The Taney County republican. (Forsyth, Mo.) 1895-1992, 1911-04-13

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to make living for family from 40
acres OF land. There are places where
farmer could not make a living for
himself and family on 100 acres, or
even from half section of ground.
What I suggested and advocated was
graduated land tax that would prevent
the accumulation of vast landed estates.
I would suggest plan along this line:
Let the first 40 acres entirely exempt
from taxation. Let the tax on the
second 40 be merely nominal. Then
continue to increase the tax on the
individul landed holdings until it would
reach the point where it would be
Improbable for him to hold the land.
I have said, and say still, that 40
acres of land farmed intelligently and
we'll can be made to produce more than
a quarter section of land farmed care
lessly. I have said, and say again,
that the greatest waste of natural re-
sources in this country has been the
exhaustion of fertility in the soil,
brought about by poor farming. Hav-
ing been raised on farm I know from
experience how land may be made
worthless by taking off and never putt
ing back, by plowing when the ground
is not in condition to plow.
On the other hand, I have seen land
that had become almost worthless re-
stored to great fertility by fertilizing
and proper drainage. I have seen its
product multiplied by three, and look
ing back over the years it does not
seem to me that we were very up-to-
date farmers. There was good deal
of haphazard, both in selecting seed
and cultivating the crop. In the matter
of breeding stock, we were away be-
hind. Even then, however, there were
a few farmers who were demonstrating
the fact that it paid to raise fine stock
and to mix brains with muscle in tilling
the soil. ssszs..,a---41asss----
All wealth comes. from the ground.
Free land is thing of the past. With
in few years there will be a move
ment commenced, if it has not already
commenced, to rnonoplize the land of
the country in the hands of few. There
is only one way that occurs to me to
prevent this, and that is a graduated
land tax which will make it improbable
to hold large tracts of land by individu-
ais and on the other hand will encour-
age the holding OF small tracts by lift
ing the burdens of taxation from the
shoulders of the small land owner.
The other day two Kansas hens each
laid an egg. One of the hens was a
fine Leghorn and the egg she laid was
beauty. The other hen was a scrub
stock and the egg she laid was only a.
bout two-thirds as large as the egg laid
by the Leghorn.
The mother of the big egg after
vigorous announcement of what she
had done called the Insignificant hen
of mongrel ancestry oyer to look at the
egg she had laid. She expected to
see the mongrel hen deeply impressed
but she was mistaken in her pre-judg-
ment. The little hen looked the big
egg over for minute, and then said:
"Yes, fine egg, but what's the use?
After awhile this egg of yours and mine
will both be gathered up and taken to
town to sell. My little old egg will
bring just as much in the market as
your big egg. What's the use of
straining yourself for nothing?"
The little mongrel hen was largely
right. Why should eggs be sold by /
number any mere than hogs are sold
by number? What man would talk a
bout selling an Arkansas "doggie" for
the same price as a fine thoroughbred
Shorthorn steer? And yet there would
be lust as much sense in that sort of
deal as in selling eggs by weight, when
some eggs have nearly twice as much
meat in them as others.
For Sale.
One team of small mares; one horse