Page Four 



THE I. A. A. RECORD 



Waiisoii Reiieti's Hi .tor y 



\iStiitlinitt d Irttni /»j\'i' I 1 



otficcrs of Ioc.ll governments, with 

 representatives of business and civic or- 

 ganizations, taxpayers and others, tlic 

 commission submitted a preliminar\ re- 

 port on May 10, 1930, just before tlie 

 special session of the General Asseniblx 

 convened. 



The preliminary report of the com- 

 mission dealt chiefly with tlie necessitv 

 of a revenue amendment, and offered 

 -'a dratt ot an amendment with the fol- 

 lowing recommendation: 



The Rccommend.ition 



"I 111. ciimniission believes tliat no 

 on.' on now forecast what p.'.rticul.ir 

 ni'.'thods ot taxation will be best suitcil 

 to conditions in llhnois m the future 

 and th.n, theiefore, the General Asseni- 

 ^bly and the voters of Illinois, can best 

 'liemonstrate their wisdom bv leaving 

 the determination of these specific tie- 

 tails to the taxpayers who will pa\- the 

 taxes in future years and to the legis- 

 Litors whom they will then elect. In 

 view thereof and of the guaranties in 

 both the federal and the State Con- 

 stitution, it is the judgment of this 

 commission that the resolution herewith 

 submitted be enacted, and that Illinois 

 place in the hands of its General As- 

 sembly powers as broad as have been 

 given to the legislators of New York, 

 Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and manv 

 other states of the Union."" 



Purpose of Amendment 



,, Tiic report was signed by all of tiie 

 members uf the commission. The chair- 

 man, .1 senator from Cook Count\, 

 addeil a statement ■ indicating his con- 

 _ currence in the findings of fact in the 

 ; report, but urging that the vesting of 

 unlimited power in tlie General Assem- 

 blv re»iuireii a reapptirtionment of the 

 state. 



The amendmept proposed b\ the 



Fiirmers Can Succeed 



( .■•.'/mil, .1 M:.;ij /.,;-, I 



sliortest possible route. This is e\actl\ 

 what the farmer is tr\ing to do. lie 

 desires to get into the terminal mar- 

 kets, own his own iiandling facilities, 

 and orgam/e his bargaining power. 

 1 ariners must turn a de.if ear to self- 

 stxleii friends ot agriculriuc and sup- 

 port she i: ederai I arm Board which is 

 tr\ing to iieip iheni ^uK e then' prob- 

 lems." 



Mr. \\ ^■llman lias been m the grain 

 Inisiiuss ior the pa.st lo \eirv serving 

 during iTiost ot this time ,i^ m.inager of 

 elevator cimipanies. lor tlie past seven 

 vens lie has nianageil the farmers' eie- 

 iiior at Ransom which hiiulles ,iii av- 

 erai:e ot neaiiv ?ni).[i()i) bu. of i;iMm 

 .uiiuialh. The Ransom elev.uoi- i^ i 

 nlembel^ ot the Illinois Cir.-.m C orp. 



commission was designed to remove the 

 restrictions upon the power of the Gen- 

 eral .Xssemblv under the present revenue 

 article without imposing an)' other re- 

 strictions. It was unfortunate in using 

 some language of uncertain meaning, 

 winch, if approved, almost certainlv 

 would iiave caused much litigation, and 

 also in disturbing tiie present section of 

 tiie revenue article dealing with exemp- 

 tions of property. However, tlie 

 amendment proposed bv the commission 

 was admirable for its recognition ot ihj 

 necessitv ot vesting tlie General .\s- 

 seniblv with broad powers in dealing 

 witii i^iiestions uf taxation. 



Passed in Senate 



The resolution submitting liic anieiul- 

 nKiu w a-- promptlv passed without 

 tiiange b\ the Seii.ue and vvitli litiie 

 objection, except I rom a few Cook 

 Countv senators. In tile I louse it en- 

 countered stitfer opposition. Many 

 amendments were otfered mostly bv 

 members representing C^hicago districts. 

 Two changes had been urged by many 

 persons and organizations, the insertion 

 of a clause requiring that all real estate 

 except mineral lands and lands devoted 

 to reforestation be in one class, and the 

 elimination ot the substitute proposed 

 for the present exemption section. These 

 changes were made almost without op- 



, position. Most of the other amend- 

 ments to the Senate resolution urged bv' 

 Chicago representatives proposed re- 

 strictions rendering an income tax in- 

 operative until a reapportionment was 

 made in legislative districts or limiting 

 the st.ite to not more than 10 per cent 

 (.)t the net proceeds of a tax on incomes 



■except bv the atfirmaiive votes of two- 

 thirds ot the members elected ti) i-acii 

 I louse of the General .\ssembl\. 



Separate Conferences 



Separate conferences were called both 

 bv the Cook Countv representatives 

 and bv the downstate representatives. 

 The dow nsi.ite conference unan.mously 

 agreed to resist any ain.-ndm.'nt l.nvt- 

 ing the state to less than 2^ per cent ot 

 the net proceeds of a tax on incomes, 

 llowever. when tlie amendment pro- 

 posing a limitation ot 10 per cent was 

 inider discussion, a downstate number 

 ottered M\ anieiulmeiit thereto fixing the 

 percentage at IV Other downst.ue 

 members ur;,;e(.l iiir.ita'.ion ot tiie state 

 to a lower peivemage than 2^. \\ itii 

 I'l.K a tew downstate votes against it, 

 the liniitali'in wis tixed at H" per ecu', 

 of a tax on i icomes. There was no 

 (ilijection to the clause giving a ma- 

 loritv of I'le members elected to each 

 House tile power b\ general law to dis- 

 tribute p.irt or all ot anv other taxes 

 col!ecte<.l b\ the state among the coun- 

 ties iiid other taxin- slistricts. The 



Chicago amendment as modified was 

 approved. 



A Significant Change 



The present section giving the cor- 

 porate authorities of cities, towns and 

 villages the power to make local im- 

 provements bv special asses-ment, or by 

 spec-ial taxation of contiguous propertv 

 or otherwise, was broadened to include 

 "sanitarv districts, park dist'icts. ^nd 

 other municipalities.": 



When tlie resalutioti as amended vva^ 

 called for final action bv the Mouse, 

 it narrovvlv escaped defeat. On the 

 first vote it failed bv one vote to re- 

 ceive the tvvo-tiiirds majoritv required 

 bv the Constitutioiv Manv Ciiicago 

 members voted against it. The two 

 members wiio had iTi>st aetiv\,l' urged 

 limitation voted against it on tiie 

 ground that further hmitations should 

 have been adopted. T he resolution was 

 saved from defeat onlv by a motion to 

 postpone furtlier consideration, .\tter 

 vain attempts had been made to take 

 up the Chicago relief bills, the amend- 

 ment resolution Was called up again and 

 was approved by a vote barely exceed- 

 ing the constitutional two-thirds ma- 

 jority. .Many senators were opposed to 

 the House substitute for Section 2, but 

 finally accepted it on the ground that 

 no other draft could pass the House. 

 But in doing so they reserved the right 

 to oppose the resolution before the peo- 

 ple should a careful analysis of it seem 

 not to justify their support. 



Amendments a Mistake 



Representatives of the Illinois Agri- 

 cultural Association, though urging 

 minor changes ciiieflv tor the purpose 

 of clarifying the amendment proposed 

 by the investigation commission, sup- 

 ported the position of the commission 

 and opposed the restrictions urged by 

 manv Ciiicago and CaK)k Countv legis- 

 lators. Representatives of the associa- 

 tion still believe that most ot tiie 

 ciianges made in tlie House in compli- 

 ance with the dem.uid of Ciiicago were 

 a mistake. .Ml authorities on taxation 

 heard bv the General .Asstmblv iiad iip- 

 posed such restrictions. 1 low ev er. care- 

 ful analy sis is being made ot the aniend- 

 ment as submitted, both of its good 

 features and of its bad features. .After 

 full consideration of tiiis report and ac- 

 tion thereon by tiie board of directors, 

 the position of the association on liie 

 amendment and i^lie reasons tiieretor 

 will lie announced. 



f 



"Congratulations upon the June issiie 

 of the I. A. A. RECORD. It is most 

 attractive." 



ILLIMOIS MILK PRO- 

 DUCERS' ASSOCIATION. 



Wilfred Shaw, Resident Manager. 



