Resolutions 



(Continued) 



mittee of citizens with proven business experi- 

 ence as well as farm operation experience, 

 selected by the Secretary of Agriculture from a 

 list of qualified citizens furnished by the Di- 

 rector of Extension of each State. 



rv 



We recognize some interest in and limited 

 demand for the development of a crop in- 

 surance program. Any program of this char- 

 acter should be provided only upon an actuar- 

 ially sound basis, with full assurance of pro- 

 tecting the natural advantages of each of the 

 states or regions producing similar commodi- 

 ties. 



We believe any experimentation along this 

 line should be confined to one crop, at least 

 until such time as experience would seem to 

 justify expansion of such a program to serve 

 other commodities. 



We favor strengthening rather than weaken- 

 ing federal quarantine regulations against foot 

 and mouth disease. Accordingly we oppose 

 the proposed sanitary convention with Argen- 

 tina and urge the senators and representatives 

 from Illinois to oppose the approval of this 

 document. 



VI 



We heartily endorse the resolution on rural 

 credit adopted by the American Farm Bureau 

 Federation at its 1936 annual convention in 

 Pasadena, asking the National Congress to 

 continue the three and one-half per cent in- 

 terest on farm loans. 



VII 



For the purpose of guaranteeing the con- 

 suming public an adequate reserve of basic 

 agricultural supplies at fair prices and sup- 

 plementing a national program for maintaining 

 parity prices to producers, we favor storage 

 of grains upon the farm and urge upon 

 Congress that adequate capital funds be furn- 

 ished to the Commodity Credit Corporation 

 or other appropriate federal agency to make 

 possible the continuance and enlargement of 

 commodity loan operations and that in the 

 administration of such commcxJity loans the 

 rules and regulations be simplified and made 

 to conform to reasonable operating practices. 



VIII 



We insist upon the enactment of excise 

 taxes or revision of tariff schedules as may be 

 necessary currently to protect the American 

 market from the importation of any com- 

 modity or substitute for any commodities 

 grown in America that have the effect of reduc- 

 ing the price levels of the American market 

 below parity. 



IX 



We affirm the resolutions and adopt the 

 recommendations on transportation of the 

 American Farm Bureau Federation made at 

 its Eighteenth Annual Convention. 



We oppose any arbitrary regulation of any 

 form of transportation which will deprive it 

 of any of its inherent ability or advantage 

 to serve the shipping public. 



We urge a reduction and readjustment of 

 transportation rates to promote freedom of 

 movement of agricultural products, including 



live stock and its products, between the vari- 

 ous producing processing and consuming areas 

 of the country in the furtherance of market 

 competition and more efficient distribution. 

 We urge that procedure in the regulation 

 of transportation rates be simplified and ex- 

 pedited in every reasonable way without dis- 

 rupting the uniformity and consistency of rate 

 adjustments thus far established, without cast- 

 ing an undue burden of transportation costs 

 upon one commodity as compared with an- 

 other and without depriving any producing 

 area of the natural advantages of its physical 

 location. 



We request the Board of Directors and 

 Officers of the Association to seek to have a 

 reserve fund created by Congress and made 

 available to the Department of Agriculture for 

 the purchase of insecticides and poisonous 

 materials and for the field work necessary 

 to combat grasshopper and other insect in- 

 festation, immediately whenever such infesta- 

 tion appears imminent. 



XI 



We recognize the valuable service rendered 

 by the Farm Debt Adjustment Committees and 

 other cooperative agencies to farmers in dis- 

 tress and commend their effective assistance 

 to those farm folks. We also recognize that 

 many farmers are carrying a heavy burden of 

 debt and are still in need of assistance of this 

 nature. We recommend continuance of this 

 assistance so long as such need exists. 



XII 



We reaffirm our previously declared policy 

 in favor of an amendment to the revenue arti- 

 cle of the State Constitution placing a con- 

 stitutional limitation on property taxes of not 

 over one per cent for all general purposes, 

 except payment of bonded indebtedness and in- 

 terest thereon, and giving the General As- 

 sembly broader powers to tax other sources 

 of revenue. 



XIII 



We reaffirm our position declared last year 

 favoring local responsibility for administra- 

 tion of relief and the requirement of a rea- 

 sonable maximum levy of taxes by each local 

 relief unit before it can become eligible to any . 

 allocation of State funds for relief. We believe 

 that the enactment of such a law has resulted 

 in better and more economical administration 

 of relief in most townships and counties of 

 the state. 



We favor legislation establishing a separate 

 division in the State Department of Public 

 Welfare to administer, strictly upon the basis 

 of need, the allocation of State relief funds 

 to all local relief units qualifying and dem- 

 onstrating their need therefor, and to have 

 such powers of supervising the local expendi- 

 tures of State relief funds as are necessary to 

 prevent hardship or suffering of deserving 

 persons in need of relief, and also to prevent 

 waste of State relief funds. We favor also 

 the requirement of such reports from local 

 administrators of relief as will prevent needless 

 duplication in various kinds of relief payments 

 to the same persons or families through dif- 

 ferent public agencies. 



XIV 



We reaffirm our previously declared pol- 

 icies: 



Protesting against the landscaping and plant- 

 ing of trees along the State highways as long 

 as most of the farms are situated on dirt 

 roads. 



In favor of legislation requiring the alloca- 

 tion of definite amounts of State funds for 

 secondary and other important rural highways, 

 the distribution of such funds among the 

 counties on a fair basis, and their expenditure 

 in the improvement of low cost all weather 

 roads. We authorize and direct the officers 

 and Board of Directors of the Association to 

 sponsor and urge the enactment of such legisla- 

 tion. 



XV 



In line with ^ur resolution adopted in 

 1931, we authorize and direct the officers and 

 Board of Direct(irs of the Association to spon- 

 sor and urge amendment of the Motor Vehicle 

 Act to exempt from Motor Licenses farm 

 tractors and tractor-drawn farm implements 

 and machinery which are used primarily in 

 the agricultural pursuits of the owner thereof 

 or in connection with the agricultural pursuits 

 of others. 



XVI 



We believe the increasing hazards on the 

 highways of the State require the licensing 

 of motor vehicle drivers, a more thorough 

 patroling by State police of the highways of 

 Illinois, and a more strict enforcement of law. 



We will support the enactment of legisla- 

 tion requiring the licensing of drivers and 

 providing for suspension or revocation of 

 licenses of persons convicted of driving while 

 intoxicated or of serious or repeated viola- 

 tions of highway rules and regulations. 



The steadily increasing motor revenues can 

 and should easily absorb all costs in connec- 

 tion with administration of a drivers' license 

 law. 



We believe that to be successful and effec- 

 tive, a drivers' license law will require a rea- 

 sonable extension of the State police system, 

 which should be organized on a strictly non- 

 partisan, merit basis. 



XVII 



We favor such legislation as may be neces- 

 sary to enable cooperative rural electrification 

 projects to proceed upon sound legal basis, 

 enable them to construct their lines upon the 

 public highways right of way and facilitate 

 the extension of high line electric service to 

 the farms of Illinois. 



XVIII 



The Farm Bureaus of Illinois have sup- 

 ported the development and maintenance of 

 4-H Club work in the State. 



We believe adequate quarters for the ac- 

 commodation of the 4-H Girls and Boys and 

 for their livestock and commodities should be 

 provided at the Illinois State Fair Grounds. 

 We pledge the support of the organization to- 

 ward securing adequate appropriations from 

 the General Assembly for this purpose. 



XIX 



We extend our deepest sympathy to the- 

 thousands of flood sufferers, in our own and 

 other states, driven from their homes, threat- 

 ened with epidemics, and in many instances 

 suffering irreparable loss in the tragic death 

 of members of their families. In order to 

 manifest our sympathy in helpful ways, we 

 will continue cooperation with the Red Cross 

 in relieving suffering and hardship. In addi- 

 tion, we assume the duty, in the largest pos- 

 sible measure, of assisting in re-establishing the 

 farmers in the flooded area of our State when 

 a survey by our Board of Directors shall have 

 been made to determine the most practical 

 way of meeting their needs. 



(Continued on page 29) 



I. A. A. RECORD 



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