:t-. 



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imperative Need of 



Revenue Revision 



resolutions adopted in the annual 

 meeting of the Association held in 

 Danville, January, 1934. 



The tax petitions were returned 

 with approximately 310,000 signa- 

 tures. In accord with this overwhelm- 

 ing response, President Smith wrote 

 to the Governor on November 10, 

 1933, urging him to call a special ses- 

 sion of the General Assembly for the 

 purpose of submitting a proper 

 amendment. The Governor's office 

 acknowledged receipt of this letter 

 and requested copies of the amend- 

 ment proposed by the Association, 

 which were sent. 



; ill September, 1933, pursuant to 

 action by the General Assembly, a 

 special revenue commission was 

 created. In November the Special 

 Commission requested copies of the 

 amendment proposed by the Associa- 

 tion, which were sent to each member. 

 Later the Special Commission invited 

 representatives of the Association to 

 appear in behalf of the I. A. A. amend- 

 ment, which they did. On invitation 

 of the Special Revenue Commission, 

 representatives of the Association 

 participated in subsequent meetings 



of this body. u 



When the Commission made its re- 

 port, it recommended that the Gov- 

 ernor call a special session of the 

 General Assembly for the purpose of 

 submitting a revenue amendment. It 

 also recommended the tax limitation 

 and most of the other provisions ad- 

 vocated by the Illinois Agricultural 

 Association and as part of its report 

 submitted an amendment containing 

 these provisions. 



In its May meeting the Board of 

 Directors of the Association directed 

 that the following letter be addressed 

 to the Governor, again urging the im- 

 portance of calling a special session 

 of the General Assembly in the near 

 future for this purpose: " •; • • 



Letter to Governor 



May 18, 1934 

 Hon. Henry Homer, 

 Governor of Illinois, ^ 

 Springfield, Illinois. 

 Dear Governor: 



* 



At the request of seventeen hun- 

 dred (1700) representative farmers 

 from ninety-four (94) counties con- 

 vened at Decatur, Illinois, I wrote you 

 on November 10, 1933, urging that a 

 special session of the 58th General 

 Assembly be called for the purpose 

 of submitting to the electorate in No- 

 vember, 1934, an amendment to the 

 Revenue Article of the State Consti- 

 tution. In acknowledging this com- 



munication, your office advised that 

 a special revenue committee consist- 

 ing of five senators, five representa- 

 tives and five citizens at large were 

 drafting an amendment for the con- 

 sideration of the General Assembly. 



Again under date of February 2, 

 1934, I wrote you carrying the re- 

 quest of the Board of Directors of the 

 Association that because of the grave 

 importance of revenue reform, a spe- 

 cial session of the General Assembly 

 be called for the exclusive considera- 

 tion of an amendment to the Revenue 

 Article. 



We are informed that the Special 

 Revenue Commission, above men- 

 tioned, which we understand was ap- 

 pointed by you, the President of the 

 Senate and the Speaker of the House, 

 made its report and recommendations 

 as to the provisions that should con- 

 stitute an amendment to the Revenue 

 Article of the State Constitution, 

 which report and recommendations 

 were made on Tuesday, April 17 and 

 printed in the Senate Journal of that 

 date. ' : ' 



Greene County Man On 

 L A* A. Board From 20th 



".' .' 



;:v> ' Promise Full Support 



After careful consideration of the 

 provisions of the amendment recom- 

 mended by the commission, the Board 

 of Directors of the Illinois Agricul- 

 tural Association have authorized me 

 to inform you that the Association 

 will put its full support behind the 

 recommended amendment, if and 

 when an opportunity is afforded for 

 its consideration by a special session 

 of the General Assembly, and if sub— 

 tnitted by the General Assembly to 

 the electorate in November of this 

 year, will do everything within the 

 rightful influence of the Association 

 to secure its adoption by the people 

 at that time. 



Our Board of Directors, of course, 

 recognize that you, as Chief Execu- 

 tive of Illinois, must be acutely aware 

 of the serious defects and gross in- 

 equities in our present tax system in 

 Illinois. We feel sure you realize the 

 great injustice placed upon property 

 owners by these inequities, the results 

 of which are becoming intolerable and 

 demand correction at the earliest pos- 

 sible time. , ^ 



The Board of Directors have re- 

 quested me to call to your attention 

 the fact that unless an immediate call 

 of a special session for the purpose 

 of considering the proposed amend- 

 ment to the State Constitution is had, 

 that it will be impossible to meet con- 

 stitutional requirements in time to 

 give the people an opportunity to vote 

 on this important question at the gen- 

 eral election in November of this 

 year. The provision of the Constitu- 

 tion referred to is found in Section 



X. T. SMITH 



K. T. Smith of Greenfield, president 

 of the Greene County Farm Bureau, 

 was chosen as director from the 20th 



district on the I. 

 _ A. A. Board to 

 succeed the late 

 Chas. S. Black. 

 He was elected 

 by ballot at a 

 meeting of repre- 

 sentatives from 

 counties in this 

 district. His se- 

 lection was ap- 

 proved by the I. 

 A. A. board meet- 

 ing in Chicago 

 May 19. 

 Smith, a native of Greene 

 county, operates a 360 acre grain and 

 livestock farm. He has been a mem- 

 ber of the Farm Bureau since its or- 

 ganization. More recently he directed 

 ;the corn sealing program in Greene 

 county and served on the county corn- 

 hog control committee. He has been 

 an officer in the Greenfield Farmers 

 Co-operative Grain Co. for a number 

 of years. a^^ 



2, Article XIV, which as you . know 

 requires that a proposed amendment 

 to the Constitution be published at 

 least three months preceding the elec- 

 tion at which' such amendment is sub- 

 mitted to the electors. Unless a spe- 

 -cial session is immediately called for 

 this purpose, it appears this impor- 

 tant question cannot be handled in 

 time for consideration of the people 

 before the general election in Novem- 

 ber of 1936. r V . V : c v^ ^ 



i;^l Will Delay Relief 



We are informed that certain in- 

 terests in the state are opposing the 

 submission of an amendment at this 

 time and urging that instead the mat- 

 ter should be left to a Constitutional 

 Convention. We submit that to leave 

 this imperative matter to constitu- 

 tional convention necessarily involves 

 delay that would seem to make it im- 

 possible (even though everything con- 

 nected therewith was expedited to the 

 fullest possible extent) to secure re- 

 lief from the present property tax 

 burden before the General Assembly 

 of 1939. 



I am sure you recognize that con- 

 stitutional restrictions placed upon 

 the manner of providing for a Consti- 

 tutional Convention, its later con- 

 siderations and still later the submis- 

 sion of its findings to the people, 

 would require at least the time in- 

 dicated which would make impossible 



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I. A. A. RECORD 



