168 A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMEKICAN FORESTRY 



still another State, in which there was much poor agricultural land, 

 was only slightly more than 50 percent of the average for the State. 10 

 In areas of eventual abandonment people hold on for some time after 

 conditions have become relatively unsatisfactory in the hope that these 

 conditions are only temporary. This results in still further lowering 

 the plane of living. 



With low incomes it is difficult to finance local governmental 

 services like schools and roads. In addition, the costs per farm for 

 roads, and per pupil for schools, are much higher in areas of aban- 

 donment than in areas of better agriculture because of the sparse 

 population served. If the costs are kept down it is only by sac- 

 rificing quality through shorter school terms, poorly trained teachers, 

 etc. The policy of granting State aid has been adopted to insure at 

 least a minimum of such services. Consequently the conditions 

 necessitating aid are of more than local interest, especially in view of 

 tjie fact that such aid serves to encourage the continued occupancy of 

 or stimulates new settlement hi areas incapable of supporting a reason- 

 able standard of living. 



A study in one State showed that in a number of school districts 

 the tax receipts for school purposes from sources other than the local 

 farms were sufficient, if capitalized, to purchase all the farms in the 

 districts and in some districts they would leave a balance of $2,000 

 per farm. 11 Another State is paying to some of its townships out of 

 the State treasury annually, sums for schools alone equal to 20 percent 

 of the assessed value of the townships. This constitutes the net pay- 

 ments above the total of the towns' share of State taxes. 12 Of the 

 school cost of nearly $3,000 in one year, in a town of still another 

 State, the local residents paid only $236. 13 



It is believed that economies can be effected in many instances in 

 the costs of schools and roads if the State aid for these purposes is 

 coordinated with a rational plan of land utilization. The policies 

 should be coordinated to encourage the use of the poorer and more 

 isolated areas for forests and for recreation, by discouraging settlement 

 for agriculture, and by making it easier for those already in such 

 areas to go where opportunities are more favorable. 



Another fiscal problem in many areas is tax delinquency. 14 It is 

 more important in the cut-over timber areas than in most of the areas 

 of extensive abandonment, for here timberland owners are allowing 

 their cut-over lands to go tax-delinquent by the thousands of acres. 

 It affects agriculture even where the area of agricultural land that is 

 tax-delinquent may be relatively small. The burden of taxation on 

 agriculture is increased because of the lessened tax base and the shift- 

 ing of the tax burden to the lands on which the taxes are paid. The 

 tax delinquency becomes a factor in bringing about further tax 

 delinquency and is a contributing cause of agricultural abandonment. 



Not only is it difficult to maintain schools and roads in areas having 

 large amount of submarginal agricultural land, but the same factors 

 make it difficult to maintain churches and other social and economic 



10 Wisconsin Agricultural Extension Service. Making the Most of Washburn County Land. 1932. 

 Wis. Agr. Ext. Service Special Cir., p. 10. 



11 Peck, M., Frank, B., and Eke, P. A. Economic Utilization of Marginal Lands in Nicholas and Web- 

 ster Counties, W.Va. 1932. U.S.D.A. Tech. Bui. 303, p. 24. 



" Indiana, State of; Yearbook of Indiana. 1930. p. 505. 



Hibbard, B. H., Hartman, W. A., and Sparhawk, W. N Use and Taxation of Land in Lincoln 

 County, Wis. 1929. Wis. Agr. Expt. Sta. Bui. 406, p. 19. 



14 The tax delinquency referred to here is not the temporary tax delinquency which is rather wide-spread 

 but that stage where the land reverts to the State or county. 



