296 MISC. PUBLICATION 218, U.S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 
The minimum school term in Maine is 32 weeks, but some of the 
schools in unorganized territory are in session for as ‘long as 36 weeks. 
No secondary or high schools are maintained in unorganized territory, 
but qualified pupils are boarded and their tuition paid in towns 
having such schools. Whenever it is more economical for the State 
to board children near a school the parents are required to contribute 
at least $1 per week per pupil to eliminate the incentive to move to 
remote places in order to be relieved of the support of children. 
The State commissioner of education (136, p. 24) says: 
The majority of the unorganized territory schools will compare very favorably 
with the better class of rural schools of the State. In fact, some of the best 
schools set the standard in certain sections for model rural schools, and there is 
evidence of their direct influence in the improvement of the schools in nearby 
towns and plantations. 
In fact the quality of the school facilities is actually becoming a 
deterrent to plantation organization, as such adequate school facilities 
could not be furnished through local taxation and the apportionment 
of the State school fund without resort to a very high tax rate. 
Land in unorganized territory contributes nothing toward the cost 
of first-class roads, that is, State highways. Second-class or State-aid 
roads are built partly at local expense, but in 1930 only 46 of the 366 
townships in unorganized territory contributed to the cost of such 
roads. The rest of the roads in unorganized territory are ordinarily 
built and maintained entirely with local funds. Quite a number 
are private roads built by the large landowners and timber operators. 
If, however, local road taxes become unreasonably burdensome on the 
landowners of a township in unorganized territory, the county com- 
missioners are required to assess an equitable sum on the county 
and the balance only on the township to be crossed. In no case may 
the local road tax exceed 20 mills. ‘The supreme judicial court is the 
final authority as to what constitutes an unreasonably burdensome 
tax (135, pp. 65-67). 
The total tax rate in unorganized territory ranged in 1930 from 
10.8 mills on the dollar of assessed value to 33}; mills. The weighted 
average tax rate, however, was only 12.1 saritley The average tax 
rate in the organized towns was 50.4 mills and in the organized plan- 
tations, 42.1 mills (138). 
Although property in unorganized territory enjoys a very much 
lower tax rate than property in other parts of the State, the unor- 
ganized territory is more than self-supporting. In 1930 the unor- 
ganized territory paid approximately $812,000 in property taxes 
alone, and expenditures, exclusive of the cost of constructing and 
repairing first- and second-class roads, were only $385,000. Low 
governmental costs are due to the efficiency of State administration 
and the relatively meager demand for roads and schools because of a 
small and reasonably concentrated population. Of the 366 town- 
ships, 278 reported no population at all in 1930 (160, pp. 6-11). 
Only 47 townships have any farms and only 3 have as much as 1 ,000 
acres in farms (137, pp. 34-88). 
The great bulk of the land in unorganized territory is in large 
ownerships and is held for successive crops of timber. Conifers con- 
stitute the principal part of the merchantable stand and, together 
with a large quantity of aspen, are consumed almost entirely by the 
paper mills of Maine. The merchantable species of next importance 
PPD OID VOTED 
aS Sipe es 
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