Working For Good Roads 



(Continued from page 4) 



be assured fair and equitable treatment 

 in proportion to their needs an* in the 

 division of this money among all coun- 

 ties of the State. 



As the matter stands, the governor of 

 Illinois carries full responsibility, for 

 determining the type and extent of sec- 

 ondary road building to be carried on, 

 and the uniformity of treatment to be 

 accorded the rural interests of each 

 county of Illinois. 



The American Farm Bureau Feder- 

 ation has also been very active in ask- 

 ing from the Federal Congress definite 

 earmarked appropriations for the pur- 

 pose of building secondary roads and the 

 use of the unemployed in their construc- 

 tion. Approximately $200,000,000 has 

 been definitely earmarked for this pur- 

 pose to be expended under the author- 

 ity of the Bureau of FederalCRoads. In 

 addition, the American Farm Bureau 

 Federation, through its president, who 

 is a member of the Federal Allotment 

 Board, is seeking further allotments un- 

 der the Works Progress Administration 

 for this purpose. 



Definite recommendations of a com- 

 mittee of this board are now pending 

 before the full allotment committee. 

 These recommendations are as follows: 

 I. Purpose of Project 



1. To give employment to rural un- 

 employed. 



2. To improve farm-to-market or 

 rural roads, including letter carrier, 

 school bus and creamery routes located 

 outside" of the Federal and State high- 

 way systems. 



II. Plan of Organization 



1. Federal Rural Road Administrator. 

 It is suggested that the President, by 



an Executive Order, appoint a Federal 

 Rural Road Administrator under the 

 Work Relief Act of 1935, approved April 

 8, 1935, to direct a National Rural Roads 

 er Farm-to-Market Roads Improvement 

 Program. 



It is suggested that said Federal Rural 

 Road Administrator be under the im- 

 mediate supervision of the Works Prog- 

 ress Administration. 



It is further suggested that an Ad- 

 visory Committee consisting of the Sec- 

 retary of Agriculture, chairman; the 

 Administrator of Works Progress Ad- 

 ministration; the Postmaster General, 

 the Director of the United States Bu- 

 reau of Roads; and a representative of 

 farm organizations, be appointed by the 

 President to co-operate with the Federal 

 Rural Road Administrator. 



2. State Rural Road Administrator. 

 It is suggested that a State Rural 



Road Administrator be appointed in each 

 State to work under the direction of, 

 and in co-operation with, the Federal 



Rural Road Administrator, and to have 

 general supervision of the Farm-to-Mar- 

 ket or Rural Road Improvement Pro- 

 gram in the State. 



It is finally suggested that a State 

 Advisory Committee, consisting of the 

 State Works Progress Administration, a 

 member or employee of the State High- 

 way Commission, a representative of 

 the State Agricultural College, a rep- 

 resentative of the Rural Letter Carriers 

 Association, a representative of the 

 County Judges Association, Board of 

 Supervisors or County Commissioners, 

 and a representative of farm organiza- 

 tions be appointed by the State Rural 

 Road Administrator, to co-operate with 

 him. 



In order to make the above program 

 effective in building Farm-to-Market 

 Roads, and taking citizens off relief, it 

 is suggested that a minimum of 37^/2 

 per cent of all funds of the Works Prog- 

 ress Administration for rural relief be 

 used on the Farm-to-Market Road Proj- 

 ect. 



The I. A. A. has previously advised 

 the respective County Farm Bureaus of 

 the State, and still believes that the 

 County Farm Bureau* should provide 

 for and maintain active road commit- 

 tees within each county. These com- 

 mittees can render great assistance in 

 working with other local interests, in- 

 cluding boards of supervisors or coun- 

 ty commissioners, in outlining the most 

 needed secondary road building projects. 

 By so doing, they will be prepared to 

 exercise proper influence in the location 

 of highways within their counties and 

 to secure early consideration from the 

 proper authorities, whether by Federal 

 grants made available through the Bu- 

 reau of Federal Roads, or by authority, 

 if and when given, for extensive sec- 

 ondary road building through the Works 

 Progress Administration. 



Agr 



inculfure in the 

 59th General Assembly 



(Continued from page 5) 

 payers very substantial sums in every 

 township organized county and in most 

 of the townships in such counties. 



Other bills were passed transferring 

 the duty of providing poor relief back 

 from the townships to the counties, as 

 was the case prior to 1931, and giving 

 the counties an additional tax levy, up 

 to their constitutional limit, to be solely 

 for relief purposes. These bills place 

 every county of the State upon a uni- 

 form basis in levies of taxes for poor 

 relief, a condition which has not been 

 true in the last four years. 



So long as the State provides ample 

 funds for unemployables through the 

 additional one cent Occupational Tax, 

 there is surely no reason why the coun- 



OTIS KEBCHEH 



Otis Kercher Resigns 



Otis Kercher. farm adviser in Ver- 

 milion county since 1924 has offered 

 his resignation to become effective 

 September 1. Otis is completing his 

 20th year in extension work having 

 started as part-time county agent and 

 agricultural teacher at Homer. La., 

 following his graduation from the 

 University of Illinois, college of ag- 

 riculture in 1914. 

 From 1915 to 

 1919 Kercher 

 was state leader 

 of 4-H club 

 work in Ken- 

 tucky. In Octo- 

 ber, 1919. he be- 

 came the first 

 farm adviser in 

 Pike county, 

 Illinois. There 

 he assisted in 

 raising the 

 member ship 

 from 410 to more 

 than 1.500. in 

 accumulating a reserve in the Farm 

 Bureau treasury of $15,000. and in 

 boosting the county's acreage devoted 

 to sweet clover from around 40 to 

 more than 10.000. 



While in Pike county. Otis was in- 

 strumental in getting Earl C. Smith, 

 a young farmer of the county, inter- 

 ested and active in Farm Bureau 

 work. He went to Vermilion county 

 in 1924 "then a bankrupt institution", 

 he says, "with its morale badly 

 shaken. It now has a net worth of 

 $20,000". He has served continuously 

 in Vermilion since that time during 

 which the Vermilion County Live- 

 stock Marketing Association, the Serv- 

 ice Company, and the Danville Pro- 

 ducers Dairy were organized. 



Mr. Kercher is 43 years old. He 

 and Mrs. Kercher have two children, 

 a boy 10 and a girl five years old. An 

 inveterate cigar smoker and story 

 teller, Kercher always has a "new 

 one" to regale his friends and as- 

 sociates at district and state-wide 

 meetings. His ability as a speaker, 

 organizer and entertainer was re- 

 vealed on the two occasions when 

 Vermilion county and the City of 

 Danville were hosts to the annual I. 

 A. A. convention. 



Otis was elected president of the 

 state association of farm advisers sev- 

 eral years ago. He is recognized as 

 one of the most able men in Illinois 

 in agricultural extension work. The 

 Vermilion County Farm Bureau 

 "BOOSTER" which Mr. Kercher edits 

 is one of the best County Farm Bu- 

 reau papers published in Illinois. 

 Otis is one of that fast dwindling 

 group of "original" farm advisers who 

 started the work in this state and who 

 contributed so much toward putting 

 Illinois at the top in membership, farm 

 organization service and accomplish- 

 ment. Several years ago he acquired 

 a farm in northern Indiana, his birth- 

 place, where he has been spending 

 his vacations. 



ties should make any levies or at least 



any burdensome levies for poor relief. 



(Continued on page 7) 



I. A. A. RECORD 



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