaining association on the St. 

 Louis milk market was outlined in a 

 radio talk by E. G. Thiem, director 

 of information, from Station KWK, 

 St. Louis, on Monday, April 8, at 6:00 

 p. m. 



A history of co-operative live-stock 

 marketing development in Warren 

 county was scheduled to be broad- 

 cast on the I. A. A. Forum from WLS 

 Wednesday 6:30 April 17, by the War- 

 ren County Farm Bureau. 



Knute Espe, secretary of the Iowa 

 Co-operative Live Stock Shippers of 

 Des Moines, declined an invitation to 

 take the negative side of the ques- 

 tion "Resolved that Direct Shipping 

 of Live Stock is Against the Farmers' 

 Interests" in a debate proposed for 

 the I. A. A. Forum from Station WLS. 



Lee Highlen, director of live-stock 

 marketing in Indiana, stated that he 

 could not accept the invitation to de- 

 bate the affirmative side of the ques- 

 tion. "There is a serious question in 

 my mind about this whole problem," 

 said Espe. "I question whether it 

 would do much good and I fear it 

 might do considerable harm. I feel 

 that I should not debate this question 

 over the radio." 



"Mr. Wm. H. Malone, 

 Chicago, Illinois. 



"I am writing to express our ap- 

 preciation of your fine talk from WLS 

 on the I. A. A. program Wednesday 

 evening, March 27. You have many 

 friends in Champaign county who re- 

 member with pleasure the fine address 

 you gave us down here last spring. We 

 hope to hear you again in some of the 

 radio programs and also wish you the 



Regulate Strip Mines 



Is Plea At Hearing 



Fulton County Farm Bureau and 

 I. A. A. Represent Landowners 



Donald Kirkiwtrick 



\ HEARING before the Senate Com- 



-'*- mittee on Mines and Mining held 



at Springfield on April 10 resulted in 



a sharp clash be- 



ttween land owners, 

 farmers, and their 

 represent a- 

 tives from Fulton 

 county, and repre- 

 sentatives of the 

 United Electric 

 Coal Company, strip 

 mine operators. 

 Senate BiU No. 

 295, introduced by 

 Senator Jewell of 

 Fulton county, was 

 responsible for the 

 hearing. This bill 

 provides that whenever any person 

 engaged in "open cut" or "strip" min- 

 ing removes the surface soil over or 

 covering a vein of coal, then removes 

 the coal, he shall within 90 days there- 

 after replace tfie surface soil so re- 

 moved in the hole or hollow from 

 which it and the coal were taken, and 

 "shall spread such soil over the entire 

 hole or hollow so that the surface 

 thereof is level." 



Around Cuba in Fulton county as 

 well as in other sections, strip mines 

 which leave the area in a devastated 

 and unsightly condition are causing 

 no end of complaint from people liv- 

 ing in such communities. Thousands 

 of acres are being laid waste and after 

 the soil is piled up in hills and ridges 

 varying from 10 to 30 feet high, the 

 coal operators move out and the areas 

 thus affected are made useless and un- 

 taxable. 



Would Have Claa«e 

 The proposed bill would compel the 

 insertion of a clause in all contracts 

 providing for strip mining whereby 

 the mining company agrees to replace 

 or level off surface soil removed in un- 

 covering veins of coal, into the depres- 

 sions or hollows left after the mining 

 operation is completed. 



In defending the bill Senator Jewell 

 stated that habitation in such areas is 

 made undesirable, the value of adjoin- 

 ing property is depreciated in value, 

 and the land forever after is made 

 non-productive and a total loss>to the 

 community. Harry Leeper, a director 

 in the Fulton County Farm Bureau, 

 Farm Adviser John Watt, and John 

 Lingenfelter all appeared in defense 

 of the measure. 



Mr. Lingenfelter's testimonial was 

 especially effective. He described such 

 mining operations as "wanton waste." 

 "I have never seen an3rthing so deso- 

 late in all my travels over the Country 

 as an area that has been laid waste 

 by these strip mining operations," said 

 Lingenfelter. "If we needed this coal 

 there might be some reason for it. 

 But we don't need it. There is plenty 



greatest success in helping work out 

 the tax problems. 



ROY MITCHELL, Sec'y., 

 Champaign County Farm Bureau." 



of coal without this strip mined coal. 

 The strip operators are ruthlessly tear- 

 ing up the country simply to make 

 money. They destroy valuable agri- 

 cultural land and are ruining the coun- 

 tryside. Community life is disrupted 

 and destroyed and adjoining property 

 loses its attractiveness and value be- 

 cause no one wants to live in a com- 

 munity where the land has been cut 

 up by strip mine operations." 



Study the Problem ' 

 Donald Kirkpatrick, legal counsel 

 for the Illinois Agricultural Associa- 

 tion, declared that a number of com- 

 plaints of like nature had come to the 

 I. A. A. from over the state. "It be- 

 hooves the legislature to study this 

 problem," said Mr. Kirkpatrick, "as a 

 matter of public policy." Mr. Kirk- 

 patrick stated that a report issued by 

 the U. S. Bureau of Mines on the 

 question of strip mining called atten- 

 tion to the menace created by such op- 

 erations and of the advisability of 

 strip operators to work out this prob- 

 lem in the interest of the public good 

 or they might expect regulatory meas- 

 ures to compel them to level off the 

 ground. 



"The constitution grants and holds 

 inviolate the property rights of its citi- 

 zens," said Kirkpatrick, "but would it 

 not be against the public interest if 

 we allowed our state or great areas of 

 it to be turned upside down and laid 

 waste by a process such as that being 

 carried out in Fulton county?" 



10c a Ton Cost 



It was brought out in the discussion 

 that the cost of replacing the over- 

 burden would add only 10 cents a ton 

 to the cost of coal so mined. Strip 

 mining lands in Fulton county have 

 returned 7000 to 8000 tons of coal to 

 the acre. One mine operator digs out 

 around 2000 tons of coal a day. 



Representatives of the coal com- 

 pany and witnesses testified that re- 

 forestation is the solution to this prob- 

 lem. The Indiana State Forester testi- 

 fied that evergreen trees are being 

 planted on the hills and ridges left 

 by strip mining (derations in southern 

 Indiana. President Swallow of the 

 coal company, asserted that it was 

 more important to produce wood for 

 future operations than to retain the 

 agricultural nature of strip coal mines. 

 Former Senator Thurlow Essington 

 acted as counsel for the coal company. 



The bill was voted down in com- 

 mittee although it was apparent that 

 many senators present favored a study 

 of the problem with the idea of pass- 

 ing regulatory measures later if nec- 

 essary. 



In Brief 



New Illinois farm advisers are H. R. 

 Brunnemeyer, former instructor in ag- 

 riculture at Yorkville, who goes to Jo 

 Daviess county, and S. F. Turner, vo- 

 cational agrricultural teacher at El 

 Paso, who succeeds Mr. Allison in Liv- 

 ingston county. E. A. Bierbaum, for- 

 mer assistant adviser, returned re- 

 cently as adviser in Union county. 



R. J. Laible reported, April 3, that 

 much of the wheat in Marshall and 

 Putnam countie9 was in a critical con- 

 dition. A number of fields showed only 

 a 50 per cent stand. 



