Williams news., 1917-11-15
IMPROVEMENTS
 ARE NOT TAXED
Western Canada Does Not Tax Stock or Improvements but Collects an Additional Tax
 From Land SpecuIators.

Owners of uncultivated lands m
 Western Canada are loud in their pro-
 tests against an extra tax on thelr
 lands because they are not under cul-
 tivation. Western Canada, through it's
 provincial governments, is endeaVor-
 ing to force the speculative land owner
 to either sell his land to settler or to
 cultivate it himself At present sur
 tax of a few cents an acre IS levled against all wild land, so that the own
 CT of land held in it's natural state
 without improvements, is contributing more taxes to the government than the
 owner of a farm that Is cultivated and even improved with buildings and stock to the value of thousands of dol lars. In order to encourage the farm CT to improve and to go into stock rais- Ing, he is not charged one cent of taxes on any of his improvements, fmple- ments or stock of any kind.
 As a result of this surtax on un- cultivated or speculatively held lands, the owners are now trying to sell them to actual settlers, and, in nearly every Instance, have been offering on very easy terms of payment, usually quar- ter down, and the balance extending over a term of years at prices much lower than their productive value would warrant.
 A worldwide shortage in farm stuffs has given a new value to all agricul- tura1 products and the margin of profit today Is greater than ever in the past. It is true labor and implements have Increased in price, but it Is now pos sible to secure 5O% profit in farming, and higher. Possibly not on the $10O to S200 an acre farm lands but on land that can now, under existing condf- tions, be purchased at from $15 to $50 per acre. Western Canadian farm lands are as productive as any in the world and can be as economically farmed Wheat yields of from 30 to 50 bushels per acre have been common in Western Canada during the past few years, and the farmers have been too busy farming all they can so as to sell ds much wheat as possible at $2.00 a bushel that they have not had time to do any talking or writing. It is doubtful if there ever was such an opportunity to make big profits in farming The value of each years crop has been in hundreds of cases more than the market value of the land it was grown on. It is un- reasonable to suppose such a con- dition will last long, as the land now being forced onto the market by sur- tax on speculative owners will soon become absorbed by those who have learned of these highly profitable wheat lands. The news is spreading gradually throughout the high priced land districts in the United States, where there is a renewed awakening to the realization that the maximum profit in farming is not being obtained when it is possible to secure from forty to seventy per cent return on the investment in Western Canada. Many who have been planning to visit West ern Canada for the purpose of person ally Investigating conditions are leav- ing this month, when the good weather can be- enjoyed. As threshing opera tions and marketing of grain is under way, no better time could be selected to secure first hand and reliable infor- nation from the farmers themselves. | The winter months afford ample time for completing moving arrangements, | to allow the settler to take up resi- | dence in early spring, so as to get something done next year and to make | a start on the big and profitable farm ing operations in Western Canada-