December, 1932 



THE I. A. A. RECORD 



Page Seven 



National Grange Master 

 Outlines Relief Program 



Expresses Friendly Interest In 



Domestic Allotment Plan 



To Lift Farm Prices 



"^.^ 



THERE are four essential steps 

 that should be demanded of the 

 short session of Congress, L. J. 

 Taber, member of the National 

 Grange, declared in his annual ad- 

 dress before the delegates and na- 

 tional assemWy at Winston-Salem, 

 North Carolina on November 16. 



"There should be an amendment 

 to the Marketing Act providing ma- 

 chinery to deal with the surplus 

 problem and lift prices. 



"Monetary stabilization must have 

 consideration and an honest dollar 

 must mean more than one hundred 

 cents. It must mean a dollar honest 

 to debtor and creditor alike. 



"Credit machinery must be set in 

 motion to prevent foreclosures, to 

 reduce interest charges, and where 

 the farmer has any equity left, give 

 him a fighting chance to hold his 

 farm and home. 



Must Cut Taxes 



"Governmental costs, local, state, 

 and national, must be reduced and 

 tax burdens lightened on real es- 

 tate." He also recommended that 

 the organization endorse a long- 

 time policy for rural life founded 

 on a sound program of land utiliza- 

 tion. 

 ~ He advocated retention of the Ag- 

 ricultural Marketing Act but that it 

 be amended to overcome its weak- 

 nesses and shortcomings. "When 

 the Act is amended," he said, "it 

 must be amended by the friends 

 and not by the enemies of agricul- 

 ture. 



"The stabilization features of 

 this Act have not been wholly suc- 

 cessful ... yet it is apparent that 

 a better substitute must be found 

 if there is to be permanent good 

 derived from machinery of this 

 character," said Taber. "The surplus 

 problem is still with us. Some solu- 

 tion must be found for this prob- 

 lem, or continued disaster is ahead." 



Allotment Plan 



After upholding the export de- 

 benture plan which the Grange has 

 consistently advocated, Mr. Taber 

 said: "The Domestic Allotment 

 Plan is now receiving considerable 

 support from industrial and com- 

 mercial leadership as well as rural 

 groups. This method provides for 

 the payment of the equivalent of 

 the tariff on that portion of certain 

 commodities domestically con- 

 sumed; funds for this purpose to 

 be raised by a tax on the processor. 

 Overproduction would be checked 

 by the fact that the farmer receives 

 less for his surplus than for that 

 used in the home market. 



"It is possible that this plan can 

 be amended and simplified in a 

 manner where the Grange can give 

 it support. We never have advocated 

 any measure because of name, ori- 

 gin, or the nature of support be- 

 hind it, but have always sought to 

 favor any program economically 

 defensible, lifting farm prices with- 

 out burdensome or bureaucratic 

 machinery. . . . Our organization 

 stands ready to co-operate with 

 every force in the nation to the 

 end that the intolerable inequality 

 of the export branches of agricul- 

 ture shall be minimized. . . . 



Amend Marketing Act 



"The Marketing Act should be 

 amended: First, to provide for a 

 Bi-Partisan Board; second, by re- 

 storing to the Board funds spent for 

 wheat given to charity and to 

 China; and third, by substituting 

 for stabilization some additional 

 method of lifting farm prices." 



Mr. Taber recommended over- 

 hauling and reorganization of the 

 functions of government, but de- 

 clared that agriculture must guard 

 against the crippling of services 

 necessary and helpful to industry. 



Tax reduction, lower cost trans- 

 portation, extension of farm to 

 market roads, opposition to exten- 

 sive diversion of gas tax license fees 

 for other than road building pur- 

 poses, tariff protection, co-ordina- 

 tion and improvement of the farm 

 credit system, reduced interest 

 charges on long-time farm loans, 

 and constructive amendments to 

 the present credit system without 

 drastic changes, were other recom- 

 mendations. 



Retention of the gold standard, 

 avoidance of fiat money, but "cor- 

 rection of the currency structure 

 so as to stabilize the value of the 

 dollar and its buying power in terms 

 of commodities," were also advo- 

 cated by the National Grange 

 Master. He voiced opposition to the 

 proposed farm march on Washing- 

 ton, opposed repeal of the 18th 

 Amendment, and advocated co-op- 

 eration with other farm organiza- 

 tions and plans to improve the con- 

 dition of agriculture. 



Bond Issue Goes Over 



With Large Majority 



How more than 20 Illinois coun- 

 ties gave the emergency relief bond 

 issue a 100 per cent vote or better 

 (counting vote for state legislators 

 as 100) will be revealed in a survey 

 now being completed by John C. 

 Watson, director of taxation. As we 

 go to press some 70 counties have 

 reported in each of which the pro- 

 posal carried by an overwhelming 

 majority. 



In a number of senatorial districts 

 where there were no contests for 

 state legislators many voters did 



not mark their ballots for members 

 of the General Assembly, but voted 

 "YES" on the small bond issue bal- 

 lot. Such action in Mercer county, 

 for example, resulted in a vote for 

 the bond issue of approximately 32 

 per cent greater than the vote for 

 state representative. 



While some of the following fig- 

 ures may be subject to revision they 

 are the leading counties in voting 

 to approve this important measure, 

 the passage of which saved property 

 owners from an additional levy of 

 $25,000,000 in taxes next year: Mer- 

 cer 131.8, Rock Island 110.30, Henry 

 107.67, Boone 106.87, Effingham 

 105.55, Whiteside 105.46, Pike 105.12. 

 Henderson 104.39, Putnam 103.39, 

 JoDaviess 102.32, Menard 102.29, 

 Moultrie 102.21, Tazewell 102 21, 

 Knox 101.55, DeKalb 101.54, Stark 

 101.23, Piatt 100.99, McDonough 100.- 

 97, Brown 100.720, Marshall 100.12. 

 Other counties not yet heard from 

 also may exceed the 100 per cent 

 mark. 



A large number of counties gave 

 the bond issue overwhelming ma- 

 jorities of more than 90 per cent of 

 the total vote for state legislators. 

 Thorough organization by precincts 

 with committees on hand during the 

 day to talk to voters, coupled with 

 widespread publicity, were respon- 

 sible for the wonderful showing in 

 the downstate counties. 



Pass Relief Legislation 



At Springfield Nov. 2 1 



The lower house of the state legis- 

 lature at Springfield on Nov. 21 (1) 

 approved a $17,000,000 Cook county 

 relief bond issue, (2) approved the 

 optional county sales tax of one 

 per cent on the retail selling price 

 of all tangible property which can 

 be established by a two-thirds vote 

 of the county board and kept in 

 force until July 1, 1933 for unem- 

 ployment relief purposes, and (3) 

 approved the issuance of bonds by 

 down-state counties without ref- 

 erendum for relief purposes. 



Prompt passage of these meas- 

 ures by the senate was regarded as 

 assured. 



The bills are calculated to permit 

 relief agencies in Chicago and other 

 centers of unemployment to carry 

 on until the new General Assembly 

 meets in January when, according 

 to the present outlook, an effort 

 will be made by metropolitan in- 

 terests to enact a state -wide sales 

 tax. 



The I. A. A. has been represented 

 at Springfield each week while the 

 legislature was in session. It has op- 

 posed the principle of taxing the 

 people of one section of the state 

 to provide relief for the people of 

 another section. The association be- 

 lieves that each community should 

 provide for its own unemployed. 



