Legislature Draws To Close 



£S WE go to press, the reg- 

 .jJLL ular session of the Illinois 

 ^^^/^ i General Assembly is draw- 

 ing to a close. By the time this issue 

 reaches you the legislature undoubtedly 

 will have adjourned with many of the 

 pending bills not enacted. 



Not until the roll calls are all in, will 

 anyone know the fate of pending meas- 

 ures in which farmers are interested. 



The defeat of the milk control bill, 

 H.B. 483, in the House June 15 disap- 

 jxjinted a great many milk producers 

 around the state. Those representatives 

 from rural areas who failed to vote at 

 the crucial time, or who voted against 

 the measure, may expect to hear from 

 their dairymen constituents in the fluid 

 milk sheds next time they are up for 

 election. 



Simple justice would seem to demand 

 that the milk producers be given the 

 protection of a reasonable measure licens- 

 ing and bonding the distributors. Al- 

 most every other handler of farm prod- 

 ucts except the milk dealer is required 

 to give evidence of his financial ability 

 to pay for the produce he receives. And 

 surely so long as payment to the pro- 

 ducer is measured by the use of milk in 

 the various base and surplus classifica- 

 tions, any distributor should be required 

 to submit his books to scrutiny and audit 

 by an impartial body as a safeguard 

 against fraud. 



The Producers' Argument 



The argument of the whole milk pro- 

 ducers for minimum price legislation as 

 provided in their bill boils down to one 

 of compensating them for the extra ex- 

 pense and effort they are put to in meet- 

 ing the rigid sanitary standards imposed 

 on them by city health ordinances. Were 

 it not for these regulations, the fluid 

 milk shippers would have no greater 

 argument for minimum price legislation 

 than producers in the condensery, cheese, 

 and creamery districts, who, of course, 

 would not be affected by this particular 

 legislation. But a premium over con- 

 densery and butterfat prices is their 

 due, and there is evidence to justify 

 their belief that a state milk control 

 law properly administered would have 

 given them the protection to which 

 they are entitled. 



The appearance of Prof. H. A. Ruehe 

 chief of the dairy department at the Uni- 

 versity of Illinois before the legislature 



in opposition to the milk control bill 

 disappointed the organized milk pro- 

 ducers. The Milk Investigating Com- 

 mittee appointed by the lieutenant-gov- 

 ernor, of which Ruehe was chairman, 

 made a whirlwind trip to a few east- 

 ern markets accompanied by a reporter 

 from the Chicago Tribune which has 

 aggressively opposed the enactment of 

 milk marketing legislation. A proper 

 and certainly a tactful handling of the 

 investigation would seem to dictate a 

 more extensive interviewing of milk 

 producers arid public administrative of- 

 ficials as well as milk dealers about the 

 results of milk control laws in other 

 states. The committee had an oppor- 

 tunity to carry on an impartial inves- 

 tigation. What it achieved, farmers 

 feel, was much less than that. The 

 fight will go forward for legislation 

 to protect all milk producers regard- 

 less of their market. 



Toward the close of the session op- 

 position developed to the state road 

 building bills which would tie up gas 

 tax funds for the next ten years to retire 

 $60,000,000 of tax anticipation notes. 

 These notes would be issued to make 

 funds immediately available for building 

 superhighways in the Chicago and Cook 

 County area, and secondary roads in the 

 downstate counties. At this writing an 

 attempt is being made to amend the bills 

 to take the downstate counties out of the 

 program so that only Chicago and Cook 

 county portions of the state gas tax 

 would be so pledged. 



The painters bill was tabled on June 

 21. This bill provided that only per- 



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sons licensed by the state might engage 

 in painting. 



The Plumbing Law Amendment sp>on- 

 sored by the lAA has passed the House 

 and is on second reading in the Senate. 

 The organized plumbers have offered an 

 objectionable amendment which must be 

 disposed of before final passage can be 

 assured. This bill, (H.B. 985) sup- 

 ported also by the Illinois Home Bureau, 

 would exempt farms from the legal re- 

 quirement of hiring state licensed plump- 

 ers to install pipes and plumbing fixtures 

 for a farm and home water or sewage 

 disposal system. 



Bangs* Disease Control 



House bill 803 providing for state 

 cooperation in Bangs disease control in 

 cattle has passed the House and is on 

 third reading in the Senate. 



H.B. 463 which would have created 

 a school survey committee in each county 

 is dead. H.B. 269 appropriating $550,- 

 000 of state money for aid to local school 

 districts in transporting pupils who re- 

 side at least II/2 miles from school has 

 passed the House and is on third reading 

 in the Senate. 



House bills 490-491 which would li- 

 cense handlers of fresh fruits and vege- 

 tables, has passed the House and is in 

 position to pass in the Senate. This bill 

 is sponsored by the Illinois Fruit Growers 

 Exchange and other groups in the Indus- 

 try and is being supported by the lAA. 



House bill 697 which would change 

 the basis of assessment of growing nurs- 

 ery stock to real property the same as 

 other crops, instead of personal prop- 

 erty, has passed the House and is now 

 pending. 



Bills which would have limited sale 

 of hog cholera serum and virus and 

 other biologies to drug stores, and pre- 

 vented farmers from vaccinating their 

 own pigs were killed in Committee. The 

 senate failed to pass the bill to require 

 recording (50c each) of all conditional 

 sales (time payment) contracts. An 

 investigation showed that there are more 

 than a million of such sales in a year in 

 Illinois and legislators felt that record- 

 ing each one would entail unnecessary 

 red tape and expense. 



A more complete report on bills passed 

 and rejected together with roll calls will 

 be carried in the next issue of the REC- 

 ORD. 



L A. A. RECORD 



