12 



I. A. A. RECORD— May, 1933 



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fTalk Over Problems 

 I At 1. A. A. District 



ConFerence 



County Farm Bureau Leaders Find Plenty of Topics To 

 Interest Them, Sales Tax Is Live Issue 



I HE STATE sales tax and the 

 relative merits of the county 

 commissioner form of govern- 

 ment vs. the board of supervisors form 

 were discussed by John C. Watson 

 of the I. A. A. at the 15th district 

 conference in Quincy, April 3. Ray 

 Ihrig, I. A. A. director, called the 

 meeting and presided. Farm Bureau 

 leaders who attended from Adams, 

 Knox, Schuyler, Henry, and Fulton 

 counties got down to fundamentals 

 and exchanged views informally on a 

 variety of subjects of vital interest to 

 the organization. 



Mr. Watson stated that the sales 

 tax was not sponsored by the Illinois 

 Agricultural Association, although the 

 I. A. A. did not oppose it. "It be- 

 came apparent," he said, "in view of 

 the new political lineup that some 

 sort of a sales tax would be passed so 

 the I. A. A. immediately interested 

 itself in getting a tax that was least 

 objectionable to rural people. 



;■..,. Amended Original 



"With the help of its friends in the 

 senate, the Association succeeded in 

 amending the original bill to distribute 

 the sales tax funds among the coun- 

 ties according to population and to 

 make the new tax primarily a re- 

 placement tax to reduce levies against 

 property." 



The commission form of county 

 government, Watson said, has greater 

 possibilities for efficiency but also is 

 more open to rule by political cliques. 

 The county manager form offers the 

 greatest hope for efficient and eco- 

 nomical government, he said. 



The only legal basis for assessing 

 personal property under the constitu- 

 tion of Illinois, Mr. Watson told the 

 delegates, is at the same percentage 

 of fair cash value as real estate is 

 assessed. He recommended conferring 

 with the county treasurer on personal 

 property assessment, expressing the 

 belief the reported order of the state 

 tax commission to assess personal 



property at 100 per cent is in error. 



Sam H. Thompson, former I. A. A. 

 and A. F. B. F. president, who re- 

 cently retired from the Federal Farm 

 Board, attended the meeting and dis- 

 cussed general agricultural conditions 

 and pending legislation. He concluded 

 his talk by saying that he returned to 

 Adams county as an ordinary citizen 

 and Farm Bureau member in the 

 ranks and hoped to prove that he 

 Gould be a good follower. Dudley 

 Myers, president of the Adams Co. 

 Farm Bureau for 14 years who with 

 Mr. Thompson was awarded a medal 

 by the A. F. B. F. for distinguished 

 service to agriculture, expressed the 

 belief that the depression had brought 

 about an awakening among all groups 

 to the farmers' plight and the need 

 for restoring farm prosperity before 

 there could be general prosperity. 



G. A. Broman of Henry County re- 

 ported that money was tight and 

 Farm Bureau collections slow in that 

 county. Farmers are paying insurance 

 premiums, gasoline and oil bills, and 

 neglecting to pay their dues, he said. 

 He suggested that volunteers be di- 

 rected to look after collections in their 

 respective communities. John Moore 

 of the organization staff outlined sev- 

 eral plans for collecting dues. 



A. R. Kemp of Knox county recom- 

 mended school and town hall commu- 

 nity meetings as a means of reach- 

 ing members and keeping them in- 

 formed on organization activities and 

 accomplishments. Let's spend more 

 time serving our present paid up 

 members, said Kemp, and not so 

 much time on delinquents and figur- 

 ing how to get new ones. He related 

 how 18 successful "fireside" meetings 

 in members' homes were held where 

 livestock marketing was discussed. 

 Harry Gehring emphasized the need 

 for getting the Farm Bureau story 

 before the people through local meet- 

 ings and told of school house gather- 

 ings promoted with excellent results 

 in two townships in Knox county. 



Sam Thompson Retires 



Sam H. Thompson of Quincy, 

 member of the Federal Farm Board 

 and former president of the Illi- 

 nois Agricul- 

 tural Associa- 

 tion and A. 

 F. B. F., an- 

 nounced his 

 resign a t i o n 

 from Wash- 

 ing ton on 

 March 29. He 

 was appointed 

 in March, 1931 

 to c o m p 1 e te 

 the unexpired 

 term of Alex- 

 ander Legge, first chairman of the 

 Board. Mr. Thompson resigned as 

 president of the American Farm 

 Bureau Federation to accept the 

 appointment by ex-President Hoo- 

 ver, ''^s'i '■''■■'■■ t:^:-:- 



Mr. Thompson will long be re- 

 membered for his sincere devotion 

 to the welfare of agriculture and 

 for his many years service in the 

 Farm Bureau movement which he 

 entered first as a membership so- 

 licitor in his home county, Adams. 



S. H. THOMPSON 



Wm. Brown of Fulton county em- 

 phasized the value of 4-H club work 

 to county fairs expressing the belief 

 that this feature had made possible 

 continuation of the fair in his county. 

 "Many farmers are not the right 

 calibre for Farm Bureau members," 

 said Brown, "and should not be in- 

 vited to join." Increased taxes from 

 unemployment relief, he said, are im- 

 posing a heavy burden on farmers. 



J, E. Meatheringham of Adams ex- 

 plained his organization plan in which 

 each member would be allowed a dis- 

 count on his dues for every new paid- 

 up member secured. Thus as member- 

 ship increased per capita dues would 

 go down and vice versa. "Let's put 

 responsibility on the members for 

 maintaining the organization, but 

 credit the man who signs up his neigh- 

 bors, with a lower cost membership 

 fee for his effort." 



Resolutions were adopted referring 

 the question of appropriation f or^tate 

 Fair to the I. A. A. legislative com- 

 mittee; opposing legislation to wipe 

 out or seriously cripple Farm and 

 Home advisory work; recommending 

 maintenance of 4-H club work on the 

 present basis. 



The next meeting will be held after 

 corn planting in Henry county. L. E. 

 McKinzie of Schuyler county, was 

 elected secretary of the district for a 

 two-year term. , ; •':" ::'■-. f:\ .-;;•/:■ ^^ ••';,:, 



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XI 



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