Working For Good Roads 



(rontiiiufil I'lnm luijTf •'! I 



the sfau- S.I ;is to prnvidi' aiinuiilly a 

 inileajri' <>f hijrhway iiiiproviiiifiit m 

 each county in siu-h proportion as tlu' 

 total mileatre "f the ])rimary hiirhway 

 system within each county hore to thr 

 total miles in the primary state sy>ti'>-i. 



After the approval of the committee- 

 report hy the hciard c.f directors, thr 

 committee called upon (iovernor Small 

 and presented its recommenilations Wr 

 were assured c,t" his support with the 

 uiid«rstandintr that three main hit'h- 

 ways. one mrth and south known a- 

 the "Dixie." otie runninir from Chicauro 

 to .St. I.ouis. and a third crossing the 

 State east and west in northern Illinois, 

 would be considered separate and apart 

 from his aereenient to follow the reconi- 

 mendations of the I. A. A. The com- 

 mittee as.sureil the Covernor of its wi!l- 

 intrness to recoirnize the merit of such 

 a program. 



.A review of the early history of pri- 

 mary road construction in Illinois juslil'n-s 

 the statement that in the main this early 

 understandinu relative to road liuildiiijr 

 was carried nut in all counties except 

 those where the securinjr of ritrhts of 

 way was seriously delayed. 



Thi- universal interest ><{ all people ill 

 the early road huihiintr program resulted 

 in the suhniission to the people of the 

 $ 1 0(M 100.01 M» hond issue in the .\ovemher 

 election. liilM. This proposal was sup- 

 ported liy the Illinois Atrricultural As- 

 sociatiiiii. .A.-surance was given at that 

 time that all hon.ls in hoth the .?Uo.- 

 (lOO.OOd anil the SIim.OtXI.tMtl) proposals 

 would he retireil and interest thereon 

 paiil from automohile license fees. These 

 promises have heen kept and to date 

 all bonds which fell due. plus interest, 

 have been paid out of such revenues. 



It behooves the thinking citizens of 

 Illinois to resist any political attempts 

 u> reilucc motor license fees or other 

 highway revenues in any substantial 

 amount until such time as all bonds, 

 with interest. represente<l by the two 

 mentioned road bond issues are retired. 

 FVoperty must be safeguarded against 

 taxation for their : etirement. 



Following authorization of the boaril 

 of delegates both in 102") and 102fi. the 

 Illinois .Agricultural .Association spon- 

 sored enactment of a two cent State 

 gasoline tax. the revenue derived there- 

 from to be used in speeding to com- 

 pletion the primary system of highways 

 previously authorized, and thereafter to 

 provide revenue -iTor an extensive sec- 

 ondary roa(d building program through- 

 out Illinois. This legislation was passed 

 by the General .Assembly and signed by 

 Governor Small. It later was declared 

 unconstitutional by the State Supreme 

 Court. J 



With Our County Farm Bureau Presidents 



GEO. LENHABT 



Back in 192.'). V'einiihon couiilj FiHiii 

 Bureau niemhcrs not then heads l.)- 

 gether and picker! Georse \V Lenhiot 

 as president of the county organization 

 Toda.v. thev are iust as pisilive in th^'ii 

 choice and "Gcoiae" is still president. 

 Now that s some- 

 what of a record. 

 "George wears well.' 

 -.lid one member 

 "No question about 

 George's sincerity 

 and .iudgmcnt " said 

 another. Sa.vs Mr. 

 L c n h a r t himself. 

 "I've enjo.vcd every 

 minute of it. but 

 -omebody else ought 

 I to have a chance 

 I too." 



President Lenhart 

 h.is been a Farm 

 Bureau member for 

 fourteen years. He joined, he says. 

 "h'lMuse after talkinu it over with 

 neighbors and close friends I' became 

 convinced it was a good idea. I've al- 

 wa.vs felt that there would be more 

 strength in farmers going it together 

 rather than individually Rugged indi- 

 viflualism lioesn't pay out." 



The Lenhait farm, just a few miles 

 nut of Georgi'town comprises 280 acres 

 devoted to grain and livestock. Tliere is 

 a herd of 17 dairy cows, a purebred 

 Gutrnsey bull and two heifers. The 

 herd is a mixed Ijiced of Jersey and 

 Guernsey and the whole milk is sold to 

 the Danville cooperative dairy. There 

 are .50 Duroc hogs, seven brood sows and 

 one boar. They are marketed thru the 

 Ver:r'!i->n County Livestock Marketing 

 .A.ssociation While tractors arc used for 

 the major part of the work, there are 

 four work horses for general farm use. 

 This year Mi Lenhait is raising corn. 



oats, wheat, soy beans, alfalfa and about 

 ten acres of hemp. 



The two Lenhart boys Harry and Her- 

 bert are married anci farm adjoining 

 land. Thev u.se the farm machinery and 

 divide the work with their father. As 

 George put it. "The best way to see 

 the benelits of cooperation is right in 

 yoiii own family." Together with their 

 father, they are one hundred per cent 

 cooperatois. Serum, petroleum prod- 

 ucts, paint farm supplies, fire, wind and 

 hail insurance, auto insurance and life 

 insurance are all purchased thru Farm 

 Bureau companies. 



Tile two Lenhart girls live in Danville. 

 Margaret is employed there and Rosalie 

 is married. Mr. and Mrs. Lenhart were 

 married February 19i)2. "Mrs. Lenhart." 

 said George "raises chickens and has a 

 mighty nice garden every year. She 

 likes to landscape the .vard too. She is 

 also active in church. Sunday .school and 

 missionary' work besides keeping an 

 eight room house. We've both worked 

 hard to make a nice home but Mrs. Len- 

 hart works too hard yet. I wish she 

 wouldn't." 



George Lenhart was born March 23. 

 1S70. four miles north of Indianola. Illi- 

 nois. Besuies being president of the 

 Vermilion counlv Farm Bureau, he is 

 also a director of Farmers Mutual Re- 

 insurani'e Compan.v, the County Service 

 Company. Producers Dairy of Danville, 

 and is on the county warehouse board. 

 He is a school director in his commu- 

 nit.v. a director of Georgetown High 

 School and drainage commissioner of the 

 .Made Grove district. 



.All in all. George Lenhart is a real 

 citizen as well as an outstanding Farm 

 Bureau member and president. Vermil- 

 ion county makes no bones about .saying. 

 "We're mighty proud of George. He has 

 what it takes to make a leader." 



Immediately fullowing the inaugura- 

 tion of Governor Kmmerson in l'.t2i>. the 

 (ieneral .Assembly again pressed similar 

 legislation for a three cent tax on gaso- 

 line. This bill was signed by the Gov- 

 ernor and later was detdared constitu- 

 tional by the same court. Debates on the 

 floor in both Houses of the General As- 

 sembly during the consideration of the 

 three cent tax proposal definitely as- 

 sured rural people of an extensive sec- 

 ondary road building i)rogram to run 

 concurrently with the jirimary system 

 of highways. Upon completion of the 

 latter system, farmers were promised 

 that the revenue would be used in the 

 further building and completion of the 

 secondary road program. 

 ' More recently, revenu ^s from the gaso- 

 line tax have been diverted for other 

 purposes than that of building roads, 

 chiefly for unemployment relief and 

 schools. The I. .A. A. has resisted at all 

 times the diversion of revenue from its 

 original purpose and has been quite suc- 

 cessful in holding to a minimum efforts 

 of this kind. With the tremendous in- 

 crease in unemployment and their as- 



sistance through what may be term.d 

 a ilole or direct relief in l!t".'! and I'.t.'U. 

 the I. .A. .A. has consistently and ag- 

 gressively insisted upon the inaugura- 

 tion of a secondary road building pro- 

 gram in every county of Illinois so as 

 to provide woik for deserving unem- 

 ployed. 



The .Association sponsored legislation 

 in the Fifty-ninth General .Assembly of 

 l".i-"J.^. which definitely would have facili- 

 tated the use of Federal work relief 

 approi)riations on rural highways for 

 this purpose in all counties. This legis- 

 lation passed the General .Assembly by 

 a vote of 38 to in the .Senate and 12."> 

 to in the House. The main bills were 

 vetoed recently by Governor Horner. In 

 his veto message, the Governor expressed 

 the belief that legislation of this char- 

 acter was not necessary, as he person- 

 ally and officially assured the rural in- 

 terest of the .State of his purpose to use 

 the Federal revenue for building second- 

 ary roads. Ne failed, however, to point 

 out how the citizens of each county might 



(Continued on page 6) 



I. A. A. RECORD 



