EDITORIAL 



Churchill and Agriculture 



DURING these war years, many Americans have heard 

 Great Britain's prime minister, Winston Churchill, in 

 one or another of his major radio addresses. It is of 

 interest, therefore, to read what he said on March 1 5 while 

 discussing postwar policies at the annual conference of the 

 Conservative Party: 



"Agriculture. . .assumes a place in the forefront of 

 post-war policy. A healthy and well-balanced agriculture 

 is one of the mainsprings of our national life. 



"I note with interest and sympathy the resolution 

 which this conference carried yesterday on this subject, sup- 

 porting as the resolution did, a long-term policy which, by 

 means of price stability, would secure an efficient and fair 

 return for his capital and for the worker a standard of liv- 

 ing comparable with that in other industries. 



A prosperous agriculture brings benefits alike to town 

 and country. It brings health, both physical and moral, to 

 the nation as a whole, and we must cherish it as the first of 

 British industries and nourish all our other industries there- 



by." 



We have some statesmen in America who, like Chur- 

 chill, realize the basic place which agriculture has in the 

 national economy, and who see that a fair return to capital 

 and labor invested in agriculture, and a comparable stand- 

 ard of living to that of other groups, vitally affect the pros- 

 perity of the merchant, the manufacturer, the professional 

 man, and the workingman. It is to be hoped that in the 

 years ahead their influence will be increasing felt. In- 

 formed people recognize that much of the present day 

 shortage of food, and chaos in the field of its distribution 

 are the result of immature policies formulated by imprac- 

 tical people. There are problems facing this nation which 

 will demand broad-gauge, common-sense understanding of 

 the interrelationship of farming and all other industries. 



Proper recognition of this fundamental interrelation- 

 ship is vital to the welfare of every man, woman and child 

 in the United States for without it our nation or its people 

 cannot prosper. 



Truckers Seek New^ Privileges 



THE trucking industry is again seeking passage of leg- 

 islation at Springfield which would change our state 

 laws to permit increases in the lengths and weights of 

 trucks and busses. 



Under the proposed legislation, the permissible 

 length for a straight truck would be increased from 35 to 

 40 feet; for a semi-trailer from 35 to 45 feet, and for a 

 combination of vehicles — that is, a truck or semi-trailer 

 with a trailer — from 40 to 50 feet. 



The weight limit would be increased from 16,000 

 pounds to 18,000 pounds per axle. The overall weight 

 limit would be 72,000 pounds. 



The Illinois Agricultural Association does not op- 

 pose an increase in the over-all length of semi-trailers and 

 combination vehicles up to 45 feet, but it is opposed to 

 any increase beyond 45 feet. 



There are safety reasons for the lAA's position in 

 this matter of increasing lengths of trucks. Any motorist 

 knows of the difficulty encountered in trying to pass one 

 of these so-called "highway boxcars" on our state roads, 

 most of which were built for ordinary traffic. 



On the matter of increasing truck weights, the lAA 

 is opposed to any such move. Less than one-fourth of our 

 paved roads have been built to take loads in excess of 

 16,000-pound axle weights. Roads are already rapidly 

 deteriorating under the limits now permitted. If the 

 weight limits are increased to 18,000 pounds per axle, 

 the destruction of our highway system will be speeded up 

 tremendously. 



In seeking an increase in truck weights, the trucking 

 interests are asking farmers and the average motorist to 

 pay for the high maintenance and extra costs of highways 

 to carry these excessive weights. Only a small propor- 

 tional number would benefit from the increased expendi- 

 tures. Of 1,761, 931 motor vehicles licensed in Illinois 

 in 1945, only 15,742 were trucks, busses or trailers li- 

 censed for more than a 20,000-pound over-all gross 

 weight. This is less than 1 per cent. 



Under the truckers* proposed bill, trucks with in- 

 creased weight limits would not be limited to state high- 

 ways or to roads built to carry such weights, but would be 

 permitted on any road in the state. 



Up until recently, the state highway department's 

 attitude has been in line with the lAA's longtime position 

 on the weight limits of trucks, and the department has 

 worked cooperatively with the Association, but now these 

 officials have changed their position and have approved 

 an increase in axle weight limits. The highway depart- 

 ment's explanation of its new position is that the federal 

 departments are seeking uniform regulations for all states 

 to facilitate movement of trucks from one state to another. 



The lAA's answer to this is that the 18,000-pound 

 axle weight should be permitted only on new highways 

 that have been constructed to carry this weight. 



This is the lAA's position. Farmers whose tax money 

 pays a big share of the costs of roads will watch the out- 

 come of the legislative debate in Springfield with high 

 interest. 



If the selfish approach of the trucking industry pre- 

 vails, it will behoove the people to rise up and demand a 

 large increase in license fees for the operation of such 

 trucks in the state so as to meet the tremendous increase 

 in the construction and maintenance costs resulting there- 

 from. To accomplish this would require an increase in 

 fees for super-heavy trucks to many times what they are 

 now paying. 



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I. A. A. RECORD 



