

■J.- 



^^ I LiLilNOIS 

 COLTUBAL ASSOGIA 



RECORD 



To advance the purpose for which the Farm Bureau was or- 

 ganized namely, to promote, protect and represent the bvM- 

 ness, economic, political and educational interests of the 

 farmers of Illinois and the nation, and to develop agriculture. 



Georsre Thlem, Editor 

 Johu Tracy, Ass't Bditor. 



Published monthly by the Illinois Agricultural Association at lft5 So. 



Main St., Spencer, Ind. Editorial Offices, 608 S. Dearborn St., Chicago, 



111. Entered as second class matter at post office, Spencer, Ind. Accept- 



: -ance for mailing at special rate of postage provided in Section 412. 



Act of Feb. 28, 1925, authorized Oct. 27, 1926. Address all communicationg 



for publication to Editorial Offices, Illinois Agricultural Association Record, 



•08 So. Dearborn St., Chicago. The Individual membership fee of the 



Illinois Agricultural Association is five dollars a year. The fee includes 



^ payment of fifty cents for subscription to the Illinoia Agricultural As- 



,aociation Record. Postmaster: In returning an uncalled for missent copy 



please indicate key number on address as is required by law. 



VV OFFICERS 



: President, Earl C. Smith ..}... . . ' . Detroit 



Vice-President, A. R. Wright Varna 



' Secretary, Geo. B. Metzger Chicago 



Treasurer, R. A. Cowles Bloomington 



. BOARD OF DIRECTORS 



'.■:■?:;'■■■■■:■ (By Congre^^8ional District) 



1st to 11th B. Harirta, Orayslake 



. \'^^^ B. E. Honghtby , Shaobona 



: JJth C. E. Bamborough, Polo 



. ; "th Otto Steffey, Stronghurst 



*o ' ' * **• ^' ^*^y Ihrig, Golden 



16th Albert Hayes, Chilllcothe 



J Jt^ E. D. Lawrence, Bloomington 



l«tn Mont Fox, Oakwood 



, ^th Eugene Curtis, Champaign 



■ mi^ Charles S. Black, Jacksonville 



,■' ~[*^ Samuel Sorrells, Raymond 



S***^ ^* ^' Eckert, Belleville 



• ^^ u.«... ...•••.......*•• w . xj. v>ope, oaiem 



nm^ Charles Marshall, Belknap 



2oth R, B. Endicott, Villa Ridge 



DEPARTMENT DIRECTORS 



y^***" i.rcm"r . »•.•..•....,,•.....,.«.,,,,,.,,,,,,.,,,,,,,,,, .J. xl. IveiKer 



' Sf**^^ Marketing J. B. Counties 



*■*"■" '■'^»s •.*.•«•....•...•.........••.•••.•.••..........«..... XV. x^m v^owies 



; Frnit and Vegetable Marketing H. W. Day 



Information , George Thiem 



■ Insurance Service V. Vanlman 



. I'^gal Donald Klrkpatrick 



\ Live Stock Marketing Ray E. Miller 



; ' ' ' vxiiv,c •..*.•..•••.....,...... ................ .•....•••.«.. u. K, tionnston 



: Organization O. B. Metzger 



.: : Produce Marketing F. A. Gongler 



Taxation and Statistics J. C. Watson 



: • Transportation Dlv'n G, W. Baxter 



ASSOCIATED ORGANIZATIONS \ : -^: 



: Country Life Insurance Co L. A. Williams, Mgr. 



Farmers Mutual Reinsurance Co J. H. Kelker, Mgr. 



, ;'■• Illinois Agricural Auditing Ass*n F. E. Ringham, Mgr. 



^ .> Illinois Agricultural Mutual Insurance Co A. E. Richardson, Mgr. 



..Illinois Farm Supply Co L. R. Marchant, Mgr. 



-Illinois Fruit Growers Exchange H. W. Day, Mgr. 



Illinois Grain Corp Harrison Fahrnkopf , Mgr. 



:, Illinois Livestock Marketing Ass'n Ray Miller, Mgr. 



•: ■ Illinois Producers Creameries. .F. A. Gougler, Mgr., J. B. Countiss, Sales 

 Soybean Marketing Ass'n J. W. Armstrong, Pres. 



Gas Tax Diversion • 



ONTINUED efforts to divert more gasoline taxes 

 away from their intended purpose may prove to be 

 a round about way of increasing the property tax 

 load. Originally streets and roads were built and main- 

 tained by property owners out of property taxes. Many 

 still are. The gas tax was enacted to change that inde- 

 fensible system. It was a step toward property tax reduc- 

 tion. It placed the cost of building and maintaining roads 

 on the people who use them. This is as it should be. Now 

 as gas tax revenues are further diverted from their right- 

 ful use and roads and streets wear out, the tendency will 

 be to increase taxes on property for highway improvement. 



Gas tax diversion has another evil side to it. It stops 

 road building and creates unemployment. A large number 

 of family heads depend on this kind of work to support 

 their families. It has been estimated that 22,500 men 

 would be employed on road building and maintenance dur- 

 ing the coming season on the $8,000,000 which pending 

 legislation at Springfield would divert to other uses. 

 Counting four to the family makes 90,000 people, many 

 of whom may be forced on the relief rolls. 



Gas tax diversion is another case of robbing Peter to 

 pay Paul. It is makeshift government, wrong in principle 



C 



and unjustifiable. Proposed use of gas tax funds for 

 schools is another effort to impose on downstate counties 

 the penalty for the many years of reckless tax waste and 

 more recent tax delinquency in Chicago and Cook county.; 

 For if the $30,000,000 owing the state by the metropolitan 

 area had been paid, the reason for previous raids on road 

 funds and the current attempt would largely have been 

 avoided. . /i 



The Way Out^^^^^^^^' ^ ^^ 



IT REQUIRED the hardship of the last three years to 

 arouse city home and real estate owners of Illinois 

 to the need for a state constitutional amendment and 

 an equitable taxing system. Had their organized support 

 been given the Illinois Agricultural Association years ago 

 when attempts were made to pass a proper tax amend- 

 ment, recent chaotic conditions in state and local govern- 

 ment might easily have been avoided. 



Despite the general decline in incomes, the citizens of 

 the state are still financially capable of maintaining the 

 useful and needed functions of government. What's nec- 

 essary, however, is an equitable distribution of the tax 

 burden. The majority of our people, particularly city 

 owners of intangible wealth and those receiving salaries, 

 fees, and wages, own no real estate and pay no local and 

 state taxes. For this reason taxes on real estate and some 

 kinds of personal property have been unbearably high. 



The situation calls for an early session of the General 

 Assembly to submit a revenue amendment definitely limit- 

 ing property taxes and permitting classification of prop- 

 erty and income for tax purposes. Until the voters adopt 

 such an amendment and pave the way for an honest tax- 

 ing system, there will be a continuation of crises and 

 make-shift efforts at Springfield to meet them. \ / 



, ,.'.■ ;,..;"v,' . 



i ' * ' , • 



44 



? Necessary to Recovery : 



IF THE administration is to concentrate more on 

 recovery and less on reform, a further bolstering 

 up of agricultural prices is indicated," states M. S. 

 Rukeyser, well known financial writer. "Such a plan oflfers 

 an avenue to success for the President's budgetary pro- 

 gram for the next two years. It will enable private in- 

 dustry, commerce, and agriculture gradually to absorb men 

 released from emergency public payrolls." -.,;..-. 

 ^ This statement, presenting the point of view of many 

 business observers, emphasizes the fact that the continu- 

 ing disparity between the price of the farmer's products 

 and the price of things he has to buy is responsible for 

 continued unemployment. The farm situation everyone 

 knows is much better than that of a year or more ago. 

 Business and employment reflect that improvement. Yet 

 there must be a further narrowing of the gap to equalize 

 farm purchasing power and speed up exchange of farm 

 and non-agricultural commodities. 



As Mr. Rukeyser points out, "To some analysts it appears 

 that the untimely raising of industrial costs by the NRA 

 aborted the rapid building of a solid foundation for re- 

 covery in the relative raising of depressed agricultural 

 prices." . 



SOME of our so-called dairy leaders make themselves 

 look foolish when they assume in one breath that the 

 proposed processing tax on butter will be borne en- 

 tirely by farmers, and complain in the next breath that 

 dairy farmers have had to help pay the processing taxes 

 on cotton, tobacco, wheat, corn and hogs. Both statements 

 can't be right, yet speeches more remarkable for their 

 passion than for reason were delivered against the gov- 

 ernment program during the dairy hearing at Madison 

 which contained such assertions. 



I. A. A. RECORD 



