Copies are Available 



At Your County 



Farm Bureau 



NOW 



CULLEN B. SWEET 



Director lAA Oepartment 

 Rural Road ImprovafiMOt 



F 



H 



THE report of the Koad Study Com- 

 mittee of the Illinois Agricultural 

 Association is now available. 

 Copies are now coming off the 

 press and are being sent to county 

 Farm Bureau officers. Additional copies 

 are available to Farm Bureau members 

 on request at your county Farm Bureau 

 office. 



Based on facts and their findings, the 

 committee has made recommendations 

 for needed and desirable changes in the 

 administration of rural roads. The com- 

 mittee also suggests how these changes 

 may be brought about. Methods of 

 financing also are considered and rec- 

 ommendations are made. 



The report of the lAA Road Study 

 Committee is the work of a group of 20 

 farmers. One was selected from each 

 of the 15 lAA districts. The remaining 

 five were chosen at large. These 20 

 men spent more than eight months 

 studying the road problems of Illinois. 

 The first meeting of the committee was 

 held March 29. 1948. 



At their first meeting lAA President 

 Charles B. Shuman outlined the pur- 

 pose of the road committee. He em- 

 phasized the need for constructive work 

 in solving the road problems facing the 

 peoples of Illinois. He suggested that 



they approach the study with an open 

 mind and give serious consideration to 

 all sides of the problem before making 

 recommendations. 



Although the committee was inter- 

 ested primarily in farm roads, the solu- 

 tion of the problems pertaining to these 

 roads and their relationship to those of 

 the state and county could be considered 

 only after a study of the problems of 

 each of the other three systems includ- 

 ing primary roads (hard roads), county 

 roads, and city streets. 



The committee called in and con- 

 sulted with outstanding highway engi- 

 neers, highway officials, and prominent 

 leaders qualified by training and ex- 

 perience to present and discuss impor- 

 tant phases of road problems. 



Farm Bureau members are urged to 

 read and study the report, to familiarize 

 themselves with its findings and rec- 

 ommendations and to discuss the matter 

 with their County Farm Bureau direc- 

 tors. Voting delegates at the annual 

 meeting of the Illinois Agricultural As- 

 sociation will act upon a road policy 

 which can be aggressively pursued for 

 the benefit of all rural people. 



Most Illinois farmers have always 

 considered all-weather roads of para- 

 mount importance to the economy of 



the state. However, hundreds of road 

 districts do not have the money to pro- 

 vide all-weather roads for use by school 

 busses, milk trucks, mail service, farm 

 produce trucks and farm equipment. 

 State aid for farm roads ended June 

 30, 1949. 



For the next two years at least, town- 

 ship and road districts will have to get 

 along with the money raised through 

 local property taxes. The charge has 

 been made that the rank and file of farm 

 people in most counties were not in 

 sympathy with the proposed increase in 

 the gasoline tax even though farm roads 

 would have received continuing and sub- 

 stantial benefit from such increased tax. 



If farm people want financial aid 

 for road improvement they are going 

 to have to fight for it. It will not be 

 handed to them. The state highway 

 system is in need of repair and must 

 have more money if Illinois is to have 

 an adequate system of highways. Coun- 

 ty and township roads also need more 

 funds. Farm people, therefore, are 

 urged to study their present methods 

 of administration and finance to see 

 where economies can be effected to get 

 more road dollars on the road. 



Ask at your Farm Bureau office for a 

 copy of the report. | - 



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I. A. A. RECORD 



