lAA PRESIDENT 

 SHUMAN ASKS FOR 

 MORE PRODUCTION 



{Continued from page 14) 



<]uality products. These conditions exist 

 45 a result of serious nation-wide short- 

 ages, together with the continued tend- 

 ency for control of these industries to 

 drift into fewer hands. Again the Farm 

 Bureau members in Illinois will make 

 their decision as to the route to follow. 



The Illinois Agricultural Association 

 has had numerous requests from G)unty 

 Farm Bureau organizations, urging that 

 an investigation be made of the need for 

 a state cooperative purchasing program 

 for seeds. A preliminary study has been 

 made. Indications are that Illinois farm- 

 ers in many areas do not have a depend- 

 able supply of high quality seeds avail- 

 able. Many seed handlers give very lit- 

 tle attention to variety, adaptation, purity 

 or certification. The Association plans 

 to complete this investigation and pos- 

 sibly to develop a plan calling for action 

 in the near future. 



State Legislative Problems 



The Illinois Agricultural Association 

 actively represented Illinois farmers be- 

 fore the 65th session of the General As- 

 sembly at Springfield. I want to give 

 special recognition to the Association's 

 legislative committee for the effective 

 manner in which they have represented 

 your organization. There has, however, 

 been a tendency on the part of some 

 counties to take these results for granted. 

 On legislation we must, in the future, 

 have even more united support from 

 local organizations. 



I do not think it is overly critical to 

 observe that during recent years the leg- 

 islature has been inclined to postpone 

 action on much of the important legisla- 

 tion to the last few hours of the session. 

 This practice results in the passage of 

 some bad legislation, the killing of many 

 desirable bills and lends itself to political 



{)ressure tactics. It was the last minute 

 egislative jam which resulted in killing 

 the appropriation for the Veterinary Col- 

 lege building and certain other measufes 

 supported by the Association. 



One of the major accomplishments was 

 the passage of an appropriation of $15,- 

 000,000 for farm to highway road con- 

 struction purposes. In this connection, 

 we should emphasize that a permanent 

 long range program for lifting rural Il- 

 linois out of the mud must be developed. 

 Continually increasing demands upon the 

 State treasury from other sources will 

 make it even more difficult to have an 

 adequate local and secondary road pro- 



gram supported by direct appropriatioos. 

 There is also some justification for criti- 

 cism of the manner in which these funds 

 are spent in many counties. These ap- 

 propriations intended for a permanent 

 road program are being used in some 

 cases for maintenance or temporary im- 

 provement. Each County Farm Bureau 

 should immediately find out how these 

 road funds are being spent in their coun- 

 ty and take steps to correct instances of 

 misuse. 



Pioneered School Reorganization 



Illinois Agricultural Associaton has 

 been the pioneer in the movement for 

 school reorganization in Illinois. The 

 progress has been remarkable. Legisla- 

 tion enacted by the last General Assem- 

 bly, if properly used, will make possible 

 still further progress. However, now is 

 a proper time to "make haste slowly." 

 Farmers should make sure that reorgan- 

 ization proposals are in the long time 

 best interests of their children and the 

 community. We should not lose sight 

 of one of our original objectives, which 

 was to improve rural educational oppor- 

 tunities and at the same time strengthen 

 the rural community by binding it to- 

 gether with a community school system 

 of adequate size. We should remember 

 that there are many strictly rural com- 

 munities capable of supporting an ex- 

 cellent well attended school and that no 

 improvement in educational opportunity 

 results from transferring rural children 

 to an already over-crowded urban school. 

 Another precaution that farmers should 

 take is to be certain that they have ade- 

 quate representation on the boards of 

 education of the reorganized districts. 

 Under the present property taJc laws in 

 Illinois, farm land will bear more than 

 its fair share of the cost of many of the 

 newly created districts. This could be a 

 very serious situation if urban areas, pay- 

 ing a comparatively srqall proportion of 

 the cost, were in control of the district. 



Rural property taxes have increased 

 at an alarming rate, due in part to the 

 tendency of local taxing bodies to take 



advantage of the increased assessed valu- 

 ations provided under the 100 per cent 

 valuation laws. The Association joined 

 with other groups to support legislation 

 designed to place some reasonable limits 

 upon these local taxing units. This leg- 

 islation was enacted and it is hoped may 

 result in some improvement. 



National Problems 



This year of 1947 has brought farmers 

 of the entire nation a series of one crisis 

 after another. Material, equipment and 

 labor shortages have continued unabated. 

 Prices and wages have raced upward in 

 an inflationary spiral. The people of 

 Europe and much of Asia are on the 

 verge of starvation. Verbal strife and 

 suspicion between nations increased to 

 an alarming extent. In addition to all 

 this, the United States and, in fact, the 

 whole world, suffered one of the most 

 unfavorable crop seasons in recent his- 

 tory. Despite all of these difficulties, 

 there have been several constructive leg- 

 islative steps taken by Congress that are 

 of interest to farmers. 



Legislative Accomplishments 



Illinois Agricultural Association active- 

 ly supported the American Farm Bureau 

 Federation in its successful effort to se- 

 cure passage of legislation designed to 

 place reasonable regulations upon labor 

 and other organizations. Farmers sup- 

 ported this legislation, not to hamper or- 

 ganization of labor, but rather to protect 

 the economic well being of our Democra- 

 cy from the destructive effects of the re- 

 cent numerous and selfish battles for 

 power between labor and industry. 



A second major national legislative 

 project which was supported actively by 

 both your state and national organizations 

 was the drive to reduce government ex- 

 penditures. Representatives of your or- 

 ganization appeared before committees of 

 Congress to suggest ways in which gov- 

 ernment expenses in agriculture and all 

 other departments could be reduced. 

 Careful studies were made to determine 



The St. U>uls cenvMi- 

 tion required plenty 

 of walking so Mr*. 

 Edward Corr of Fulton 

 county stops to re«t 

 hers while hubby 

 checks over the pro- 

 gram to see whcrt 

 they'll take In next. 



' 



i! 



L A. A. RECOBD 



