years, the township hasn't reduced its 

 debt of some $8,000, Seely says, but it 

 has accumulated $9,000 worth of equip- 

 ment which it didn't have before. A 

 modem Alhs-Chalmers caterpillar-type 

 40 H.P. tractor with snow plow equip- 

 ment, a Ford truck, a grader, a road 

 maintainer, and $2,000 worth of other 

 equipment and supplies are paid for. 

 The fact that the township got 26,000 

 tons of rock from the state prison free 

 for the hauling, has been a big help. 

 Without WPA labor, it would require 

 about $10,000 a year, Seely says, to con- 

 tinue the present scale of work. 



The big tractor outfit is made avail- 

 able to farmers in the township to pull 

 hedge at the bare cost of the work. Fol- 

 lowing the blizzard late in January, the 

 tractor cleared off all roads in Manhattan 

 and several adjoining townships so farm- 

 ers could get through with their milk. 

 It then opened up route 44 clear to Joliet. 

 The township will collect enough money 

 for this work to pay all its own costs 

 for snow removal. 



Every farmer in the township, Bob 

 says, can now get out on a gravel road 

 one way or another. For all this work, 

 Seely receives the magnificent salary of 

 $4 a day when he works. He collected 

 $650 last year and says he never got as 

 big a kick out of anything he ever did 

 as being township road commissioner. 



He admits there are abuses in the sys- 

 tem, that it is not an uncommon practice 

 for road commissioners to take "com- 

 missions" on purchases of road machinery 

 and supplies, that taxpayers sometimes 

 get precious little road improvement for 

 their money. Yet Seely believes there is 

 much less waste and graft, far more serv- 

 ice to the township in repairing roads 

 and bridges than would be the case if 

 local road districts were abolished and a 

 unified county system adopted. 



"If we had to call Joliet every time we 

 wanted a road or bridge repaired in our 

 townships some of us think we'd wait 

 a long time for service," he said. "The 

 farmers in Manhattan township all know 

 me and when they report a bad spot in 

 the road, or a culvert washed out, we 

 try to get out there promptly and fix it. 

 I usually take a ride around the township 

 on Sunday to inspect the roads. If we 

 don't give service, they can take care of 

 us at the next election." 



Lester Case, who sells Farm Bureau 

 insurance over the county says, "Bob 

 Seely and his men are the only WPA 

 workers in the county who are really do- 

 ing the job." 



Seely is a member of the Will County 

 Farm Bureau, uses Farm Bureau gas 

 and oil in the township's tractor and 

 truck. He says, "it saves the township 

 money and we get better quality products. 

 I ran out of Penn Bond oil once and 

 had to buy other lubricants for the tractor. 



GOOD NEIGHBOR 

 Harry Munch, serving his fourth term as 

 president oi the Macon County Farm Bu- 

 reau, has been a member o{ his township 

 conservation committee since the begin- 

 ning oi the AAA, is active in Sunday 

 School and church aifairs, is township 

 supervisor and a booster for his com- 

 munity. A regular user oi all Illinois Farm 

 Supply Company products, he painted his 

 buildings last summer writh Soyoil. 



1939 lAA Advisory 



Committees IVamed 



Advisory committees of the Illinois 

 Agricultural Association for 1939 were 

 announced by President Earl C. Smith, 

 February 23, following the regular 

 monthly directors' meeting. 



The appointments are: Finance — 

 Talmage DeFees, Smithboro, chairman; 

 Albert Hayes, Chillicothe; C. M. Smith, 

 Eureka. Organization-Information — 

 Otto Steffey, Stronghurst, chairman; 

 Dwight Hart, Sharpsburg; August Eg- 

 gerding, Red Bud; C. L. Beatty, OIney, 

 Richland county farm adviser. 



Public Relations — K. T. Smith, 

 Greenfield, chairman; W. A. Dennis, 

 Paris; Leo. M. Knox, Morrison; C. S. 

 Cutright, Effingham, Effingham county 

 farm adviser. Business Service — E. E. 

 Houghtby, Shabbona, chairman; 

 Charles Marshall, Belknap; Chester 

 McCord, Newton ; O. O. Mowery, Car- 

 linville, Macoupin county farm adviser. 



I never had to add a drop of Penn Bond, 

 but when I changed to Quaker State, 

 Wolf's Head and Kendall, all 35c a quart 

 oils, I had to add from three quarts to 

 a gallon before it was time to change. 

 And the test was made under identical 

 conditions while plowing heavy snow off 

 the highways." A patronage dividend 

 check of nearly $200 was received last 

 year. It went into the road fund to 

 build more and better roads for Man- 

 hattan township. — Editor. 



Marketing — Eugene Curtis, Cham- 

 paign, Chairman ; A. O. Eckert, Belle- 

 ville; M. Ray Ihrig, Golden; Arthur 

 States, Elwood; Talmage DeFrees, 

 Smithboro; I. E. Parett, Danville, Ver- 

 milion county farm adviser. Sports 

 Festival — A. O. Eckert, Belleville, 

 chairman; Otto Steffey, Stronghurst; 

 W. A. Dennis, Paris. 



Approximately 1400 attended the 



27th annual meeting of the DeKalb 

 County Farm Bureau in the Egyptian 

 Theatre, DeKalb Feb. 21. The lAA 

 sound motion picture, "Shoulder to 

 Shoulder," shown following reports on 

 the morning program, drew much fav- 

 orable comment. Chief speakers were 

 Dr. John W. Holland of WLS and Miss 

 Cleo Fitzsimmons in charge of rural 

 youth activities for the state extension 

 service. Chauncey B. Watson, former 

 lAA vice-president spoke for and ex- 

 plained the county forest preserve pro- 

 posal coming up in the next election. 

 The proposition provides for a tax of 

 50c per $1000 assessed valuation. 

 Chauncey said that 100 years ago the 

 county had around 43,000 acres of tim- 

 ber, today only about 5500 acres mostly 

 along the creeks. He suggested that 

 something ought to be done about pre- 

 serving what little remains of the 

 county's native woods in its natural 

 state. President Emery E. Houghtby, 

 who ably presided. Farm Adviser Roy 

 Johnson, Miss Venus Johnson, home 

 adviser, John Bryant, general agent, 

 and others presented annual reports. 

 A free luncheon was served at noon to 

 all members. 



Baseball Meeting Set 



For JUarcii 31, Peoria 



The I6th annual meeting of the Illi- 

 nois Farm Bureau Baseball League will 

 ■be held in the Pere Marquette Hotel, 

 Peoria, Friday, March 31 at 10:00 A.M. 

 Reports of officers, discussion of rules, 

 appointment of committees, and elec- 

 tion of a president and vice-president 

 for 1939 will occupy most of the morn- 

 ing session. 



In the afternoon there will be a gen- 

 eral discussion on the Illinois Farm 

 Sports Festival, including softball. It 

 is planned to show the new National 

 Baseball League sound moving picture 

 recently released. 



There is nothing as valuable to poul- 

 try raisers as an accurate poultry record. 



•' 



Dr. Pedro Resende, Tres Pontas, Sul de 

 Minas, Brazil, recently sent for sample 

 copies of the RECORD and the lAA An- 

 nual Report. I , • . 



L A. A. RECORD 



