The 



Illinois A^odtiiral Assodatioii 



RECORD 



Published monthly by the Illinois Agricultural Association at 166 So. Main Street, Spencer, Ind. Editorial Offices, 608 So. Dearborn St.. Chicago, III. 

 Entered as second class matter at post office, Spencer, Ind. Acceptance for mailing at special rates of postage prorided in Section 412, Act of Feb. 28, 

 1925, authorized Oct. 27, 1925. Address all communications for publication to Editorial Offices, Illinois Agricultural Ass^ociation Record, 608 So. 

 Dearborn St., Chicago. 



Number 8 



AUGUST, 1933 



Volume 11 



The 58th 



G 



enera 



lA 



ssem 



biy 



With Special Emphasis On What Happened To Legisla- 

 tion of Chief Importance To Farmers 



REVENUE reform, reduced ap- 

 propriations, relief to property 

 taxpayers, the halting of indis- 

 criminate foreclosures on farms and 

 homes, and revision of the road laws 

 of the state were the chief interests 

 of the Illinois Agricultural Association 

 in the 58th General Assembly. 



The make-up of the legislature this 

 year was considerably different from 

 that of former years. There were 

 many new faces — a large number serv- 

 ing for the first time. Problems grow- 

 ing out of the unemployment situation 

 and inability to collect taxes in Chi- 

 cago and Cook county occupied the 

 center of attention during the fore 

 part of the session. 



It soon became apparent that Chi- 

 cago and Cook county leaders were un- 

 duly influencing legislation. 



Revenue Amendment 



The I. A. A. early expressed its in- 

 terest in securing a constructive 

 amendment to the revenue article of 

 the constitution. It recognized this as 

 of first importance. On several occa- 

 sions members of the I. A. A. legisla- 

 tive committee suggested to the Gov- 

 ernor their willingness and desire to 

 be helpful in securing the passage of 

 constructive revenue legislation and 

 particularly an amendment to the con- 

 stitution giving the legislature power 

 to revise our unfair and ancient tax- 

 ing system. 



With the General Assembly fast 

 approaching its close and no move 

 made by administration leaders to sub- 

 mit an amendment, the I. A. A. ap- 



peared before the Senate Executive 

 Committee on May 6 and supported a 

 revenue amendment which had been 

 introduced by Sen. Carlson of Moline 

 after the latter had agreed to certain 

 changes desired by the I. A. A. 



This amendment, known as Senate 

 Joint Resolution 18, in effect would 

 have given the legislature power by 

 majority vote to enact revenue laws 

 based upon ability to pay. This meas- 

 ure received a favorable vote of 6 to 

 3, but was never reported to the sen- 

 ate by the chairman of the Committee, 

 Senator Graham of Chicago. Chicago 

 influence and the fear of an income 

 tax apparently were responsible for 

 this attempt to defeat it. Therefore 

 a few weeks later, at the suggestion 

 of the I. A. A., a motion was made 

 to take the revenue amendment reso- 

 lution, S. J. R. 18, from the Senate 

 Committee and place it on the cal- 

 endar. This motion was lost by a vote 

 of 21 to 20, failing by 5 votes to re- 

 ceive the necessary 26 for passage. 

 The vote was as follows: 



The NAYS Against Us 



YEAS (for S. J. R. 18 supported by 

 the I. A. A.) — Baker, Barr, Benson, 

 Burgess, Carlson, Clifford, Ewing, 

 Finn, Gunning, Kline, Lantz, Lee, 

 Mason, Mayor, Mundy, Paddock, Pen- 

 ick, Searcy, Serritella, Sieberns, and 

 Thompson. 



NAYS— Barbour, Broderick, Gill- 

 meister, Graham, Hickman, Huckin, 

 Huebsch, Karraker, Loughran, Loh- 

 mann. Maypole, McDermott, Monroe, 



O'Connell, O'Grady, Roberts, Shaw, 

 Stuttle, Ward and Williams. 



Senators who voted against this 

 motion in effect voted against the in- 

 terests not only of farm people but of 

 all property taxpayers. 



The I. A. A. continued discussing 

 with members of both houses of the 

 General Assembly the need for a 

 revenue amendment. Up to the final 

 week of the session the administration 

 had failed to offer one. In the mean- 

 time a sub-committee of the Judiciary 

 Committee in the House brought out a 

 proposed revenue amendment known 

 as House Joint Resolution 65. This 

 amendment when brought to the floor 

 of the House won widespread support 

 because it placed a limit of one per 

 cent tax on the fair cash value of 

 tangible property, exempted from tax- 

 ation homesteads up to |1,000 in value 

 when occupied by the owner, and gave 

 the legislature power by majority vote 

 to pass new revenue laws without 

 present constitutional restrictions. 



This resolution passed the House by 

 the overwhelming non-partisan vote of 

 129 to 5. 



Recognizing the importance of 

 amending the revenue article of the 

 constitution, the I. A. A. succeeded in 

 getting certain amendments into H. J. 

 R. 65 that justified the united support 

 of the taxpayers' organizations repre- 

 sented at Springfield, including the 

 Illinois Association of Real Estate 

 Boards, the State Grange and the Illi- 

 nois Agricultural Association. 



On Thursday morning, June 29, the 

 resolution carrying the I. A. A. amend- 

 ments was placed on special order for 

 a vote at two o'clock that afternoon 

 at the request of the senate majority 

 floor leader. This amendment carry- 



•mmt^mma 



/ 



