the provisions of the Act. The bill was 

 amended in the House to exempt truckers 

 hauling livestock, milk and agricultural 

 products. This amendment was not 

 sponsored by the Association as it was 

 not believed to be constitutional. 



The Association vigorously opposed 

 this bill. The Association has no brief 

 for the large operators of trucks and be- 

 lieves that they should, be regulated in 

 order to preserve the highways con- 

 structed at State expense and to further 

 the safety of persons using those high- 

 ways. However, the Association feels 

 that complete regulation of the business 

 of the small truck operator is unnecessary 

 and that if these small operators are 

 eventually regulated off the highway 

 through the imposition of oppressive re- 

 quirements it will result in substantially 

 increased costs for service which are 

 neither necessary nor justified. The large 

 operators will then be freed from the 

 competition of the small operators. In 

 the Associations opinion this competition 

 has been more effective in holding rates 

 in line than regulation by any political 

 commission possibly can be. No estimate 

 was made of the number of appointees 

 which would be required to administer 

 and police all the commercial trucks and 

 buses of the State. 



Regulation Only 



The bill was not designed to protect 

 the State highways or to provide for 

 the safety of persons using those high- 

 ways, but was a bill for the regulation 

 of the trucking industry and any safety 

 features were only incidental. The bill 

 was called for passage in the House on 

 tire last day of the session and failing to 

 receive sufficient number of votes for 

 passage, consideration was postponed. 

 Late in the night of the last day, the 

 bill was again taken up and passed in 

 the House. This bill had the active sup- 

 port of large truck, bus and local cart- 

 age interests and the use of money to 

 facilitate its passage was openly charged 

 on the floor of the House when the bill 

 was called for final consideration at the 

 night session in the House. The Attorney 

 General held the bill unconstitutional 

 because of the exemption of trucks 

 hauling agricultural commodities, an 

 improper classification, and ■ following 

 this opinion the Governor vetoed the 

 bill. The voting record of all except 

 Chicago senators and representatives up- 

 on passage of this truck regulation bill 

 is given on pages 8-10 of this issue of 

 the RECORD. 



The Association recognizes the need 

 for regulation of buses and large trucks 

 operating intrastate. It recognizes the 

 imperative need for protection of the 

 highways, constructed at great expense, 

 from excessive loads and undue lengths. 

 It recognizes the necessity for the pro- 



tection of the citizens of the State in their 

 rightful use of the highways -from these 

 large trucks and buses. It will whole- 

 heartedly and aggressively support legis- 

 lation when directed toward these ends. 

 It will continue to oppose legislation 

 of this character if directed toward the 

 protection of large operators of trucks 

 and buses through the imposition 

 of onerous regulations and impractical 

 requirements serving no useful purpose 

 but making the operations of the small 

 trucker so expensive as to drive him off 

 the highways of the State of Illinois. 



School Legislation 



A number of bills affecting schools 

 were introduced. Special mention should 

 be made of Senate Bill No. 1 which as 

 originally introduced provided for the 

 creation of a State board of education and 

 gave this board broad, comprehensive 

 powers looking toward the consolidation 

 of school districts and supervision over 

 the schools of the State. However, this 

 bill was amended, these broad powers 

 deleted and eventually the bill, after 

 passing the Senate, was tabled in the 

 House. The Association opposed the 

 provisions of the bill which gave this 

 board, broad powers over local schools. 



Many other bills on school nutters 

 were introduced especially for the pur- 

 pose of giving them additional revenue, 

 including changes proposed in the levies 

 of taxes for school purposes. Nearly all 

 bills of this character were defeated. 



Road Bills 



Legislation was enacted authorizing 

 the Division of Highways, with the 

 approval of the Federal Government, 

 to designate a State system of secondary 

 or farm-to-market roads of not' more 

 than 10,000 miles. $1,000,000 of State 

 moneys were appropriated for these 

 roads, to be matched by an equal amount 

 of Federal funds. The Federal regula- 

 tions require that construction of this 

 system be carried on in one-half the 

 counties each year. The standards of 

 design are fixed by the State Division of 

 Highways subject to the approval of the 

 Federal authorities. The Association did 

 not sponsor or oppose this legislation. 

 It believes that legislation of this nature 

 should provide for an equitable alloca- 

 tion of mileage as bet\^'een the several 

 counties and should specify reasonable 

 standards of design for these roads in 

 order to get away from the unnecessarily 

 wide right-of-way and undue grading 

 often required. However, it was ad- 

 vised that the Federal regulations made 

 it impossible to include such provisions. 

 The value of this secondary road legisla- 

 tion, in the Association's opinion, will 

 depend upon the fairness of the alloca- 

 tion of mileage among the several coun- 

 ties, regardless of pxjlitical considerations. 



and whether the funds are used for low- 

 cost roads adequate for the anticipated 

 traffic or are dissipated in expensive con- 

 struction of a type neither necessary nor 

 justified for the traffic upon them. 



Soil Conservation Districts Law 



The President of the United States 

 requested Governor Horner to spKjnsor 

 legislation authorizing the creation of 

 Soil Consers'ation Districts in Illinois for 

 soil erosion control. A draft of the 

 proposed legislation prepared by Federal 

 authorities was submitted to the Gover- 

 nor. The Director of Agriculture, and 

 representatives of the Association, of the 

 State College of Agriculture and of the 

 State Grange, were invited to constitute 

 a committee to study the bill and make 

 recommendations to the Governor con- 

 cerning it. Substantial amendments were 

 recommended by the Committee to safe- 

 guard owners of land and make the bill 

 more practicable and workable. The 

 amendments so recommended were em- 

 bodied in the bill and the bill was 

 introduced in the legislature and passed. 

 In effect, the bill sets up the procedure 

 for the creation of soil conser%ation 

 districts which would be somewhat 

 similar to drainage districts and have 

 certain powers in carrying out erosion 

 control programs within the territory 

 of the district. A referendum must be 

 had before any district is organized. 

 The districts do not have taxing power. 

 The Association neither sponsored nor 

 opposed this bill. Properly administered, 

 soil conservation districts such as are 

 authorized under the Act can be of value 

 in sections of the State. If misdirected, 

 such districts might, through ill-adjised 

 regulations, hamper the operators jjr land 

 in a district. It is felt that the substantial 

 referendum vote required constitutes a 

 safeguard against the adoption of ill- 

 advised regulations in any district. 



Studied Many Bills 



Reference has been made to only a 

 few of the many bills introduced in the 

 present General Assembly. In addition, 

 the legislative representatives of the As- 

 sociation scanned all bills introduced and 

 many of them were opposed or were 

 amended to remove provisions objection- 

 able to agriculture of the State. The 

 members of the General Assembly were 

 uniformly courteous in discussing various 

 measures with your legislative representa- 

 tives. Special mention should be made 

 of the courtesies extended by Senator 

 Burgess, Chairman of the Committee on 

 Agriculture of the Senate ; Representative 

 Frank Wilson, Chairman of the Commit- 

 tee on Agriculture of the House: by 

 Honorable John Stelle, Lieutenant-Gov- 

 ernor and President of the Senate, and by 

 Honorable Louie Lewis, Speaker of the 

 House of Representatives. 



AUGUST, 1937 



11 



