I. A. A. RECORD— October, 1933 



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credit act, it was pointed out that re- 

 lief is not getting back to needy farm- 

 ers who are trying -to save their 

 homes. Farm loan officials are dis- 

 regarding the "Normal Value" clause 

 in appraising farms for which appli- 

 cations for federal loans have been 

 filed. 



Even where appraisals are being 

 made, such appraisals, speakers from 

 the floor said, are being made at the 

 rate of only 25% of the normal value 

 of such farms, contrary to the law 

 which allows 50% of normal appraised 

 value plus 20% of normal value of 

 buildings. 



It is up to us to organize, to be 

 militant in demanding that Agricul- 

 ture be rehabilitated not only for our 

 sake but to save America itself, said 

 Mr. Smith. Even the industrial East, 

 he said, has changed its attitude about 

 the need for restoring agriculture to 

 a profitable basis. The New York 

 Times which fought the McNary- 

 Haugen plan years ago, recently 

 stated editorially that the hope of the 

 country rests upon the restoration of 

 agriculture and farm buying power 

 and went so far as to suggest that the 

 leaders of Tammany Hall go out and 

 organize the farmers more effectively 

 so they may help themselves, and so 

 help the nation. 



Predicts Inflation 



Clifford V. Gregory, editor of 

 Prairie Farmer, received a fine ova- 

 tion when introduced to discuss farm 

 credits. "It's important to be able to 

 borrow money," he said, "but it's 

 more important to be able to pay it 

 back. We need higher prices. I be- 

 lieve the answer to our problem is in- 

 flation. It is worth more than all the 

 others — NRA, AAA, etc. I believe we 

 will have inflation within the next 60 

 to 90 days. 



"But it is up to fai'mers to reduce 

 production enough to make up for 

 our lost foreign markets. Even if 

 everyone was employed and could buy 

 our products, we would still have too 

 much to supply domestic needs. Un- 

 popular as acreage and crop reduc- 

 tion is, we must co-operate." 



Speaking of the Farm Credit Ad- 

 ministration, he said, apparently there 

 is no Santa Claus. We are not going 

 to get much help from that source. 

 The only way for agrictilture to get 

 proper credit is for a strong organiza- 

 tion like the Farm Bureau and I. A. A. 

 to go down in every county where 

 needed and organize local credit asso- 

 ciations to supplement the banks. Re- 

 member that most of the credit ad- 

 ministration officials have a banking 

 background. They are afraid the 

 money loaned will not be paid back. 



"Only the things we do ourselves are 

 the thinTTs that are sure to be done." 



OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS OF I. A. A. AT DECATUR 



They unanimously adopted and submitted plans and resolutions to state-iivlde 

 conference of County Farm Bureau leaders, for approval. 



L.EPT TO RIGHT STANDING are Directors Harris. Black, Endlcott, Sorrella, 

 DeFrees, Ihrle. Curtis, Lawrence, Marshall, Muller, Bamborougrh, and Dennis. 



SEATED, LEFT TO RIGHT are Directors Lambert, Cope, Secretary Metxger, 

 Vice-President Wright, President Smith, and Treasurer Covrles. 



Stop Tax Raids 



Donald Kirkpatrick made a brief 

 but vigorous plea for a more power- 

 ful mobilization of agricultural forces 

 to stop tax raids by the metropolitan 

 area of Chicago on downstate for un- 

 employment relief. 



A large part of the wealth of Illi- 

 nois is concentrated in Chicago and 

 the metropolitan area, he said, but 

 Cook county still owes the state be- 

 tween 40 and 50 million dollars and 

 downstate people have been compelled 

 to make up in higher state taxes for 

 Chicago's delinquency. 



Downstate people through the sales 

 tax are being levied upon to care for 

 the unemployed in Chicago, besides 

 caring for their own through local 

 tax levies on property. 



Chicago has levied comparatively 

 nothing for local pauper relief, said 

 Kirkpatrick. "Downstate people must 

 stand together and say to flhicago, 

 'You shall not have further opportu- 

 nity to sidestep your responsibility.' 

 We are suggesting a constitutional 

 limitation through a new amendment 

 to cut property taxes in half, a tax 

 limitation of less than one per cent 

 of fair cash value." 



Thifi Id£a Pleases 



"The suggestion has been made that 

 all our problems would be solved if 

 farmers would work from 8 to 4 in- 

 stead of from 4 to 8, and 50 per cent 

 of all public office holders were re- 

 moved," said President Smith. This 

 idea apparently appealed to the ima- 

 gination of the county leaders for 

 they responded with enthusiastic ap- 

 plause. 



Then ' Secretary Metzger explained 

 the memorandum of agreement be- 

 tween the state organization and 

 county Farm Bureaus for the mobili- 

 ( Continued on page 18) 



Stop Diversion Of 



Gas Tax Funds Now 



Give Chicago Full Authority To 



Levy Taxes Locally For Poor 



Relief Is Sentiment at 



Decatur Meeting 



TWO resolutions outlining the 

 position of the Illinois Agricul- 

 tural Association on tax and 

 legislative matters of current interest, 

 were presented by John C. Watson, 

 director of taxation before the Coun- 

 ty Farm Bureau leaders at Decatur 

 Sept. 18. Both were adopted without 

 a dissenting vote. 



The resolutions are as follpws: 



It appears from newspaper re- 

 ports that a special session of the 

 General Assembly is to be called 

 on October 3rd, 1933, to make 

 further provision for relief of the 

 unemployed; that the State Admin- 

 istration will propose a property tax 

 levy against which tax anticipation 

 notes will be issued to provide im- 

 mediate funds; that a state bond 

 issue for at least $20,000,000 will be 

 submitted to the voters in Novem- 

 ber, 1934, and if the bond issue is 

 approved, the proceeds of the bpnds 

 will be used to retire the tax war- 

 rants and the state property tax will 

 thus be cancelled. 



If the bond issue fails of adop- 

 tion, the state property tax will be 

 levied and collected in 1935. It ap- 

 pears to be further proposed that 

 these bonds shall be retired from the 

 counties' portion of the gasoline tax, 

 each county to pay in proportion to 

 the relief received from this source. 

 About 80% of this money will prob- 

 ably be expended in Cook County. 



