THE Illinois Agricultural Association 

 and Farm Bureau members in Illi- 

 nois are very much interested in 

 the conservation of our soil and 

 in the development of governmental 

 programs which will provide every prac- 

 tical incentive to encourage farmers to 

 use better soil management practices. We 

 appreciate the importance to the nation 

 as a whole of an expanded soil conserva- 

 tion program. For many years our or- 

 ganization has cooperated with the Col- 

 lege of Agriculture, the Extension Serv- 

 ice and the Soil Conservation Service of 

 our state in promoting better land use 

 programs as they have developed. 



At the present time, there is a satisfac- 

 tory spirit of cooperation between the 

 various individual agencies working with 

 these programs in Illinois. However, 

 under the present system, there is con- 

 siderable duplication of effort by these 

 various agencies of government. 



Duplicates Work 



For example, research work on soil 

 conservation projects is being carried on 

 by the College of Agriculture experiment 

 stations and also by the Soil Conservation 

 Service. Soil conservation educational 

 work is conducted by three agencies of 

 government — the Soil Conservation 

 Service, the Agricultural Extension Serv- 

 ice and the Production and Marketing 

 Administration. It is our firm conviction 

 that there should be a definite correlation 

 of the soil conservation activities in gov- 

 ernment so that this duplication of effort 

 can be eliminated. 



We have carefully studied the various 

 proposals to coordinate the activities in 

 the field of soil conservation. Years of 

 experience have convinced us that the 

 most successful governmental programs 



Following is the position of the Illi- 

 nois Agricultural Association on the Na- 

 tional Land Policy Bill as presented in a 

 statement to the House Committee on 

 Agriculture May 14 in Washington by 

 lAA Vice President Floyd E. Morris of 

 Sangamon county. 



dealing with agriculture have been those 

 which are decentralized and have a maxi- 

 mum of local control. H. R. 6054 pro- 

 poses to increase rather than decrease the 

 centralized control in Washington of 

 these programs. 



AnMrican Farm Bureau Federation officials testify in Washington April 29 at a hearing 

 on the 1949 U. S. Department of Agriculture budget. Right, foreground, is Illinois Senator 

 C. W. Breolcs. Center Is AFBF President Allan B. Kline. In row behind Kline are, left to 

 right: Lowell Steen, president, Oregon F.B.; H. A. Praeger, president, Kansas F.B.; lAA 

 President Charles B. Shumon; H. L. Wingate, president, Georgia F.B., and Don Parol, AFBF 



Washington office. 



We believe that this bill provides for 

 too much centralization of control in the 

 Secretary of Agriculture over the various 

 agricultural programs dealing with con- 

 servation, improvement and development 

 of agricultural land and water resources. 



Another danger that we see in this 

 proposed legislation is in the provisions 

 to bring the so-called action agencies and 

 programs, together with educational ac- 

 tivities, all under the proposed new fed- 

 eral bureau. We believe that action pro- 

 grams should be definitely separated from 

 educational activities. We are certain 

 that coordination of activities can be ob- 

 tained without establishing any new bu- 

 reau or administration. 



. Seeks Better Bill 



The Illinois Agricultural Association 

 fully supports the suggestions of the 

 American Farm Bureau Federation for an 

 improved soil conservation program. We 

 believe that the research activities of the 

 soil conservation service should be trans- 

 ferred to the long established research 

 agencies at state and federal levels. We 

 further believe that educational work for 

 all agricultural programs should be con- 

 ducted by the Extension Service. We are 

 very much opposed to the proposals in 

 H. R. 6054 which establish a new Agri- 

 cultural Resources Administration under 

 the Secretary of Agriculture, with no pro- 

 vision for eliminating the existing dupli- 

 cation and conflict in these fields of re- 

 search and educational work. 



Concentrates Power 



Again I want to repeat that the pro- 

 posals in this legislation are exactly oppo- 

 site to the position of the Illinois Agri- 

 cultural Association in that it proposes 

 even greater centralization of power and 

 authority in the federal government 

 through the Secretary of Agriculture. We 

 are very strongly opposed to combining 

 the action and educational agencies under 

 one bureau. We favor a realistic reorga- 

 nization to make use of already existing 

 agencies. We insist that nothing should 

 be done which will further confuse farm- 

 ers' thinking in connection with a pro- 

 gram of such vital importance as the soil 

 conservation program. The Soil Con- 

 servation Districts in Illinois are doing 

 an excellent job and they must not be 

 hampered by further centralization of au- 

 thority. Farmers themselves must be en- 

 couraged to take even greater responsi- 

 bility for guiding the progress of these 

 essential local organizations. 



We respectfully urge that Congress 

 enact such legislation as will give maxi- 

 mum control of the conservation pro- 

 grams to the states. We very strongly 

 oppose the enactment of H. R. 6054. 



JUNE IS DAIRY MONTH 



I. A. A. RECORD 



