FOREST TAXATION IN THE UNITED STATES 295 
town having been disorganized to date. However, the county treas- 
urer of Penobscot County expressed the opinion, which he said was 
shared by other local officials, that disorganization will be more 
common in the future, especially in the marginal agricultural towns 
where farm abandonment has reduced the population to a point 
where it is difficult to carry the local government organization. In 
1 plantation, with only 45 inhabitants, there are 9 officers holding 20 
plantation offices (131). 
Most of the unorganized territory and 19 adjoining towns and first- 
class plantations have been incorporated as the Maine forestry 
district. Property within this area is taxed 2% mills on each dollar 
of valuation, as determined by the board of State assessors, for the 
prevention, control, and suppression of forest fires. The adminis- 
tration of the district, so far as concerns forest-protection matters, 
is under the State forest commissioner. The district owns and 
operates 1,600 miles of telephone line, and has fire tools sufficient 
for the employment of 10,000 men. Fire-protection costs average 
about 2 cents per acre annually (139). 
The county exists primarily as an agency of the State. Its chief 
expenditures are for police protection, for the support of the superior 
court, the supreme judicial court, the court of probate and insol- 
vency, and the various municipal courts, the support of jails and other 
correctional institutions, the registration of deeds and other legal 
instruments, and the partial support of roads in unorganized town- 
ships. The chief officers are three county commissioners, clerk of 
courts, register of deeds, county treasurer, and sheriff. 
The county budget is prepared by the county commissioners bienni- 
ally but must be approved by the State legislature. This approval 
is not perfunctory, but is often given only after drastic amendments 
are made. Since the county valuation is fixed by the board of State 
assessors and the county budget by the State legislature, the county 
tax rate is virtually fixed by the State. Property in the unorganized 
territory is subject to a State tax of 7% mills, 34 of which goes into 
the State school fund, 1 mill to the State highway commission for 
the construction of second- and third-class roads, and 3% mills for 
general administration and protection. 
The schools in the unorganized territory are under the direct con- 
trol and supervision of the State commissioner of education and are 
administered by his general agent for unorganized territory. The 
school revenues from unorganized territory consist of the proceeds 
from the tax of 3% mills levied by the State, a poll tax of $3 on every 
male resident 21 years of age and over, interest on funds derived 
from the sale of school lands, and tuition fees. The total amount of 
school revenues in 1929 was $261,886, whereas expenditures were 
only $54,533. 
The inhabitants of the unorganized territory have no voice whatever 
in regard to their school affairs. The general agent for unorganized 
territory locates the school buildings, determines which schools shall 
be maintained, which pupils shall be transported, which pupils shall 
be boarded and the rate of board, what teachers shall be hired and 
their salaries, and even such minor matters as the amount and price 
of fuel wood to be purchased. A local school agent chosen by the 
general agent executes the latter’s orders and is paid a sum ranging 
from $10 to $50 annually, according to the amount of work done. 
