124 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 



their own load, oblivious of the troubles of others. The fact remains 

 that we are all part and parcel of the great live-stock industry of 

 Illinois in which the human equation will largely delimit results for 

 ourselves, for one another, and for Illinois. The area of Illinois is 

 neither so great, nor is her heart so small, that she cannot successfully 

 foster the sentiment of state pride among her children who breed and 

 feed live stock. 



The banker indifferent to live stock, and especially to purebred 

 stock, has been found occasionally in Illinois. He is more frequently 

 encountered in this state than in states farther west, where, in nor- 

 mal times, especially low terms and long-time loans are waiting for 

 the man who is willing to undertake the improvement of the live- 

 stock population. Fortunately, however, a great number of bankers 

 in Illinois have the foresight and vision to see the end .of the road 

 of exclusive grain farming, or even of a live-stock industry based 

 on scrub animals. It is not always the money of the banker that is 

 wanted in fact, it may not be desirable that the breeder should have 

 it but what is needed is an intelligent sympathy and understanding 

 on the part of the banker which will make him able and willing to 

 give counsel and, where advisable, to render financial help. The 

 lack of this mutual confidence has doubtless been frequently responsi- 

 ble for individual disaster among live-stock men. And any great 

 number of such occurrences in a community means one of two things : 

 Either the community will settle down content with a very inferior 

 and constantly deteriorating class of live stock, or its money will be 

 constantly going away from home for such stock as it needs. The 

 banker will be affected either way. 



It is strange that the state policy of Illinois should not be clearly 

 and at the same time generously defined relative to promoting its 

 own welfare through the purebred live-stock industry. It is re- 

 grettable that some of its officers in the person of unwise assessors 

 should officiously put the brakes on her welfare. Fortunately, how- 

 ever, for the state, many men of discretion and judgment acting as 

 assessors recognize the great assessable wealth spread over the com- 

 munity through the enterprise and judgment of the purebred live- 

 stock breeder. It is plainly unfair and even folly to tax the price 

 which a breeder may have wisely or unwisely paid for an animal. 

 Purebred and registered live stock should be assessed in accordance 

 with their merit in the regular tax classification. That is to say, 

 if top quality milk cows are assessed at fifty dollars, then the indi- 

 viduals of a herd of purebred Holsteins or Jerseys should be rated at 

 fifty dollars. 



