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rulings or revisions in the Act which 

 in any way disregard or impede the 

 cooperative features of the system. In 

 keeping with those cooperative prin- 

 ciples, we believe increased direction 

 and control should rest with farmer- 

 borrowers and to that end, we advo- 

 cate a sound plan for the orderly re- 

 tirement of the government capital in- 

 vested in the Farm Credit System. We 

 favor its administration on a basis that 

 enables farmers to ^obtain credit on a 

 cost basis comparable to that paid by 

 equally sound business and industrial 

 organizations. 



We commend the American Farm 

 Bureau Federation for its position in 

 supporting appropriations for the pro- 

 gram enabling worthy tenants to pur- 

 chase farms and for the necessary re- 

 habilitation of farm people. We also 

 commend the American Farm Bureau 

 Federation for its position in urging 

 the elimination of all appropriations 

 for projects involving the socialistic or 

 collective ownership and operation of 

 land. 



VI. FARM MACHINERY 



The manufacture of farm machinery 

 and repair parts has been sharply cur- 

 tailed during the past three years by 

 government orders. The ability of 

 farmers to meet production goals will 

 depend upon the availability of repairs 

 and parts for machinery now on Amer- 

 ican farms in order that it may be 

 kept in operation next year, and upon 

 the availability of new machinery to 

 replace worn out and broken machin- 

 ery which cannot be repaired. 



VII. CONSTITUTIONAL 

 AMENDMENT 



Experience has demonstrated that it 

 is practically impossible to amend our 

 State constitution under present amend- 

 ment procedures. Attention must be 

 given to making amendment of our 

 constitution possible in order to meet 

 present day needs and postwar prob- 

 lems. These real needs should not be 

 sacrificed for proposals of no urgency 

 and of little public benefit which are 

 submitted for reasons of political ex- 

 pediency. We reaffirm our support of 

 the Gateway Amendment of the State 

 constitution to permit the submission 

 of amendments to at least two articles 

 of the constitution instead of only one. 

 at the same election and to provide that 

 an amendment may be adopted by the 

 favorable vote of two-thirds of those 

 voting on the proposal instead of by a 

 majority of all votes cast at the elec- 

 tion. We also reaffirm our support of 

 the so-called party circle bills under 

 which a proposed Gateway amendment 

 would be submitted to the respective 

 political party conventions for their ac- 

 tion thereon and their action would be 



Vice-President Talmage Deirees is chair- 

 man of the resolutions committee. 



printed in the column under the name 

 of the party, and a vote in the party 

 circle would be counted as a vote for 

 the position taken by that party on the 

 proposal unless the voter should vote 

 otherwise upon the proposed amend- 

 ment. We pledge our aggressive sup- 

 port of such proposals. 



VIII. RURAL SCHOOLS 



We reaffirm our resolution of last 

 year, which commended the action of 

 the Board of Directors in establishing 

 the special School Committee of 34 

 Farm Bureau leaders to make a thor- 

 ough study of rural school problems 

 and to recommend the position the 

 association should take on various ques- 

 tions of school policy. 



We commend and thank the Com- 

 mittee as a whole and individually for 

 the vigor and earnest spirit in which 

 they carried out the important but dif- 

 ficult duty assigned them. We concur 

 in and approve the Final Report of the 

 School Committee and accept the recom- 

 mendations therein, which we declare 

 to be the policy of the Association. 

 We direct the officers and Board of 

 Directors to take all proper measures 

 to secure legislative action in harmony 

 with the broad general purposes of 

 the declared school policy of the As- 

 sociation. We further direct the offi- 

 cers and Board of Directors to provide 

 wide distribution and publicity for the 

 lAA School Committee Report among 

 our membership and rural people gen- 

 erally and on request to give all fea- 

 sible assistance to local communities in 

 studying their own school problems. 



We urge the County Farm Bureaus 

 and all farm people in the State to give 

 careful consideration to the findings 

 and recommendations of the Commit- 

 tee. We further urge the rural people 

 of each county to give very earnest 

 attention to the improvement and 

 strengthening of the educational system 

 serving rural areas. 



Solution of rural school problems 

 will not be easy. Substantial improve- 

 ment in the educational opportunities 

 available to farm boys and girls will 

 require continued study by the Associa- 

 tion and local groups and the coopera- 

 tion of farm people, teachers, tounty 

 superintendents and all others inter- 

 ested in and concerned with rural 

 schools. 



IX. STATE AID FOR SCHOOLS 



We condemn the gross inequalities 

 in the present distribution of State aid 

 under the law which was enacted to 

 provide State equalization aid only for 

 needy school districts. In many 

 counties, a low assessment ratio (aver- 

 age percentage of actual value of 

 real estate used in assessments) enables 

 many financially able elementary and 

 high school districts therein to qualify 

 for as much equalization aid thereof as 

 amounts thereof than equity and jus- 

 tice warrant. On the other hand, many 

 needy schools districts in counties with 

 high assessment ratios cannot qualify 

 for as much financial aid thereof as 

 they should have. 



We believe that the.se inequalities can 

 and should be removed without dis- 

 turbing the levels of assessment in the 

 Counties. Therefore, we direct the 

 oflFicers and Board of Directors of the 

 Association, with the cooperation of 

 representatives of other organizations 

 favoring such action, to sponsor such 



(Coiirin/ifJ oil fi.igt U) 



DECEMBER, 1944 



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