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Public Relations Conference 



Springfield, III., January 27: — Poor re- 

 lief, school questions, taxation, strip min- 

 ing, truck regulation, and a state drivers 

 license law occupied the attention of Illi- 

 nois farmers here this afternoon at the Pub- 

 lic Relations Conference National legisla- 

 tion was considered in the general session 

 Friday morning, Jan. 28. 



A lively discussion on the question of 

 state versus local control of public schools 

 was launched by Harvey Adair of Chicago 

 Heights, president of the Cook county Farm 

 Bureau and a member of the Bloom Town- 

 ship high school board when he said : "We 

 must work together and demand equal edu- 

 cational advantages for our farm boys and 

 girls. The only way we can bring this about 

 is through greater state aid with revenue 

 obtained from sources other than the prop- 

 erty tax. Illinois ranks .^5th among the 

 states m public school education. We 

 should give some consideration to the pro- 

 posal for a board that can assist in develop- 

 ing a better rural educational system in Il- 

 linois." 



Henry Marshall, veteran farm leader from 

 LaSalle county said that a state board of 

 education might be a step forward if able 

 members were selected. He feared, how- 

 ever, that it might become a political foot- 

 ball. 



A. J. Gilfillan, Iroquois county, said farm- 

 ers shouldn't be required to pay taxes to 

 educate farm boys and girls for the cities. 



Mrs. J. V. Stevenson, LaSalle county, 

 former president of the Illinois Home Bu- 

 reau Federation said that a more equitable 

 base for taxation is necessary before there 

 can be substantial improvement in rural 

 schools. 



Silas Hagen, Grundy county, was loudly 

 applauded when he defended the one room 

 country school and local autonomy in rural 

 school matters. He said, "We don't want 

 any state commission to tell us how to run 

 our country schools. I am opposed to 

 compulsory consolidation. Our social and 

 community life is built around the local 

 district school. Moreover our country 



school graduates generally rank as high if 

 not higher than city pupils when they go on 

 to high school and college. Let's stick to 

 our own local school system until we're 

 sure there is something better to replace it. 



Paul E. Mathias, lAA corporate secretary 

 explained that the policy thus far developed 

 by the organization was not to oppose con- 

 solidation of country schools but to insist 

 that the rural areas affected by consolidation 

 be allowed to decide the question by ballot, 

 that farmers were generally opposed to be- 

 ing forced into consolidated school districts 

 by state law or a preponderant city vote. 



Strip coal mining which leaves thousands 

 of acres of choice farm lands piled up in 

 unsightly ridges is an evil that is crying 

 for state regulation, Ira Moats, of Knox 

 county said. George Broman of Henry 

 county advocated that strip coal mining be 

 allowed to continue but that the state re- 

 quire the land to be leveled off, reforested 

 and used to conserve rainfall. He believes 

 that it is not such a great evil if properly 

 handled. 



George Trotter, Grundy county said, 

 "Let's work for a severance tax on coal. 

 The revenue will pay for leveling off the 

 piles of earth and reforestation." 



Indiana has solved the problem by re- 

 quiring the strip mine operators to level 

 off the land again, suggested another dele- 

 gate. James Holderman, Grundy county 

 said that in his locality half the farm land 

 in one school district was destroyed by strip 

 mines which means that the other half must 

 bear the tax load. Carl Robinson, Jackson 

 county said that in some sections operators 

 are abandoning shaft coal mines because 

 they can't compete with strip mines. About 

 2000 acres has been "turned over" in Jack- 

 son and Perry counties. The conference 

 voted unanimously that the Association de- 

 vote its energies to the enactment of regula- 

 tory legislation in the next session. 



John C. Watson, Bert Vandervliet, G. W. 

 Baxter, and C. M. Seagraves of the lAA 

 Staff spoke. K. T. Smith of Greene county, 

 chairman of the lAA legislative committee 

 presided. 



Farm Supply 

 Conference 



Springfield, 111., Jan. 26: — Illinois farm- 

 ers received $1,363, 514.16 in patronage divi- 

 dends last year resulting from cooperative 

 purchasing of supplies through 64 county 

 service companies it was revealed here to- 

 day in a business conference of the Illinois 

 Farm Supply Company which was attended 

 by several hundred county service company 

 directors, managers and employees. 



"With the distribution of 1937 dividends, 

 Illinois farmers have received more than six 

 and one-half million dollars in patronage 

 and preferred stock dividends through their 

 cooperative purchasing agencies since Illi- 

 nois Farm Supply Company was established 

 in 1927," Manager L. R. Marchant declared. 



The total net sales of the 64 companies 

 this year set a new record well over the 13 

 million dollar mark. This exceeds the 1936 

 net by more than two million. 



"The 64 county service companies affili- 

 ated with this movement, representing a 

 capital stock investment of $1,094,450, oper- 

 ate 178 oil bulk storage plants and ware- 

 houses, 545 tank trucks, 82 company-owned 

 and operated service stations and supply 

 more than 600 dealer agencies." 



Efficient handling of gasoline by affiliated 

 service companies saved the state company 

 more than $85,000 during the year. Shrink- 

 ages were reduced from 2.09 per cent in 

 1930 to 1.4 per cent in 1937, the manager 

 disclosed. 



President Fred E. Herndon pointed out 

 that as the companies grow, the larger be- 

 come the responsibilities of directors, man- 

 agers and employees. 



G. W. Bunting compared the efficiency of 

 county companies by gross trading income 

 in each of the commodities handled. L. C. 

 Vork showed the proper ratio in financial 

 structures and recommended the use of bud- 

 gets in maintaining them. 



In an afternoon session which was at- 

 tended by employees and members, K. N. 



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TO USTEN AND TO LEARN — FULL ATTENDANCE AT FARM SUPPLY CONFERENCE IN E. C. BUILDING. SPRJNGFIELD. JAN. 26. 





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