FIFTY PER CENT 

 of the WPA program in Illinois is directed toward 

 improving farm to market roads. The top dressing of 

 crushed stone will make this road passable In spongy 

 weather. 



DITCHING, SHOULDERIN©, AND GRADING 

 Three necessary steps !n "all-weatlier!ng" country 

 roads. There's plenty of room here to carry the 

 water run-off leaving the road high and dry. . . 



As a result, bridges must be improved 

 to meet modern requirements of highway 

 traffic as road development programs 

 move forward. Recognizing this fact, 

 the Illinois WPA in the last year has im- 

 proved 164 bridges and built fifty-three 

 new spans. The bridge rehabilitation 

 work is almost entirely a part of the rural 

 road program, confining itself to the im- 

 provement of spans along secondary 

 roads. 



Other important improvements that are 

 significant in the rural road program are 

 the construction of 704 new culverts and 

 the repair of 110; the construction of 

 365 miles of roadside conveniences and 

 the repair of 462 miles, and the construc- 



tion of 72,394 lineal feet of guard rails 

 and fences and the improvement of 1 56,- 

 918 feet of the same. 



Meanwhile, the WPA, furnishing 500 

 workers for a road survey to be conducted 

 at 24,000 stations in every county except 

 Cook, is rendering another worthwhile 

 service to the state. The road survey now 

 operating under the federal bureau of 

 public roads apd the state highway plan- 

 ning division, is designed to provide the 

 state with a plan for an integrated high- 

 way system, which will include all roads 

 to be improved in the next twenty years. 

 The survey will include an inventory of 

 roads and bridges, the distribution of 

 roads by population, character and den- 



sity of traffic at given f>oints and com- 

 parative use of state roads against other 

 means of transportation. 



This work is considered of utmost im- 

 portance to future development of the 

 state's highway system. The bureau of 

 public roads and the state highway plan- 

 ning commission sponsors of the WPA 

 project, are contributing $112,000 for 

 materials, supplies and supervision for 

 this purpose. 



Illinois boasts one of the best net- 

 works of concrete highways in the world. 

 With the help of funds provided by the 

 Works Progress Administration the state 

 at last has made an impressive start to- 

 ward pulling farmers out of the mud. 



Need Young Leaders .^ 



For Farm Organization 



Rural Young People Meet in Six 

 Conierences to Plan For Future 



In an effort to assist rural young peo- 

 ple's groups in program planning for 

 1937, a series of six district conferences 

 were held in Illinois from September 29 

 to November 12. These conferences 

 sponsored by the University of Illinois 

 were held at DeKalb, Charleston, Jack- 

 sonville, Galesburg, Carbondale, and 

 Normal. Meeting places were in college 

 buildings in each case. 



Attendance ranged from 30 to 90 dele- 

 gates chosen from the various young peo- 

 ple's groups. The largest attendance, 

 90, was had at the Normal meeting. 



In these meetings one of the great 

 needs in agriculture was brought out by 

 Frank F. Gingrich, director of Young 

 People's Activities for the lAA. He 



HAROLD LONERGAN, 



'Morgan County boy from Murrayvill*. He 



represented the 47 Skilled Drivers Clubs at 



Young People's Rural Life Program, Urban*, 



Sept. 26. 



Stated that "at the present time, the great- 

 est need is for men with a better back- 

 ground of knowledge and experience in 

 proper administration and management 

 of farm organizations. Policy-making 

 groups must be made up of people who 

 see the whole picture and who are big 

 enough to overcome personal prejudice 

 and individual selfish'interests." 



Quoting Donald Kirkpatrick, general 

 counsel for the I A A, Gingrich stated: 

 "For years to come, if not always, a sheet 

 anchor of co-operative service units will 

 be a strong educational organization to 

 defend them against attack, supporting 

 them in matters of national and state 

 legislation; yes, and at times, protecting 

 the co-operative service units against 

 themselves." 



As a follow-up of the District Young 

 People's meetings, the Adams County 

 Rural Youth Conference was held in 

 Quincy November 24. Ideas gathered 

 at the district meeting were presented to 

 the group. 



22 



L A. RECORD 



