Curtiss Heads Grain Terminals Co. 



Board oi directors of niinois Grain 

 Terminals Company. lAA associate, as- 

 sembles in Springfield for first meeting. 

 Left to right: C. I. Diehl. Monroe county; 

 Andrew Larsen, Mason: Homer Curtiss. lo 



HOMER CURTISS of Jo Daviess 

 county has been elected president 

 of the board of directors of Illinois 

 Grain Terminals Company, the grain 

 merchandising cooperative recently or- 

 ganized by the Illinois Agricultural As- 

 sociation. 



Other members elected to the board 

 ire: Charles Schmitt, Logan county, 

 vice president; Milton Warren, Piatt 

 county, secretary; Arthur Burwash, 

 Champaign county; Marion Herzog, 

 McDonough county; Andrew Larsen, 

 Mason county; James Holderman, 

 Grundy county, Wesley Attig, Lee 

 county, and Christian J. Diehl, Monroe 

 county. 



Illinois Grain Terminals Company 

 will handle grain from the county ele- 

 vator to the terminal market to the 

 final buyer on i cooperative basis. 



Backbone of the business of the new 

 company in the beginning will come 

 from river operations that are being 

 organized by County Farm Bureaus on 

 or near the Illinois and Mississippi 

 rivers. 



Three such companies already have 

 been organized. They are: Prairie 

 Grain Company which will serve pro- 

 ducers from Seneca to Peoria in the 

 following counties : La Salle, Lee, Mar- 

 shall-Putnam, Henry, Stark, Peoria, 

 Woodford and Bureau. 



Havana River Grain Company which 

 will serve producers in Fulton, Schuy- 

 ler, McDonough, Mason, Menard, 

 Cass and Logan counties, and Western 

 Illinois Grain Company serving Han- 

 cock, McDonough, Warren, and Hen- 

 derson counties. 



TTie home garden program and preserva- 

 tion of a large share of the home food needs 

 are more important than ever in view of 

 the famine conditions abroad. 



APRIL, 1946 



Daviess, president; Charles Sclimitt. Logan, 

 vice president; Milton Warren. Piatt, secre- 

 tary: lames Holderman, Grundy; Marion 

 Herzog, McDonough; Wesley Attig, Lee. 

 Arthur Burwash, Champaign, was absent. 



lAA AIDS COUNTIES 

 WITH TAX STUDIES 



COUNTY meetings for the purpose of 

 preventing unnecessary increases in 

 property taxes are being held by county 

 Farm Bureaus and the Illinois Agricul- 

 tural Association. 



Interest in local tax problems has been 

 whetted by the new 100 per cent prop- 

 erty assessment law which went into ef- 

 fect Jan. 1, 1946, and as a result of a 

 tax study made of each county by the 

 lAA Department of Research and Taxa- 

 tion. 



The lAA study, made under the di- 

 rection of L. H. Simerl, research depart- 

 ment head, has been completed after sev- 

 eral months devoted to the tax situation 

 and outlook in each of Illinois' 102 

 counties. 



Two copies of each county report have 

 been sent to each of the county Farm 

 Bureaus. These reports are being used 

 as a basis for discussion of the tax sit- 

 uation in each county. 



The lAA Department of Research and 

 Taxation already has participated in sev- 

 eral of the county meetings. 



The tax reports prepared by the lAA 

 include information showing where tax 

 money goes, (1) how the tax burden is 

 distributed, (2) description of assess- 

 ment practices in the county, (3) rea- 

 sons for the new tax legislation, (4) ef- 

 fects of the new law on assessing pro- 

 cedures, property assessments, taxes and 

 tax rate limits, and (5) a discussion of 

 methods of property tax control. 



Director Simerl said the lAA Depart- 

 ment of Research and Taxation will be 

 able to meet with a number of cptinty 



groups interested in property tax prob- 

 lems and tax control during the next few 

 months. 



Simerl pointed out that the new tax 

 laws will permit most tax levies to be 

 increased by 25 to 40 per cent in 1946 

 and more in 1947. The anoount of in- 

 crease permitted varying according to 

 conditions in each county and in each 

 taxing district. 



"In the majority of the Illinois coun- 

 ties farm property carries an unjustly 

 large share of the property tax burden," 

 Simerl declared, "because the rural as- 

 sessors have assessed the property at a 

 higher proportion of its actual value than 

 have assessors assessing urban property. 



"In most counties boards of review 

 can," he said, "if they so desire, correct 

 this injustice this year. If they do not 

 do this farm prof)erty owners should see 

 to it that the rural assessors make this 

 adjustment when real estate is revalued 

 for tax purposes in 1947 (1946 in Com- 

 mission governed counties) . 



"It would seem desirable that county 

 Farm Bureaus plan to give this matter 

 serious attention during the next few 

 months in order to relieve farmers of the 

 unduly heavy tax burden which they have 

 been carrying." 



MAYFIELD JOINS 

 lAA RESEARCH DEPT. 



Charles S. Mayfield, 29, former super- 

 intendent of schools at Ullin in Pulaski 

 county, has been employed as assistant 

 to L. H. Simerl, di- 

 rector of the depart- 

 ment of research and 

 taxation of the Illi- 

 nois Agricultural As- 

 sociation. 



Mayfield was dis- 

 charged recently 

 ^ -ly V from the navy after 

 ^^^ ^ ^^^ 22 months of sea 

 ^^K X ^^B duty. He was com- 

 ^^^ *■ ^^" missioned an ensign 



C. S. Mayfield '» ^943 and spent 

 most of his time 

 aboard transports in the Pacific. 



He was born in Hardin county and 

 was graduated from Harrisburg high 

 school, received his bachelor's degree 

 from Illinois State Teachers College at 

 Carbondale in 1939 and his master's 

 degree from Oberlin college, Oberlin, O.. 

 in 1941. 



Mayfield studied school administration 

 and did part time work for the lAA state 

 school committee. He became superin- 

 tendent of schools at Ullin in 1941 and 

 was there until he went into naval service. 



The r>ew research assistant is married 

 to the former Geraldine Morgan of Jef- 

 ferson county and is the father of two 

 children, Geraldine Ellen, 41/^, and 

 Charles David, three months. 



