The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1917-06-09
ADVOCATES VAR
TAX UPON LAND
NOT CULTIVATED
ellison Gardner Points Out That
There Are $50, 100000 Idle
r, Acres
SEES IN THIS CONDITION
CAUSE FOR FOOD PRICES
BY gibson GARDNER.

washington, Ds Sss June - HUH
are approximately 35O,OOO,O0O acres OF
idle Hand in United States farms, &C.
cording to latest census figures. those
taken III 1916. .%
-, Less. than -.three.Afths Of the land
in farms Is improved. In 1910 a lit.
tie over half the land In farms In
the United States was imprOved-47s,'
45l,75O acres out OF a total Of $751;
This is low private ownership Of
land for speculative purposes results
in land being held out 81 use. 49,
Ham Helps. Boost Prices. ,hnr.,r,
1t is one cause of present high
prices of foodstuffs and the difficulty
of raising enough food to meet the
needs of the nations warning to put
down German autocracy.
How to get this land into use is
one OF the governments war prob
lens. There is no use ploWing up
lawns and tennis courts when half
the best farm lands are untitled.
Why not tax them into use?
This thought occurred to some
members of congress looking for ways
to raise war revenue. The specula-
tive value of unused land is a fine
untapped source Of revenue, and the
effect of such taxes, unlike taxes on
industry and improvements, would be
to stimulate production rather than
discourage it.t~y , ~" {
Help Food Situation =
More food would be raised, the far
mer would get better prices, because
the speculator would get less in rent
and holding price, and the consumer
would get food cheaper.
All this has been urged on the SELL
ate finance committee which is null
ing over the revenue act. A COM
mittee has been formed to help work
out the food and land problem with
Charles H. Ingersoll (Of watch fame)
at it's head, and containing such men
as Frederic G. Howe, immigration
commissioner; John J. Hopper OF
New York; Stiles p Jones, Mime
sofa; Lucius F.. C. Garvin, ex-Gover-
nor, Rhode Island; ]. J. Pastoriza,
Texas; C. B. Kegley, Washington
state.
Large Revenue
It is urged that tax of this char
acter would produce large revenue
and cheaper necessities, and tend to
check the tendency of farm lands to
drift into monopoly. Nineteen per
cent of the farm land in the United
States, about 17O,000,00O acres, was in
1910 in tracts of a thousand acres or
over and IL per cent was in tracts
of 500 to 999 acres, about S5,OOO,OOO
acres, a total of approximately $780,
O00, 900 acres.
The United States commission on
Industrial relations reported:
"MOre than fOur.fifths Of the
area Of the large holdings is be.
ing kept out of actual use by
their $4,000 owners, while $780,.
900 farmers are struggling for Il
bare existence on farms Of less
than 80 acres"
All of which results in high rents
as we'll as high priced land. In 1916
the department Of agriculture re-
ported the average value per acre OF
farm lands, exclusive Of improvements
was in north Atlantic states, $36.71;
in south Atlantic, S23.79; in north
central, east of the Mississippi, $74.95;
north central, west of the Mississip-
pi, $596S; south central, $2409, and
far western $3.50; for the United
States as whole, S4555.
BY the same authority is is esti-
mated the average value of a farm,
with its land and building alone, is
$7,121.
Public Lands
It is true there are nearly 2S0,000,-
600 acres of free public land, but
Continued on Page Three) d.,