Maladjustments in Land Use 



17 



similar general economic conditions or to conditions 

 under which it should be possible for them to live else- 

 where, considering the resources and technical knowl- 

 edge that are available. 



Some of tliis land has always been of low quality and 

 has always pro\-ided a low level of Uving for the people 

 who have operated it. Other land may have at one 

 time supported the people on it at a comparatively 

 adecpiate level, but the soil has become so depleted 

 that it now provides a very meager livelihood. In 

 other areas, the competition of better land has reduced 

 the income on this relatively poor land so that a satis- 

 factory return is no longer possible. In the more re- 

 cently settled areas a few exceptionally favorable crop 

 years, or high-pressure salesmanship, have induced 

 families to settle on land which should never have been 

 cultivated. 



Problems of Loral Government. — Costs of local govern- 

 ment vary widely among the different areas of poor 

 land. In some densely populated poor-land areas, 

 particularly in States which have offered little assistance 

 to local units of government in the attainment of high 

 standards of public services, the total dollar costs per 

 capita of local government are very low. Such 

 expenditures buy only the minimum of services — 

 salaries of public officials are small, roads poor, and 

 school buildings often inadequate. In many instances 

 schools have heavj' enrollments per teacher, therebj'^ 

 creating a minimum cost for providing instruction. 



Some economies in government might be possible 

 through reorganization, particularly by the consolida- 

 tion of small counties, but in general these areas already 

 are at bedrock of expenditures. What is actually 

 needed is a reorganization of the economic basis of the 

 community, a circumstance which would provide a 

 redirected use of the resources and afford the people 

 of the region greater economic opportunity and greater 

 abilitj* to support governnrent. 



In the poor land sections of some States one may, 

 on the other hand, find a very expensive system of 

 local government with costs high in relation to both 

 population and taxable property. Particularly is 

 this the case in the settlements within cut-over and 

 dry farming country, where farm homes or small 

 communities are widely scattered. Here many forces 

 converge to produce high costs of local government: 

 Sparse settlement, wliich requires the administrative 

 costs of the numerous local governments to be appor- 

 tioned among a small population; and the scattering of 

 families, which necessitates many miles of road for a 

 few farms, a school for a few children. In 5 typical 

 northern Wisconsin counties, 38 towns have more 

 than 1 mile of road per farm, an arrangement which 

 costs the State $40 per mile in town road aid. There 

 ore literally hundreds of small schools throughout tliis 



vast sparsely populated frontier zone. The furnish- 

 ing of such facilities is a heavy burden both upon the 

 State and upon the more productive parts of the coun- 

 ties, and m this type of area very significant savings in 

 school and road costs might be effected by a redistri- 

 bution of the population. 



The demonstrational jirojects of the subnuirginal 

 land program have not yet been carried to the point 

 where the analysis of particular projects will yield a 

 complete picture of the fiscal conditions throughout 

 the problem areas. A few final proposals are avail- 

 able for study, however, and offer striking testimony 

 concerning the financial distress in submarginal land 

 areas. 



In one Montana purchase area 40 percent of the 

 elementary schools have less than 10 pupils per school. 

 If the relocation of settlers be carried out as projected, 

 it is estimated that the removal of 1,000 families to 

 irrigation and other types of farms would make possible 

 an annual saving of $60,000 in schools alone. This 

 shift would make possible an additional estimated 

 savings of $50,000 each year in expenditures for roads 

 and comity poor relief. 



In the Lake States the evidence is equally persuasive. 

 In one submarginal land purchase project area there, 

 63 percent of the farmers receive less than $100 farm 

 income per year. By relocating the isolated settlers, 

 savings of more than $100 per family in school costs 

 and State road aids alone are likely. A few cases 

 have been cited where the net cost to governmental 

 agencies is $500 or $600, even $1,000 per family. In 

 one land-purchase project area it has been estimated 

 that the average isolated farm family in nonagricultural 

 zones costs the various units of government $400 per 

 year more than paid in taxes. 



The scattered settlement of these people combines 

 with the poor soil on which they live Ln a conspiracy 

 to keep them in poverty. In one project area in 

 Minnesota involving 268 families it was found that 

 on an average the homes were 19 miles from a shipping 

 point, 7 miles from a store, 20 miles from a high school, 

 and 27 miles from a doctor. Under such conditions 

 even a minimum of governmental and community 

 services must be expensive. 



The thousands of rural commimities which are built 

 upon poor and ill-used land fall between the extrejues 

 indicated by the above. In some densely settled 

 areas costs are now at a minimum, although the serv- 

 ices are inadequate; at the other extreme are the com- 

 munities where settlement is sjiarse, and serious effort 

 is made to provide adequate services. In these latter 

 areas State assistance is sometimes generous. Taken 

 as a group, they offer great possibihties of reduction 

 in fiscal expenditures through relocation of persons 

 itiid reorganizations of government. 



