Page Four 



,:-\ ' ,-•--1-1, 

 THE I. A. A. RECORD 



N 



I LIjINOIS 



CCLTlIBAt. ASSOCIA 



RECORiy 



T9 mJaanca th* purpoma for tmhich thm Farm Buraau wa» organifd, 

 natnmty to promott, protmet and raproMont th* fcu«uicn, economic, 

 poiitlcml, mnd mducational inimrmtia of thm farmmrm of tilinoia and the 

 nation^ and to dm0*lop agrieulturm, 



Pablished one* > month at 404 North Wesley Ave., Mount Morris, 

 Illinois, by the Illinois AKricaltural Association. Entered as second- 

 class matter October 20, 1B2S, at the post office at Mount Morris, 

 Illinois, under the Act of March S, 187t. Accepted for mailinK at 

 special rate of postace provided for in Section 412, Act of February 

 28, 1925, authorized October 27, 1926. The individual membership 

 fee of the Illinois Agricultural Association is five dollars a year. The 

 fee includes payment of fifty cents for subscription to the Illinois 

 Aqricultubal Association Eioobo. Postmaster: In retnmins an un- 

 called for or missent copy pleas* indicate key number on address as 

 is required by law. 



OFFICERS 



President, Earl C. Smith 



Vice-President, Frank D. Barton 



Secretary, Geo. E. Matzcer 



Treasurer, R. A. Cowl** _ 



Detroit 



Cornell 



Chlcac* 



..BlaMBlastoB 



EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 

 (Bjr Collar— atonal District) 



1st to llth.. 



12th 



13th 



14th 



ISth 



18th 



17th 



Uth 



19th 



20th _ 



21st 



22ad 



23rd 



24th 



25th 



H. C. Vial, Downers Grove 



.„ a F. TuUock, Rockford 



...C. E. Bamborouth, Polo 



-M. G. Lambert, Ferris 



JL N. Skinner, Yatos City 

 A. R. Wrif ht, Vema 



..Geo. J. Stoll, Chestnut 



R. F. Karr, Iroquob 



C. J. Gross, Atwood 



..Charles S. Black, Jacksonville 



^..Jamuel Sorrall*, Raymond 



,. Frank Oezner, Waterloo 



..W. L. Cope, Salem 



..Charles Marshall, Belknap 



..Fred Dietz, D* Soto 



E 



DIRECTORS OF DEPARTMENTS 



ComplroUer „..^ J. H. Kelker 



Dairy Marketing ^ .^A. D. Lynch 



Floance. 



Fruit and VefetabU Mark*tia«. 



Grain Marketing 



Information _._ 



Insurance Service «.. 



Legal Counsel 



Limestone-Phosphate 



Live Stock Markatiag 



Office 



Organization „.««.«.,. 



Produce Marketing „™„...„ 



Taxation and Statistics.^. 



Transportation 



..Jt. A. Cmrlas 



A. B. Leeper 



■Harrison Fahrnkopf 



George Thieoi 



V. Vanlman 



..Donald Kirkpatrick 



J. R. Bent 



Ray E. MlUar 



C. E. Johnston 



. G. E. Metzg*r 



F. A. Gougler 



J. C. Watson 



X. J. Quaa*y 



SUBSIDLUIY ORGANIZATIONS 



Country Life Insurance Co J. I_ A. Williams, Mgr. 



Illinois Agricultural Co-operatiT*s Aas'n..: F. E. Ringham, Mgr. 



Illinois Agricultural Mutual Inaurmnca CaL. .A. E. Richardson, Mgr. 



Illinois Farm Supply Co L L. R. Marchant, Mgr. 



Ci!r.7'.'.'.X E 



Taxation And The Law 



' I ''HE old time-worn complaint of financial hardship, great expense. 

 -^ closing the schools, cutting off of widow and blind pensions, and 

 delay in collecting taxes is brought up by local officials in Franklin 

 and Williamson counties in answer to the recent order of reassessment 

 issued by the Illinois Tax Commission. 



Plenty of excuses are offered for lettini; the old inequalities remain, 

 but not one sound argument is advanced as to why the law which 

 states that "all persons shall pay a tax according to the value of his 

 or her property," should not be obeyed. 



The Tax Commission during the incunibency of its able chairman, 

 William H. Malone, has endeavored to see that this law is carried out 

 impartially on real estate. It has consistently ordered reassessments to 

 destroy favoritism anu tax racketeering when facts brought before it 

 justified such action. 



Local officials in Franklin and Williamion counties have had every 

 opportunity to challenge successfully the evidence df gross inequalities 

 in assessments uncovered by the Farm Bureau and Illinois Agricultural 

 Association. Farmers in these counties have been patient, the Tax Com- 

 mission has been patient. But up to date there has been no refutation 

 of the data gathered from representative iales of farm lands and city 

 property in the official county records. 



As a result the Tax Commission did the only thing it could do under 

 the circumstances. It ordered a reassessment that equality may prevail 

 as required by law. 



Local assessors and the board of review have chosen to disregard the 



only accepted measure of values, namely selling price at a fair sale of 

 the property taxed. Perhaps for political purposes or some more sinis- 

 ter reason, property in certain cities is favored. 



The facts reveal that there are glaring inequalities in assessments 

 in these counties. Property in a number of small cities and villages as 

 well as farm lands are assessed decidedly higher, as measured by the 

 only legal yardstick, than property in the protected and favored cities 

 such as West Frankfort, Benton, Christopher, Carterville, Herrin, Hurst, 

 Johnson City, and Marion. Property owners in Buckner, Sesser, and 

 Ziegler in Franklin county, and Creal Spring*. Pittsburg, and White Ash 

 in Williamson county, have even more cause to complain than land- 

 owners, so this is not a fight between country and city. It is a demand 

 for the elimination of inequalities, and the restoration of honesty and 

 fairness in assessments. 



The boards of review in these counties can still wipe out the illegal 

 discrepancies in valuations without going to the trouble of reassessing 

 each piece of property. The Tax Commission will probably be glad to 

 order the boards of review to reconvene, as it has power to do, for the 

 purpose of equalizing valuations. Had the local officials shown any 

 disposition to act on the information provided more than two years 

 ago the matter never would have been presented to the State Tax Com- 

 mission. If there is any inconvenience, delay, or extra expense involved 

 in the collection of taxes the blame rests solely on the shoulders of the 

 county officials who refused to do their duty. The honest, law-abiding 

 citizens of Illinois can be thankful that they have a court of last resort 

 in the Tax Commission to protect their rights. 



International Time 



LJUNDREDS of Illinois Farm Bureau members will be in Chicago 

 '- -*~ the week beginning Dec. 2 for the fat stock and hay and grain 

 show. That will be a good time to visit the I. A. A. offices. Country 

 Life, the Illinois Agricultural Mutual, and the Farmers Mutual Re- 

 insurance companies, all at 608 So. Dearborn St. The Pure Milk As- 

 sociation has offices in the same building. 



The Soybean Marketing Association directors will meet in the I. A. A. 

 offices on Wednesday, Dec. 4. Growers who happen to be in the city 

 that day are invited to attend. .,. 



Direct Marketing 1,000 Years Ago 



TTOW little times change — in some ways. A practice comparable 

 -*■-'- to direct marketing of the present day was forbidden as long ago 

 as 980 A. D. An editorial in a recent issue of Wallaces' Farmer quoted 

 from the old Roman code of regulations governing the activities of 

 mechanics and tradespeople in the city of Constantinople, at that time 

 under the rule of the Roman Empire. The regulation provided that 

 "The butchers shall not go out to meet the drovers who bring in their 

 flocks for sale either in Nicomedia or in other cities beyond the San- 

 garious ... in order that they may buy the meat more cheaply and the 

 due profit may fall to those who slaughter the sheep and not to the 

 drovers." 



It is apparent that even at that early day the evils of a marketing 

 system wherein the buyers controlled the system and the sellers ex- 

 ercised little, if any, control were recognized. In those ancient times the 

 "drovers" were at the mercy of the "butchers" when they sold as indi- 

 viduals out in the country before reaching the market places in the 

 cities. They did not know current prices in the cities, they were not as 

 familiar with grades and the values of those grades as were the "butch- 

 ers." Large numbers of the "drovers" found themselves competing with 

 each other in the sale of their herds. They came from widely scattered 

 sections of the country and had no opportunity to get together in 

 order that they might bargain as a group with the butchers in the 

 sale of their stock. The butchers, on the other hand, were ac- 

 quainted with each other and both because of their smaller number and 

 because of this acquaintanceship were able to develop and maintain prac- 

 tices which increased their bargaining ability. 



The drovers suffered because they were compelled to use the facilities 

 provided by the buyers and follow the grading and other practices 

 dictated by the buyers. The drover was on foreign soil, many days 

 travel from his native pastures. He was under the pressing necessity of 

 disposing of his herds even though the terms and conditions were not 

 tu his liking. 



(Conlinutd on ptigr i) 



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