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500 Voices in Huge 

 Chorus Farm Bureau Day 



Five hundred farm men and 



Vwomen from five Illinois counties will 



^make up a huge vocal chorus as a 



: feature of this year's Farm Bureau 



program at the Illinois State Fair, 



Springfield, August 24, it has been 



announced by D. E. Lindstrom, rural 



sociology extension specialist at the 



.College of Agriculture, University of^ 



Illinois. 



A hundred voices will come from 

 each of the counties of Champaign, 

 Macon, McLean, Iroquois and Adams, 

 where they are being organized un- 

 der the sponsorship of their respec- 

 tive Home and Farm Bureaus. J 

 The event to be held in the State 

 Fair pavilion on Farm Bureau Day, 

 is in a measure an outgrowth of the 

 annual music and drama tournament 

 held each January during Farm and 

 Home Week at the U. of I. College 

 of Agriculture. This, however, is the 

 first year that a farm vocal chorus 

 has been attempted at the state fair, 

 and is made possible through the 

 financial assistance of the state fair 

 board and in cooperation with exten- 

 sion service of the agricultural col- 

 1 e g e. Professor Russell Hancock 

 Miles, of the U. of I. school of music, 

 will direct the chorus. :: -i^'; ■; 

 The five counties to take part in 

 the state fair chorus are those in 

 which considerable rural chorus work 

 has been carried on by the Farm and 

 Home Bureaus in recent years. 

 Adams county has held an annual 

 rural musical festival for the past 

 five years, the last one of which was 

 witnessed by more than 2,500 people. 

 > Those in charge of organizing the 

 100 voices in their respective counties 

 are: Iroquois county. Miss Grace 

 Burnham of Watseka; McLean coun- 

 ty, Mrs. Paul McFarland of McLean; 

 Adams county, Mr. J. Ben Jefferson, 

 of Clayton; Macon county, Mrs. J. A. 

 Greer of Harristown; and Champaign 

 county, Mrs. R. W. Milligan of Ives- 

 dale. ., ;.--'/\/-f-. ■■/;•;■*; . ''■■'/■-"■ 



Elevator Manager at 

 Altona Commits Suicide 



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One morning early in July, C. H. 

 Chilson, field accountant with the Illi- 

 nois Agricultural Auditing Associa- 

 tion stationed at Galesburg, got a 

 hurry up call to come to Altona, near 

 the northern border of Knox county. 

 The manager of the Altona Co-opera- 

 tive Grain Co., a good church mem- 

 ber, well-liked by directors and pa- 

 trons, had committed suicide. 



No outside audit had been made of 

 the company's books for three years. 



'I ' 



HENRY COUNTY FAEM BUREAU FLOAT 

 Entered in the July 4 Farm Bureau Day Parade during Galva's Homecoming Celebrationf 



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Directors were worried. Chilson 

 jumped in his car, went through the 

 records carefully, methodically, found 

 a shortage of more than $2,500 repre- 

 senting peculations over a period of 

 2% years. Altona Grain Co. is now 

 a member of I.A.A.A. :: ;> c 



This is the second elevator manager suicide 

 in niinois within the past year and a half. 

 Trusted implicitly by directors, the manager at 

 Mt. Sterling confessed to selling merchandise 

 and keeping the cash. Promising to make 

 restitution, he was not prosecuted. A few 

 weeks later, he crawled under the elevator, 

 shot himself. 



New Federal Law Hits ■ ; 

 at Gas Tax Diversion 



if Another blow at Illinois* disrepu- 

 table diversion of gas tax funds, long 

 opposed by the I.A.A., is dealt by 

 the Hayden-Cartwright Act (H. K. 

 8781) passed by the 73rd congress, 

 approved by President Roosevelt 

 June 18. 



"Since it is unfair and unjust to 

 tax motor vehicle transportation un- 

 less the proceeds of such taxation are 

 applied to the construction, improve- 

 ment, or maintenance of highways," 

 declares the Act, "after June 30, 1935, 

 Federal aid for highways shall be ex- 

 tended only to those States that use 

 at least the amounts now provided by 

 law for such purposes in each State 

 from motor vehicle registration fees, 

 licenses, gasoline taxes, and other 

 special taxes for the construc- 

 tion, improvement, and maintenance 

 of highways and administrative ex- 

 penses in connection therewith." 



Good news for farmers is a provi- 

 sion in the act for an additional ap- 

 propriation of $200,000,000 as an emer- 

 gency public works fund, to be di- 

 vided among the States with the 

 stipulation that not less than 25 per 

 cent of any State's share shall be ap- 

 plied to secondary or farm-to-market 

 roads. 



In addition the sum of $125,000,000 

 is appropriated for the fiscal year 



Chicago Real Estate Men ; 

 Ask For Special Session 



; George F. Nixon, member of the 

 board of tax appeals and prominent 

 in Chicago real estate circles, is lead- 

 ing a movement in Chicago to influ- 

 ence Governor Horner + call a spe- 

 cial session of the legislature by 

 August 1, to consider a revenue 

 amendment. ,/ , . 



Mr. Nixon pointed out that $450,- 

 000,000 of taxes levied during the 

 last eight years are uncollected, of 

 which $160,000,000 represent taxes 

 levied against personal property. 



"A one per cent limitation on 

 property taxes would give taxpayers 

 relief — hope — some incentive for 

 carrying on," he says. 'Property 

 could and would pay a one per cent 

 tax on fair cash value. It cannot con- 

 tinue to carry the present tax load of 

 nearly three per cent. Tax emanci- 

 pation can come only through amend- 

 ment of the state constitution." 



ending June 30, 1936, the same 

 amount for the year following (total 

 $250,000,000) for aiding the States in 

 the construction of rural post roads. 

 This money must be spent by the 

 States within one year of the period 

 for which the appropriation is made, 

 otherwise the unspent State's portion 

 will revert back to the Federal gov- 

 ernment for reapportioning. - 



Section 14 of the Act declares that 

 "no deductions shall hereafter be 

 made on account of prior loans to the 

 States ... for relief ... to needy and 

 distressed people." This means that 

 federal road funds apportioned to 

 Illinois will not be impaired by reason 

 of the tremendous poor relief sums 

 obtained by Chicago political leaders. 

 This money was to have been repaid 

 by deducting part of the federal road 

 allotments to Illinois beginning in 

 1935. 





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AUGUST, 1934 



