626 MISC. PUBLICATION 218, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 
tax delinquency. But the presence of a few inhabitants with sub- 
stantial equities in their properties, and the fact that there are 
solvent taxpayers, both resident and nonresident, to redeem such 
public debt as may exist, prevent the immediate reduction of the 
area. to unorganized status. 
If the State or county through a zoning law or other legal device 
could close such areas to further settlement, land values would fall, 
as they should, and the collapse of the community would be expedited. 
All the farm land would eventually be abandoned and either be 
acquired by forest owners or revert to the public domain through 
delinquency. Through this process certain areas that are dis- 
tinctly submarginal for agriculture would become closed for that 
purpose and could, if suitable, be devoted to forestry. At best, 
however, this method does not permit a prompt liquidation of the 
existing local government and a reduction of the area to unorganized 
status. If the depopulation of the area cannot be accomplished for 
several years and governmental services continue to be provided, 
the high taxes may “drive a great deal of land out of private owner- 
ship while the change is being effected. This method thus amounts 
to confiscation of private property. 
A less harsh method than simply closing an area to further settle- 
ment, and possibly a more profitable one for the State in the long 
run, would be for it to purchase the few surviving farms at a moderate 
price and effect depopulation at once. The “cost of these farms 
might be no greater than the amount that would be dispensed as 
school and road aid in the next few years if the settlement remained. 
Indeed the State might be able to resell them to forest owners at 
no loss, as soon as the area were reduced to unorganized status. In 
any case, the latter method would hardly result in any more land 
passing into public ownership than the former. Finally, and per- 
haps most important of all, the State would spare innocent people 
the hardships of a slow collapse and permit them to establish 
themselves in a more favorable environment. 
A REDISTRIBUTION OF GOVERNMENTAL FUNCTIONS 
The character of public functions has changed so greatly since the 
existing system of local government was adopted that the machinery 
and structure are often ill- adapted to perform the tasks at hand. 
In earlier days the functions of government were simple and could 
easily be performed by amateurs; today they are technical, requiring 
the use of complicated machinery and highly trained technicians. 
Again, the unit of economic life has greatly expanded; communities 
have become less self-contained. What one township or county does 
concerns and affects other townships and other counties. In its 
policy in respect to health, education, highways, policing, and so 
forth, no unit can act independently of other units. These services 
have such a far-reaching effect that they can no longer be considered 
a local responsibility. Finally, an unequal distribution of popula- 
tion and wealth makes it impossible for each local unit to provide 
a similar quality of service without very great differences in financial 
burden. 
For these reasons there has been a steady transfer of functions 
from smaller to larger jurisdictions. But the distribution is still 
