Page Sixteen 



■J 



THE I. A. A. RECORD THE 



Transportation Service 

 Covers Wide Field in '29 



Representation In Freight Rate and 



UtiUty Questions Of Prime 



Importance 



A CONTINUATION of the many services to 

 members in transportation and utility rates, 

 claims, and power line route problems marked 

 the work of the I. A. A. Transportation De- 

 partment in 1929. ; 



The records show that groups of farmers 

 were helped in more than a score of rural elec- 

 trification cases. Many 

 of these had to do with 

 rates, others to service 

 and arrangements with 

 utility companies to 

 , take over farmer- 

 owned transmission 

 lines. Substantial re- 

 funds were obtained in 

 several instances where 

 rate adjustments were 

 made. 



Telephone Cases 



V A number of counties were represented 

 before the Illinois Commerce Commission in 

 telephone cases. An annual increase of $4,212 to 

 farm telephone users in Logan county was pre- 

 vented when facts were brought before the com- 

 mission showing that the proposed rtise de- 

 manded by the company was unwarranted. An 

 annual increase of $1,000 to farm telephone 

 users in Boone county likewise was averted. 



Loss and damage claims collected fr0m Jan. 

 1 to Nov. 1 by the Department aggregated 

 slightly more than $28,000. I 



Arguments were prepared for presentation 

 before the Interstate Commerce Commission in 

 the western livestock freight rate case iti which 

 the carriers asked for increases of from 1 5 to 



L. J. Quasey 

 Transportation 



20 percent in rates. 

 ing. 



This case is still 



pend- 



Pipe Line Case 



Assistance was given members in a iumber 

 of central Illinois counties toward protecting 

 their rights and interests in connection with 

 the Texas Empire pipe line which enters Illinois 

 from the southwest oil fields, crossing farm 

 lands in a northeasterly direction. 



Two power line cases in which the Depart- 

 ment has been active namely, the Superpower 

 company high line f^om Kewanee to D'xon, 

 and the Dixon-Freeport line are now up before 

 the Commission. Farm Bureau members iji four 

 counties are interested in the outcome. In some 

 instances the utility companies have charted 

 their routes across the best farm lands without 

 due regard to the interests of owners of such 

 valuable lands. The I. A. A. has intervened in 

 several cases to establish routes more acceptable 

 to the landowners, and secure adequate com- 

 pensation for damages to farm lands. 



Service Problems 



Proposed abandonment of railroad freighit and 

 passenger service in several parts of the state 

 were postponed or prevented when it was shown 

 that farmers and others residing in such locali- 

 ties would be greatly damaged thereby. The 

 Illinois Central has deferred discontinuation of 

 adequate passenger and express service between 

 Centralia and Champaign pending the wofking 

 out of a satisfactory solution to the problem. 

 A similar case involving the Rock Island South- 

 ern Railway landowners and shippers in Mercer 



county is now under consideration by the State 

 Commerce Commission. Maintaining the neces- 

 sary contacts with carriers, public utilities, and 

 those having to do with public utility and 

 transportation matters is an important and valu- 

 able service to the farmers of Illinois. 



Farm Bureau in 



Livestock Hearing 



IT^INAL oral argument before the Interstate 

 -*■ Commerce Commission as a whole was made 

 at Washington recently in the western livestock 

 [rate case. * 



L. J. Quasey, director of transportation, 

 represented the I. A. A. at the hearing. O. W. 

 Sandburg of the American Farm Bureau Fed- 

 eration, and Fred S. Jackson, special attorney, 

 were other Farm Bureau representatives who 

 took a leading part in opposing substantial in- 

 creases in freight rates asked by the railroads. 



The written argument prepared by the I. A. 

 A. and Farm Bureau representatives proved con- 

 clusively that livestock production in the corn 

 belt was not enjoying the great prosperity 

 claimed for it by the railroads, and at the same 

 time clearly revealed that the western carriers 

 are making more money than they have made 

 for many years. 



Eight representative western carriers, for ex- 

 ample, show an increase of 22 per cent in net 

 income for the first seven months of 1929 com- 

 pared with a similar period in 1928. 



It was shown that the rate of progression in 

 .livestock freight rates suggested by the ex- 

 aminer was too high. The examiner recom- 

 mended substantial increases in short haul rates 

 and decreases in long haul rates. Ninety per 

 cent of the livestock traffic in the western terri- 

 tory comes from short hauls. 



Several producer representatives stated that 

 the examiner ignored the Hoch-Smith resolution 

 and granted relief to the carriers rather than 

 to the farmers. 



The recent hearing at Washington con- 

 cluded a series of 12 similar meetings held dur.< 

 ing the past two years in different parts of the 

 United States. It is likely that a decision will 

 be forthcoming from the Commission within the 

 next three to four months. 



If the proposed increases are granted, Illinois 

 livestock growers will pay substantially higher 

 freight rates. 



NOTICE OF ANNUAL MEETING OF 

 ILLINOIS AGRICULTURAL MU- 

 TUAL INSURANCE COMPANY 



TAKE notice that the annual meetinc 

 of the members of the Illinois 

 Agricultural Mutual Insurance Com- 

 pany will be held on Wednesday, the 

 29th day of January, 1930, at the 

 hour of 1 :00 o'clock P. M., at the 

 Abraham Lincoln Hotel, Springfield, 

 Illinois, to elect directors, receive, and, 

 if approved, confirm the report of the 

 board of directors of the company for 

 the fiscal year ending December 31, 

 1929; and to consider, and, if ap- 

 proved, ratify and confirm all the acts 

 and proceedings of the board of di- 

 rectors done and taken since the last 

 annual meeting of the members of th- 

 company; and for the transaction of 

 such further and other business as may 

 properly come before the meeting. 

 Dated at Chicago, Illinois, 

 December 2, 1929. 



GEORGE F. TULLOCK, 



Secretary, 



Power Line Routes Are 

 Reviewed By Conunission 



Farmers Demand High Lines Be 



Routed To Protect Best Lands 



Against Damage 



\ FURTHER hearing over the proposed route 

 -^ *- of the Superpower company high line from 

 Dixon to Kawanee was held before the State 

 Commerce Commission at Springfield on Dec. 4, 

 While the outcome of the controversy be- 

 tween the utility company and land owners 

 along the proposed route is not yet learned, an 

 adjustment of differences undoubtedly will be 

 made. 



Landowners complain that utility representa- 

 tives entered their farms without permission, 

 tramped down corn and other crops, and dam- 

 aged fences while surveying for the proposed 

 route. In attempting a second survey over a 

 little different route, surveyors complain that 

 they were driven off several farms. 



Want Original Route 



The utility company insists on standing by its 

 original proposal which the Farm Bureau com- 

 mittees of landowners will not accept because 

 valuable farm lands will be damaged by a high- 

 voltage line supported by great steel towers 

 planted out in the middle of cultivated fields. 



Farmers hold that the route should follow 

 roads and permanent fence lines wherever pos- 

 sible so as to minimize damages to the best lands. 

 They feel that compensation offered heretofore 

 has not been adequate to reimburse them for the 

 permanent damage and inconvenience suffered. 



A pole line is contemplated between Dixon 

 and Freeport and committees have been ap- 

 pointed by the interested Farm Bureaus to see 

 that the interests of their constitutents are pro- 

 tected. 



Rock Island Southern Ry. 

 Asked to Resume Service 



\ HEARING to bring about resumption of 

 -'^*- freight service on the Rock Island South- 

 ern Railroad south of Gilchrist to Norwood and 

 Burgess in western Illinois was held before the 

 Illinois Commerce Commission in Chicago on 

 December 6. The transportation department of 

 the Illinois Agricultural Association, the Mercer 

 County Farm Bureau, the Warren-Henderson 

 Oil Company, and others joined in the plea. 



Bridges Need Repair 



Service through Burgess and Norwood south 

 to Monmouth was abandoned following the 

 burning of, a bridge north of Burgess in May, 

 1928. Since that time these communities have 

 been without rail transportation necessitating 

 long hauls of farm products :Over dirt roads. 

 More than 50 sections of land are damaged by 

 removal of train service, while grain elevators 

 and livestock shipping associations in this com- 

 munity are subjected to heavy transportation 

 costs. 



Engineers for the railroad assert that the ex- 

 penditure of at least $25,000 will be required 

 to repair the Pope Creek bridge, in addition to 

 expenses on other bridges along the right-of- 

 way. 



i t 

 "The more livestock the Producer* 

 are shipped the better service they can 

 give the farmer." Christ Bunte, 

 Prairietown. 



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