Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1921-01-13
TIE FARMERS
MARKET WHAT
Is The REMEDY

MADIS0N-Director Edward Nord
man Of the Diyi i5n Of Markets has
pronounced views upon the Ralston-
Nolan tax bill row pending in Con
gress. THAT bill" said Mr.. NCrdman
'woald convert ugr federal tax system
from an Instrument of depression into
a machinery for the relief Of the
present distress in our economic con
digions.
Industry must be relieved Of a
part Of its burden Of taxation and
mGnopoli2ed natural resources must
be taxed more heavily. The present
system Of taxation levias a heavy bur
den on the farmer ani the consumer.
1t IS an indirect taxation en- con-
sumption. 1t decreases the buying
power Of the consumer and reacts IN
favorably on the farmers market 1t
increases the cost CT production for the
farmer by taxing the supplies he buys.
The Ralston-Nolan Revenue Bill was
framed with view to reducing the
federal tax burden on industry by
twenty-five per cent and to substitute
for it a one per cent tax on the privi-
lege Of holding land and other natural
resources valued Irrespective of I'M
provements) at over $4,000.
"The current opinion that the Raj
ston-Nolan Bill will fall heavily on
the farmer" said Mr.. Nordman, "is
without foundation. Nine-tenths Of
the farmers in America own less than
$4,000 worth of land not counting i'm
provements, while the land values
concentrated in some of our large
cities exceed by far the land values
owner by farmers. To take an ex-
treme case, the land values concen-
trated in New York City and in other
cities of New York state are over
whelmingly greater than the land
values owned by the working farmers
of that or any other state. The same
is true of the concentration of values
in our monopolized natural resources.
''The Ralston-Nolan Bill will reduce
the cost of production of manufactured
commodities by reducing taxes on
productive processes. 1t will make
possible decrease in prices of these
commodities, thereby increasing the
buying power of the consumer, tend
ing to create a better market for all
farm products and to enable the farm
er to procure a fair price for what he
sells The Ralston-No olan Bill will dis
courage vacant lot speculation in cities
and will tend to relieve the urban
population from the payment of eXces-
sive rents. Finally, the Rolston-
Nolan Bill will make it Improbable
for the owners of unoccupied cut
over or other lands to hold it out of
use for speculative purposes, thus
making it easier for tenants and pro
spective farmers to obtain farm homes
of their own. These resources repre-
sent in comparatively small area
taxable values which are vastly great
er than the relatively small holdings
owned by nine-tenths of our farmers.
The additional tax which the farmers
owning more than $4,000 worth of
land will have to pay under this bill
will be more than offset by the bene-
fits which they as a class will derive
from improvements in industrial con-
ditions. The popular misconception
among farmers of the evil effects
which the Ralston-Nolan Bill may have
on agriculture is due to the lack of
clear understanding of the interde-
pendence of the farmer and the con-
sumner and the lack of full apprecia-
tion of the dependence of farmers on
urban industry.
"The farmer is both a consumer and