State Legislature 



By PAUL E. MATHIAS 



Additional funds for re- 



y iX lief of the unemployed and 



^^^ I needy, creation of a state 

 school board, and drivers license legisla- 

 tion are subject matters in the present 

 special session of the Illinois legislature 

 probably of most interest to farmers. The 

 session was called primarily to provide 

 funds for and to con- 

 sider legislation deal- 

 ing with the admin- 

 istration of relief. The 

 relief load has been 

 increasing with the 

 economic "recession." 

 The legislature 

 promptly appropriated 

 $4,500,000 from the 

 State treasury to be 

 Paul E. Mathiaa expended at the rate 

 of $500,000 per month. This appropria- 

 tion increases the State's contribution to- 

 ward direct relief to $3,500,000 monthly. 

 The legislature also adopted bills which 

 will extend the occupational tax on utility 

 companies at 3% of their gross receipts 

 for a period of one year. Had this legis- 

 lation not been enacted, this tax, the pro- 

 ceeds of which now go into the relief 

 fund, would have been at the rate of 2% 

 of the gross receipts after July 1, 1938 

 and the proceeds would have gone into 

 the General Revenue Fund. 



While enacting this legislation, the 

 legislature was casting about for ways to 

 enable local governmental units to pro- 

 vide additional funds for relief. Various 

 schemes were proposed and bills were 

 introduced to authorize the governing 

 body of cities, villages and incorporated 

 towns to license and tax practically all 



No Drudgery Here 



(Continued from page 22) 



pair of pliers, and an assortment of nails. 

 Also the flashlight, not to be cluttered up 

 with other things, has a special place all 

 its own. Mr. and Mrs. Fox easily could 

 locate this article should the lights sud- 

 denly fail. 



Every thought has been for economy of 

 movement. Surely work in this kitchen 

 should never seem a drudgery to a home- 

 maker. 



A member of the Ford County Home 

 Bureau since its founding two years ago, 

 Mrs. Fox has found much of interest in 

 the organization. To any one building or 

 remodeling a kitchen, she will be happy 

 to pass on her experiences and sugges- 

 tions. 



businesses and occupations other than 

 the professions. Bills were also intro- 

 duced which would enable local com- 

 munities to increase their levy for relief 

 purposes from 30c to 60c upon the $100 

 assessed valuation. Both series of bills 

 have now been tabled, and as this issue 

 of the Record goes to press there does 

 not seem to be any certainty as to the 

 method by which the additional local 

 funds will be raised. 



The p>osition of the Illinois Agricul- 

 tural Association has been that first the 

 relief rolls should be purged of undeserv- 

 ing persons not requiring public assis- 

 tance; second that persons on relief 

 should be encouraged and required to 

 take private employment where available 

 and third, if these conditions have been 

 met and available funds still are insuf- 

 ficient, then the Association would not 

 oppose legislation enabling local com- 

 munities by town meeting, or referendum 

 in commission governed counties, to levy 

 up to 50c on the $100 assessed valuation 

 for relief purposes. The Association 

 does not believe that the 50c levy should 

 be made mandatory. It feels that any 

 community which has levied 30c on the 

 $100 assessed valuation should be en- 

 titled to participate in State funds. Re- 

 lief is primarily a local responsibility and 

 the additional levy will enable the com- 

 munities to provide for any unusual need. 

 The Association continues to hear of 



HE OUT-TALKED 11.000 AG STUDENTS 

 Richard Rust, Macoupin county, winner 

 of the state championship in public speak- 

 ing at the 1938 Tocotional agriculture con- 

 tests at D. of L ag collage. 



numerous instances in which farmers are 

 unable to obtain help and of instances in 

 which the help which is taken from relief 

 rolls is either inefficient or unwilling to 

 make the effort necessary to earn the com- 

 pensation paid them. 



A bill creating a state school board of 

 eight appKjintive members and the Super- 

 intendent of Public Instruction was in- 

 troduced in the Senate early in the ses- 

 sion. This bill gave the board broad 

 advisory powers and also empowered it 

 to prescribe standards for a minimum 

 program of education including such mat- 

 ters as teachers' salaries, length of class 

 day and school year, building standards 

 and conditions, educational equipment 

 and transportation provisions. The bill 

 provided that the State distributive school 

 funds should be withheld from any 

 school district which failed to comply 

 with the standards prescribed by the State 

 Board so long as such non-compliance 

 continued. 



The Association has regarded this bill 

 as a step toward state control of schools 

 and compulsory consolidation. Under 

 such a law it is possible that an unfair 

 portion of the tax burden for schools 

 would fall on rural property under the 

 present taxing system. The Association 

 has felt that parents and local school 

 officials are better qualified to determine 

 standards and programs of education than 

 a state board meeting in Springfield. 

 While the Association favors voluntary 

 consolidation of schools as local condi- 

 tions permit, it believes that compulsory 

 consolidation is impractical under exist- 

 ing road conditions in many parts of the 

 State. This State school board bill was 

 tabled after a hearing in the Senate. 



Drivers license legislation has been in- 

 troduced in both the House and in the 

 Senate and the provisions of the bills are 

 quite similar with the exception that in 

 one series of bills administration is vested 

 in the Director of the State Department 

 of Public Works and Buildings and a 

 license fee is required. In the other 

 series of bills, administration is vested in 

 the Secretary of State and the license 

 would be issued without fee. The same 

 controversy over the patronage which 

 goes with administration of the act which 

 developed in the last regular session again 

 seems to be present. While there is gen- 

 eral recognition among members of the 

 legislature that drivers license legislation 

 is desirable, they seem unable to agree as 

 to its administration. 



The Governor in calling the special ses- 

 sion along with a number of miscellane- 

 ous subjects also included the submission 

 of a proposal to call a constitutional con- 

 vention of the voters at the election this 

 fall. It does not seem likely that this 

 proposal will be approved by the neces- 

 sary two-thirds majority of the legisla- 

 ture. 



JULY. 1938 



23 



