examination such Auditor, or such person as the Auditor may appoint to make such examination, shall have power to examine under oath the said collector, the deputies, clerks or other employees of such collector; and to examine under oath the sureties upon the official bond of such collector, touching the knowledge of such sureties of the taxes collected by such collector and the disposition thereof and the solvency of such sureties.

If any collector shall fail or refuse to open his books, accounts and records for inspection, as aforesaid, upon the demand in writing of the Auditor so to do, the Auditor shall file in the Circuit Court of the county of which said collector is a resident, a petition which shall set forth the aforesaid demand of the Auditor, the failure of such collector to comply therewith, and praying the court to enter an order upon such collector requiring him to appear before such court and show lawful cause for such failure. Said court shall forthwith enter of record an order requiring said collector to appear before such court at a time stated in such order, which time shall not be more than fifteen days after the entry thereof and answer said petition, a certified copy of which order shall be delivered at the office of said collector within five days after the entry thereof. If such collector shall not appear as required by said order, the court shall enter an order commanding said collector to produce such books, accounts and records for the examination aforesaid, within a time not exceeding five days after the entry of such order. If such collector shall appear and answer as required by said order, the court shall forthwith proceed to hear and determine the matter, and if such matter shall not show lawful reason for failure to comply with the Auditor's demand aforesaid, the court shall order said collector to produce such books, accounts and records for such examination within five days after the entry of such order and submit himself to examination under oath by such Auditor or his appointee, touching said books, accounts and records, when required. Such collector failing or refusing to obey such. order may be adjudged guilty of contempt of court and punished therefor.

§ 287. If any officer shall fail or neglect to perform any of the duties required of him by this Act, upon being required so to do by any person interested in the matter, and for the failure or neglect to perform such duty there is no other or specific penalty provided in this Act, he shall be liable to a fine of not less than ten dollars ($10.00) nor more than five hundred dollars ($500.00), to be recovered in an action of debt in the Circuit Court of the proper county, and may be removed from office at the discretion of the court; and any officer who shall knowingly violate any of the provisions of this Act, for the violation of which there is no other specific penalty provided for herein, shall be liable to a fine of not less than ten dollars ($10.00) nor more than one thousand dollars ($1,000.00) to be recovered in an action of debt in the name of the People of the State of Illinois, in any court having jurisdiction and may be removed from office at the discretion of the court, and, said fines when recovered shall be paid into the county treasury.

APPROVED June 25, 1917.

TAX RATE LIMITED.

§ 1. Amends section 2, Act of 1901.

(SENATE BILL No. 193.

§ 2. The rate per cent-how to be determined.

APPROVED JUNE 25, 1917.)

AN ACT to amend section two (2) of an Act entitled, "An Act concerning the levy and extension of taxes," approved May 9, 1901, in force July 1, 1901, as amended by an Act approved March 29, 1905, in force July 1, 1905, as amended by an Act approved June 14, 1909, in force July 1, 1909, as amended by an Act approved May 20, 1913, in force July 1, 1913, as amended by an Act approved June 10, 1915, in force July 1, 1915.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly: That section 2 of an Act entitled, "An Act concerning the levy and extension of taxes," approved May 9, 1901, in force July 1, 1901, as amended by an Act approved March 29, 1905, in force July 1, 1905, as amended by an Act approved June 14, 1909, in force July 1, 1909, as amended by an Act approved May 20, 1913, in force July 1, 1913, as amended by an Act approved June 10, 1915, in force July 1, 1915, be and the same is hereby amended to read as follows:

§ 2. The county clerk in each county shall ascertain the rates per cent required to be extended upon the assessed valuation of the taxable property in the respective towns, townships, districts, incorporated cities and villages in his county, as equalized by the State Board of Equalization for the current year, to produce the several amounts certified for extension by the taxing authorities in said county (as the same shall have been reduced as hereinbefore provided in all cases where the original amounts exceed the amount authorized by law): Provided, however, that if the aggregate of all taxes (exclusive of State taxes, township taxes, village taxes, levee taxes, public tuberculosis sanitarium taxes, school building taxes, high school taxes, district school taxes and all other school taxes in school districts having not more than 100,000 inhabitants, road and bridge taxes and for a period of five years beginning with the year 1917 taxes levied for the payment of the principal and the interest on bonded indebtedness of cities, and exclusive of taxes levied pursuant to the mandate or judgment of any court of record on any bonded indebtedness), certified to be extended against any property in any part of any taxing district or municipalities, [municipality] shall exceed three per cent of the assessed valuation thereof upon which the taxes are required to be extended, the rate per cent of the tax levy of such taxing district or municipality shall be reduced as follows: The county clerk shall reduce the rate per cent of the tax levy of such taxing district or municipality in the same proportion it [in] which it would be necessary to reduce the highest aggregate per cent of all the tax levies (exclusive of State taxes, township taxes, village taxes, levee taxes, puplic [public] tuberculosis sanitarium taxes, school building taxes, high school taxes, district school taxes and all other school taxes in school districts having not more than 100,000 inhabitants, road and bridge taxes, and for a period of five years beginning with the year 1917 taxes levied for

the payment of the principal and the interest on bonded indebtedness. of cities, and exclusive of taxes levied pursuant to the mandate or judgment of any court of record on any bonded indebtedness), certified for extension upon any of the taxable property in said taxing district or municipality to bring the same down to three per cent of the assessed value of said taxable property upon which said taxes are required by law to be extended: Provided, further, that in reducing tax levies hereunder the rate per cent of the tax levy for county purposes in counties having a population of over 300,000 shall not be reduced below a rate of fortyfive cents on each one hundred dollars assessed value (exclusive of levies to pay the principal and interest on bonded indebtedness and judgments), and in counties having a population of less than 300,000 the rate of the tax levy for county purposes shall not be reduced below a rate of seventy-five cents for each one hundred dollars assessed value (exclusive of levies to pay the principal and interest on bonded indebtedness and judgments), and the rate per cent of the tax levy for city or village purposes (exclusive of library, public tuberculosis sanitarium, school and park purposes and, for a period of five years beginning with the year 1917, exclusive of the taxes levied for the payment of the principal and of the interest on bonded indebtedness and judgments), in cities and villages having a population of over 150,000 shall not be reduced below a rate of one dollar and ten cents on each one hundred dollars assessed value, and in addition thereto such rate not to exceed five cents on each one hundred dollars of assessed value as will produce the amount of the annual appropriation of such cities and villages for playground purposes, and the rate per cent of the school tax for educational purposes shall not be reduced below a rate of one dollar and twenty cents on each one hundred dollars assessed value, and the rate per cent of the tax levy for library purposes shall not be reduced below a rate of eight (8) cents on each one hundred dollars ($100) assessed value, and the rate per cent of the tax levy for city or village purposes (exclusive of library, school and park purposes, and exclusive of the taxes levied for the payment of the principal and the interest on bonded indebtedness and judgments) in cities and villages having a population of less than 150,000, shall not be reduced below a rate of two dollars on each one hundred dollars assessed value, and the rate per cent of the school tax levy for educational purposes shall not be reduced below a rate of one dollar and fifty cents on each one hundred dollars assessed value, but the other taxes which are subject to reduction under this section shall be subject only to such reduction, respectively, as would be made therein under this section if this proviso were not inserted herein: And, provided, further, in reducing tax levies hereunder all school taxes levied in cities exceeding 150,000 inhabitants, with the exception of the levy for school building purposes, shall be included in the taxes to be reduced.

The rate per cent of the tax levy of every county, city, village, town, township, park district, sanitary district, road district, and other public authorities (except the State), shall be ascertained and determined (and reduced when necessary as provided above) in the manner hereinbefore specified, and shall then be extended by the county clerk upon the assessed

value of the property subject thereto (being one-third of the full value thereof) as equalized according to law. In reducing the rate per cent of any tax levy, as hereinbefore provided, the rates per cent of all tax levies certified to the county clerk for extension as originally ascertained and determined under section one of this Act, shall be used in ascertaining the aggregate of all taxes under this section: Provided, that no reduction of any tax levy made hereunder shall diminish any amount appropriated by corporate or taxing authorities for the payment of the principal or interest on bonded debt, or levied pursuant to the mandate or judgment of any court of record. And to that end every such taxing body shall certify to the county clerk, with its tax levy, the amount thereof required for any such purpose.

In case of a reduction hereunder any taxing body whose levy is affected thereby and whose appropriations are required by law to be itemized, may, after the same have been ascertained, distribute the amount of such reduction among the items of its appropriations, with the exception aforesaid, as it may elect. If no such election be made within three months after the extension of such tax, all such items, except as above specified, shall be deemed to be reduced pro rata.

APPROVED June 25, 1917.

VALIDATION OF TAX LEVIES FOR 1916.

1. Tax levies for 1916 validated.

(HOUSE BILL NO. 902.

APPROVED JUNE 26, 1917,)

AN ACT to make legal and valid annual appropriation bills for the fiscal year A. D. 1916, and taxes levied and extended thereon in counties. by law required to adopt an annual appropriation bill in the first quarter of the fiscal year and to publish the annual appropriation bill in a newspaper, and to validate court proceedings now pending or hereafter to be brought for the collection of such taxes.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly: That when any county board by law is required within the first quarter of the fiscal year to adopt and, heretofore within the first quarter of the fiscal year A. D. 1916, has adopted a resolution termed the annual appropriation bill in and by which resolution such county board has appropriated such sums of money as might then be necessary to defray all necessary expenses and liabilities of such county to be by such county paid or incurred during and until the time of the adoption of the next succeeding annual appropriation bill, which said appropriation bill, by the provision of any law then in force, should not take effect until after it had been once published in a newspaper, and which said appropriation bill was not published in such a newspaper or in such manner or time as was then required by law, then in each and every such case, such annual appropriation bill and all tax levies based thereon and heretofore passed or adopted by such county board and the county taxes extended on the collector's warrant pursuant to such tax levy or levies, and all court proceedings now pending or hereafter to be brought to enforce the collection of such taxes, are each

and all hereby declared to be as legal and valid from the beginning as they, each and every of them would have been if such annual appropriation bill had been duly published in such a newspaper and in the manner and at the time then required by law: Provided, that nothing herein contained shall have the effect to validate more than one sufficient levy for the same appropriations in said fiscal year A. D. 1916, and where heretofore more than one levy has in fact been made or attempted to be made for the same appropriations in said fiscal year the taxes extended thereon shall have the same force and validity in the same amounts and to the same extent as they would have had if one sufficient levy had been made for said appropriations and the taxes extended thereon.

AN ACT to amend an Act entitled: "An Act to revise the law in relation to roads and bridges," approved June 27, 1913, in force July 1, 1913, as subsequently amended, by adding thereto a new section, to be known as section 104a.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly: That an Act entitled: "An Act to revise the law in relation to roads and bridges," approved June 27, 1913, in force July 1, 1913, as subsequently amended, be, and the same is hereby amended, by adding thereto a new section, to be known as section. 104a, to read as follows:

§ 104a. Any association organized to promote the improvement of highways may, upon application to the Department of Public Works and Buildings, have registered in the office of the department, the name, detailed route, color combination and design used in marking any route laid out by such association. The board of highway advisors shall have power to determine priority of right in the use of any such name, color combination and designs.

The application for such registration shall be in the form prescribed by the Department of Public Works and Buildings and shall be properly acknowledged by the president and secretary of the association before a notary public or other officer authorized to take acknowledgment of deeds. Such application shall be accompanied by a registration fee of five dollars ($5.00), which fee shall be returned to the association, if the application be not granted.

If the department shall, after investigation, adjudge the application meritorious and the route to be worthy of the protection of this Act, it shall issue to the association a certificate, which shall designate in detail the name, the starting and the terminal point, the color combination and