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Fa«d Analysis Law 



fiaad JSM moAed 

 PROGRESS 



By PAUL E. MATHIAS 



THE bill appropriating 20 million 

 dollars from State surplus funds for 



surfacing local township and road 

 district roads has advanced in both 

 Houses of the legislature. 



However, objection to an appropria- 

 tion of more than 10 million dollars 

 for this purpose has been raised on the 

 ground that the appropriation was not 

 included in the budget. The second- 

 ary road program was recommended by 

 the Postwar Planning Commission but 

 was not approved by the Priorities 

 Committee of that Commission and was 

 not included in the budget for postwar 

 projects. It also develops that no part 

 of the federal funds ($4,700,000 per 

 year for each of three years) to be 

 allocated to Illinois for secondary and 

 feeder roads will be used on township 

 or road district roads. 



The state division of highways al- 

 ready has obtained federal approval of 



a system of secondary and feeder roads 

 to be improved by these funds. Prac- 

 tically all of these roads on this sys- 

 tem so approved are state or county 

 roads. While rural areas will benefit 

 from the improvement of these roads, 

 it does not meet the problem of the 

 townships and road districts. The lAA 

 has agreed to an amendment reducing 

 the appropriation to 15 million dollars, 

 and the bill so amended passed the Sen- 

 ate. 



Road Commission 



The legislation providing for the 

 appointment of a commission to study 

 the highway system of the state and 

 particularly the problems in connection 

 with local township and road district 

 roads and to outline a permanent sec- 

 ondary road program has been enacted 

 into law. 



A bill has passed both Houses which 

 requires mixed feeds containing more 

 than 3% minerals and all mineral feeds 

 to state the calcium, phosphorous and 

 iodine content of the feeds and also the 

 salt content. This bill also requires the 

 names used for ingredients to be the 

 official names used by the Association 

 of American Feed Control Officials. 

 This legislation is designed to give pur- 

 chasers a better understanding of the 

 content of the feed which they buy and 

 was supported by the Illinois Agricul- 

 tural Association. 



Commercial Fertilizers 



The Illinois Agricultural Association 

 is sponsoring legislation which would 

 place rock phosphate under the com- 

 mercial fertilizer law. This bill would 

 require any commercial fertilizer con- 

 taining any two or more of the ele- 

 ments, nitrogen, phosphoric acid and 

 potash, to carry a minimum combined 

 percentage of at least 20% of these ele- 

 ments. It also provides that the results 

 of the official analysis of commercial 

 fertilizers made by the State Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture shall be published 

 by the Department from time to time. 



Special State Aid for Schools 



The Illinois Agricultural Association 

 is sponsoring legislation which provides 

 that the qualification for special state 

 aid for needy school districts shall be 

 based on actual value of the property in 

 the district rather than on the assessed 

 value. 



Under the present law, if a school 

 district levies $1 on the assessed value 

 of property in the district and if this 

 levy does not produce $1200 (proposed 

 amendment), the state will supplement 

 the local levy to the extent necessary 

 to provide $1200 for the one room 

 school district. Assessment ratios used 

 in the several counties vary widely. 



In some counties property is assessed 

 at less than 25% of its value. In 

 others, it is assessed at 75% of its real 

 value. It is obvious that a school dis- 

 trict in a county with a 75% assess- 

 ment ratio must make three times the 

 effort locally, which is required of a 

 district in a county with a 25% assess- 

 ment ratio in order to qualify for this 

 special state aid. The lAA bill would 

 equalize the requirements upon these 

 districts by providing that in order to 

 qualify for special state aid a school 

 district must levy an amount locally 

 equal to 25c on each |100 of actual or 

 real value of property in the district. 





L A. A. RECORD 



