FOREST TAXATION IN THE UNITED STATES BLT 
vehicle taxes, the State is the most satisfactory collecting agent. In 
answer to the argument that adjoining property benefits from the 
improved road and should bear part of the cost, it can be said that 
property is bearing an undue share of the cost of other functions and 
that the easiest and most acceptable way of granting property tax 
relief is to shift the cost of roads to motorists. This, of course, does 
not relieve farmers and other property owners of road taxes, for all 
classes are owners and users of automobiles. Moreover, the properties 
which are enhanced in value by virtue of being on a surfaced road 
have their assessments increased and pay higher taxes for other 
purposes. 
In the case of schools, as already suggested, there can be no exact 
correlation of support and benefit, for ie benefits of public education 
are intangible and general. Although public education is, in a sense, 
a State responsibility, it is a function that demands local administra- 
tion and probably for that reason should be supported in considerable 
part through local taxes. This does not mean that the local taxing 
unit need be the tiny school district which now so generally prevails. 
The county 1s widely used as a unit of supervision and could profitably 
be used more widely as the unit of taxation. The State should, of 
course, continue to contribute to the support of the public schools and 
in many States to a much greater extent than it now does. While the 
educational function by its nature and sheer weight justifies joint 
support, 1t probably will and should remain primarily a local function. 
Poor-relief and public-welfare activities generally have been tradi- 
tionally local functions but are gradually being transferred to larger 
jurisdictions. Thus New York is limiting the work of the town over- 
ah of the poor and enlarging the county work. The State is also 
participating through a pension for the indigent aged. Virginia is 
rapidly eliminating its county almshouses and substituting district 
homes serving several counties. Several States have adopted ; a system 
of mothers’ pensions—contributed jointly by the State and county. 
The care of dependent, defective, and delinquent classes has come 
to be largely a State responsibility. The almshouses are being prop- 
erly relieved of the insane, the feeble-minded, and the delinquent and 
are being devoted more strictly to caring for the aged poor. Twenty- 
five States have adopted old-age pension systems, thereby tending 
to remove the need for almshouses. The ubiquitous county jail is 
surrendering more and more of its prisoners to State institutions. The 
average number of prisoners in county penal institutions decreased 
from 14 in 1910 to 7 in 1923. In a recent year 37 of Alabama’s 67 
jails were empty at some time during the year (119, p. 277). In 
North Carolina all able-bodied male prisoners serving sentence of 
30 days or more have been taken over by the State and are employed 
on the State highways. 
State police forces have been established in a dozen or more States 
to supplement and strengthen local police agencies. The sheriff, 
despite his ancient lineage, is neither competent nor free from political 
influence. 
The administration of justice, except in the lower courts, has long 
been largely a State function, but certain offices are subject to too 
much local influence to secure competent and unbiased service. 
This is particularly true of the elective offices of district or prosecuting 
