I.A.S. Newsletter, February 1968 - 5 - 
"OUR ILLINOIS STATE LEGISLATURE" 
The U.S. Supreme Court has focused attention in the last few years on the 
evolution of American government, In two historic cases, the Court held that 
malapportionment of State Legislatures is a proper issue for consideration under 
the Federal Constitution and that the State legislatures must be apportioned 
on the basis of population, Implicit in these decisions is the desire of the 
Courts and the American people to retain our Federal System and maintain the 
proper relationship between the States and the National Government, 
What is the real meaning of these decisions to conservation and to the people 
of the State of Illinois? They mean the end of non-representative government. They 
give us, the believers in grass roots democracy, the chance, probably the last chance, 
to revitalize and redirect our State Government, 
It is not enough to rant against the encroachments of our Federal Government, 
We must provide a State Government willing and able to act and a Legislature 
responsive to the broad spectrum of the electorate, and we must be a people 
willing to discard our apathy toward State Government, 
The crisis of Federalism arises from the failure am refusal of our State 
Legislature to deal with the hard-core problems of Twentieth Century living, such 
as conservation, State Legislatures have been traditionally ridden with graft 
and corruption; the domain of influence peddlers, 
The people have a right to expect from their Legislators an unselfish 
dedicatim to the public interest, Legislators have a right to expect that 
they will be furnished with the tools that are necessary to enable them to deal 
effectively with the problems of State Government, The facts are that the 
facilities that have been provided for your Legislators in Illinois have not 
been adequate, 
The only desks your State Representatives have are the ones on the Floor 
of the House, Except for the leadership of the House, they have no office, 
In the Senate, the Legislators are provided with very inadequate rooms, The 
pialele's etll VanlieEd 

