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FOR GAS TAX 



The jollouing is a copy of a letter sent 

 10 the senator of the i^l.') district and repre- 

 sentatives of the I8th congressional district 

 of Illinois relative to the proposed two cent 

 increase in the gasoline tax for Illinois. 



I uould appreciate your publishing the 

 letter in its entirety sometime in the near 

 future, in your publication. 



THE Tazewell county board of supervisors, 

 has gone on record endorsing the two 

 cent raise in the gasoline tax, with in- 

 structions that the county clerk so advise 

 you. I am taking this opportunity to ex- 

 press some of my views relative to the raise. 

 No doubt, you have received quite a few 

 letters from people opposing this raise, and 

 I feel it is safe to assume that many of 

 them are not familiar with the situation 

 and the great ne.essity of this extra money 

 for road purposes. The highway commis- 

 sioners of this county, who represent the 

 people relative to road construction, are all 

 100 per cent for the proposed increase in 

 the gasoline tax. Nearly all the farmers 

 I have contacted have no opposition to the 

 raise. It seems as though the opposition 

 comes from the oil interests — and of course, 

 we know that this opposition is from a per- 

 sonal standpoint. The trucking industry, 

 in all but a few instances, is also opposed 

 to the increase and I can hardly understand 

 why they should, because truck traflfic is 

 only 10 per cent of the total, while they do 



about 100 per cent of the damage to our 

 roads. 



What gets me riled up, is the fact that 

 while I traveled through the southern states, 

 the tax ranged from seven cents in Ten- 

 nessee to nine and one half cents in Louisi- 

 ana, and I paid from 28 cents to 30 cents 

 per gallon for gasoline (Ethyl) tax in- 

 cluded. Then, I come back to our own 

 state and pay only three cents tax on gaso- 

 line but still pay 28 cents for a gallon, tax 

 included. This is happening in a state 

 (Illinois) which is third in production of 

 oil and has five or six refineries scattered 

 over the state. At the same rate that we 

 are charged for gasoline in the southern 

 states and taking into consideration, the 

 gas tax, we should not be paying any more 

 than 21 cents per gallon. If you travel 

 through those states south of the Dixie 

 line, you will see that there is mile after 

 mile of new construction, this work, I 

 claim, is being paid for by we who live 



lAA Director Frank 

 L. Simpson discufse* 

 form issues with 

 farmers in his dis- 

 trict at the DeWItt 

 County Farm Bureau. 

 These meetings are 

 held annually tlirough- 

 out the state to give 

 farmers a chance to 

 express to their lAA 

 director their feeling 

 on farm issues. 



in the north. Another thing, the oil compa- 

 nies could, tomorrow morning, raise the 

 price of gasoline one half cent and in two 

 or three weeks add on another one half 

 cent and in a few months raise the price 

 three cents and no one would open his 

 mouth about it, but go ahead and pay the 

 increased price — yet these same people 

 raise loud objections at the thought of an 

 increase of two cents in tax that will result 

 in greatly improved roads throughout the 

 State. 



Therefore, I think, for the good of every 

 one concerned, that it would be well if 

 you would support a raise in the gas tax. 

 I would further state, that before we can 

 match the Federal Appropriations, we will 

 have to have some way of getting extra 

 money, as we do not have sufficient funds 

 now. 



Elmer Mitchell 



Superintendent of Highways 



Tazewell County 



MOflddl/.. 



ILL 

 VACCINATE 

 TOMORROW... 



Tuescfdi/. 



Wedne^ddy... 



OH-JLL LET 

 IT GO ANOTHER. 

 DAY. . . 



I'll VACCINATE 

 TOMORROW 

 5URE... 



Thutsddy... 



OH WELL- 

 ONE MORE 

 DAV WOM'T 

 HURT... 



fn'ddy. 



TODAV 

 / WILL 

 VACCINATE / 



TOO LATE n 



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DON'T PROCRASTINATE -VACCINATE f SEE YOUR FARM BUREAU 

 TODAY FOR FRE$H^ POTENT F/\RM BUREAU ANThHOG CHOLERA SERUM 



MAY, 1949 



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