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Illinois 



inois Asricultural Association 



RECORD ^1 



Volume 13 



August, 1935 



Number 8 



^Xferking For Good Roacis 



he Farm Bureaus 15 Year Fight For Farm to Market Highways 



By Earl C. Smith 



EAKL C. SMITH 



ri^HE movement for good roads in 

 1^ Illinois had its inception about 

 1917 when Frank O. Lowden was 

 governor. It may be more than a 

 coincidence that the Illinois Agricul- 

 tural Association was organized the 

 year before and farmers began to take 

 a keen and active interest in State af- 

 fairs. Needless to say improvement of 

 farm - to - market 

 roads was early 

 recognized as one 

 of our greatest 

 needs. Illinois for 

 years had been no- 

 torious for its poor 

 roads. This was 

 true not only of 

 secondary roads but 

 also of many main 

 highways. Gravel 

 was scarce in many 

 areas, particularly 

 in central and southern Illinois, and 

 black dirt proved to be poor road 

 building material. 



Sponsored by Governor Lowden, the 

 860,000,000 bond issue was submitted 

 in 1917 and approved by the people in 

 November, 1918, for the purpose of 

 building a system of primary high- 

 ways throughout the State. By that 

 time the United States had already 

 entered the World War. Industry, 

 labor and agriculture centered their 

 efforts on projects directed toward 

 winning the war which made it inad- 

 visable if not impossible immediately 

 to inaugurate an extensive road build- 

 ing program. The record, however, 

 discloses that contracts were awarded 

 for 500 miles of Federal and State 

 roads in Governor Lowden's adminis- 

 tration. 



An intensive program of State high- 

 \"'ay paving was initiated early in the 

 i'dministration of Len Small inaugu- 

 rated as Governor early in 1921. Dur- 

 ng the gubernatorial campaign he had 

 oledged himself to build a system of 

 primary highways at minimum cost. 

 The $60,000,000 bond issue was pro- 

 posed to provide primary highways 



connecting all county seats of the State. 

 Immediately there was much rivalry, 

 some friendly and some unfriendly, 

 among groups from cities and rural 

 communities in all sections of Illinois 

 to secure the location of State high- 

 ways and priority consideration in 

 building them. 



Following the reorganization of the 

 I. A. A. in 1919, one of the first com- 

 mittees appointed was the road com- 

 mittee with Zealy Holmes of Peoria 

 county as chairman. In his address 

 before the sixth annual meeting of the 

 Association at Chicago in 1921, Presi- 

 dent Howard Leonard recognized the 

 importance of the road problem when 

 he said: "For years the highways of 

 Illinois have not been famous but no- 

 torious. We know how we have 

 plowed through mud hub deep to get 



to town even for groceries and mail 

 and when we think about an all year 

 around delivery of grain and livestock 

 to market, we naturally think first of 

 those months when our country roads 

 are in their worst condition. We as 

 farmers are vitally concerned in hav- 

 ing a system of country highways that 

 we can use the year around to market 

 our products. A comparatively few 

 hard surfaced boulevards will not serve 

 the purpose." 



My first cj inection with the I. A. A. 

 was my appointment by President 

 Leonard, in 1921, to the special road 

 committee of which L. E. Birdsall of 

 Whiteside County was chairman. Our 

 first action was to seek from Governor 

 Small a pronouncement whereby road 

 building would start in all counties of 

 (Continued on next page) 



THOUSANDS OF MILES OF DIRT ROADS LIKE THIS ONE ARE IMPASSABLE TO CARS 

 and trucks several months each year. Now that the Primary System of Roads in Illinois 

 is completed, the great need is tor Improvement of secondary feeder roads. 



