ROADS and DRAINAGE 



1HAVE read your article on allotments for 

 roads in the December Record. I wonder 

 if it would be possible to get some aid in 

 draining or having Edgar county lay a 12 

 or 14-inch tile in the roadside to drain some 

 lowlands adjoining that have no other out- 

 let. 



The road is gravel and in fair condition 

 except that the water in wet weather, like 

 last spring, flows over the gravel. I own 

 80 acres on the east side of this road which 

 had three ponds last spring that ruined my 

 chance of raising a crop. I am willing to 

 pay some cash for the privilege to tap a 

 drain if it were there — and I am sure there 

 are other farmers on both sides that would 

 help. Let me know how to proceed to get 

 some help on the project. 



Chas. Asher 

 Edgar County 



CHANGE ROAD SYSTEM 



1HAVE read the interesting report on the 

 farm-to-market roads appropriations that 

 the lAA has been instrumental in securing 

 for the long suffering farmer. 



I believe that this extra help from state 

 funds is just and desirable but I have seen 

 several instances of poor use of these funds 

 due to mismanagement and to the fact that 

 we do not have road engineers in the per- 

 son of our township commissioners. I 

 believe that it is true of the use of state 

 funds within this county that the resurfacing 

 has been thrown away for the most part 

 on poor and expensive grades. Many of 

 such roads built last year are impassable in 

 wet weather now. 



May I suggest that we need a better 

 quality of organization within the county 

 and, possibly, the state, to bring ab<iut a 

 wiser use of funds available? 



Specifically, I should like to see a state 

 law passed enabling us to set up a county- 

 wide supervision of all roads within the 

 county under one high class graduate en- 

 gineer who should be either elected by the 

 people every two years or hired by the 

 county board of supervisors on a year to 

 year basis to insure his alertness. 



The office of road commissioner would 

 then be abolished in each township and all 

 machinery for road work turned over to 

 use of the said county road engineer. 



I see as a result of such a set-up an inte- 

 grated program instead of the present ineffi- 

 cient, part-time work by township com- 

 missioners working within artificial, limited 

 areas. For instances where our township is 

 not able to interest anyone in working the 

 roads because the job is not a full time 

 one, full time workers could be employed 

 by the engineer over the broader expanse of 

 the county. Likewise better machinery could 

 be employed to fuller advantage. 



I have talked to innumerable interested 

 peoole about such a system and I have vet 

 to find one, including county and township 

 officers, who is not enthusiastically in favor 

 of it in this county. 



I wonder if our splendid organization, the 

 lAA, will undertake the additional burden 

 at Springfield of putting through such legis- 

 lation. I am politically naive but believe 

 that some laws for the common good do 

 occasionally get passed, especially when 

 given a good push by our organized farmers. 



At any rate, I shall be happy to learn the 

 reaction of your office to the above ideas. 



Donald Mackay 



Mackay & Mackay, Attys. 



Mt. CarToll, IlL 



22 



LETTERS TO 

 THE EDITOR 



ELIMINATE COMMISSIONER 



1WAS greatly interested in Mr. Mayfields 

 article in the December issue of the 

 Record. I thought he did a good job in 

 calling attention to the large number of 

 administrative districts and officials in Illi- 

 nois and implying that this host of adminis- 

 trative officials was a barrier to efficiency. 



.... House Bill 471 does not provide for 

 the consolidated district to function prior 

 to the next general road election in April 

 of 1951. People interested in roads in 

 Pulaski county have decided that it would 

 be wiser to continue to agitate for improved 

 road legislation rather than to attempt to 

 organize a consolidated district at this time 

 knowing that it could not function until 

 1951. In event that we do not get any 

 better legislation we contemplate operation 

 under House Bill 471 about 1950. We hope 

 that we will have better legislation. 



House Bill 727 pertaining to counties 

 under township organization is better in that 

 it provides for the immediate functioning 

 of the consolidated district. It is more 

 satisfactory to me in that it provides a 

 method whereby the voters themselves make 

 the decision. 



Both 471 and 727 are defective in mv 

 judgment in that they do not provide for 

 the absorption of the present county high- 

 way department within the enlarged dis- 

 trict. The policy of having two adminis- 

 trative bodies having charge of the same 

 type of roads within a county is as indefen- 

 sive as the school policy of maintaining a 

 dual school system. I maintain that any 

 good road district requires 3 points, namely: 



1. In charge of a trained highway en- 

 gineer. 



2. Has an adequate outfit of road build- 

 ing and maintaining machinery. 



3. Has year around paid personnel. 

 .... To my mind an ideal solution of 



the organization problem of roads would he 



the passage of legislation for roads similar 

 to House Bill 575 for schools. It would 

 provide for the exclusion of all incorporated 

 urban communities and exempt the state 

 highways. It would provide for the dissolu- 

 tion of all existing road districts and organi- 

 zations within the county. In event that the 

 election carried it would provide for all of 

 the roads of the county to be under the 

 supervision of the county highway engineer 

 and under the control of the county board. 

 The law should make some provision as 

 to the qualification of the highway engineer. 

 I mean professional qualification. Some pro- 

 vision should be made for an increase of 

 local revenues preferably by local refer- 

 endum. Under present law most local dis- 

 tricts are levying 16.5c per hundred. That 

 won't provide sufficient revenue even with 

 a good organization. The state government 

 should make a substantial contribution. As 

 a means of encouraging a good local or- 

 ganization the contribution should be in- 

 creased if the local unit met certain stand- 

 ards of efficiency. 



J. C. McCormick 

 Pulaski County 

 Editor's Note — We hate received quite a 

 number of letters inquiring on the subject of 

 rural roads as a result of Mr. Mayfield's arti- 

 cle in the December Record. In the March 

 Record he will answer most of the queries in 

 another article. 



UKES RURAL YOUTH 



.... As a result of the recent Rural Youth 

 short course I know some of the fellows 

 will be steamed up on the ideas of co-ops 

 in marketing, insurance, etc., and while 

 these are all important I get steamed up on 

 the many young people I've had the pleas- 

 ure of meeting and getting to know. 



For instance, while waiting at Swifts 

 cafeteria for dinner last Monday a young 

 man whom I hadn't seen for at least four 

 years came up, grabbed my hand, shook it 

 and started asking about my family and the 

 neighbors just as if he left only yesterday. 

 It took me a few seconds to place his name 

 but we had a nice talk together. He former- 

 ly worked near my home and is now a meat 

 cutter in a locker down in the southern part 

 of the state. 



Possibly I'm a little older than some of 

 the R. 'Y'.'ers but I can remember when 

 the city kids thought they had it all over 

 the farm boys and girls. Now the situa- 

 tion has changed for they ask "Where do 

 you go for we never see you anymore?" 

 We answer, "Oh, last week we bowled up 

 in Polo, went down to LaSalle county to a 

 formal dance, over to Rock Island to a ban- 

 quet and next week we entertain the White- 

 side kids here in P-town. " And they answer 

 something like this, "Gosh you're lucky, all 

 I did was go to two shows. " I'll admit home 

 is a good place to be once in a while but if 

 I live to be 60 or 100, die with 10 cents or 

 $100,000, I'll have memories. 



Now that I've had the opportunity to at- 

 tend State Camp, the short course, appear on 

 WLS, be a state committee member, and 

 attend Farm and Home Week, the lAA and 

 AFBF annual meetings, I feel not so much 

 on the receiving end as the giving end of 

 R.Y. work. 



I think we can challenge any organiza- 

 tion that has young people for its members 

 and whose enrollment is open to almost 

 anyone who cares to attend and still attract 

 men and women who are the best the com- 

 munity has to offer. On the average I think 

 you'll find that they are all leaders in their 

 clubs, churches and community affairs. 



Geo. Matthews 

 Whiteside Countv 



I. A. A. RECORD 



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