The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1933-11-09
DIR. METZGER SPEAKS ON
STATES FARM PROBLEMS
Address Given Before Father
and Son Banquet of F. F. A.

anu OOH DdHQueL vi It. t. n.
At the annual meeting of the fu-
ture farmers and their Dads last Fri
day evening, October 27, DR.. j. E.
Metzger, assistant director of research
and head of the Agronomy depart
ment, University of Maryland, spoke
on the problems and possibilities of
Maryland Farms.
Parts of his speech are being re-
printed as they will be of interest to
the farmers of this community. Lack
of space prohibited its publication last
week. ~
Maryland 14arms-Problems and
Possibilities
So much has transpired in agricul-
ture in recent months and so many OF
the plans for the development Of our
economic interests are still in the bal
ance that it is with trepidation that
any one should speak of them. On
the other hand, it is of no avail to sit
by idly and let come what will without
taking note as to how the proposed
changes in affairs may effect US in
dividually. Neither can we afford to
be inactive in adjusting our own stu
alton to the requirements OF new pro-
cedures and tendencies in rural at
fairs.
Of the many problems that face
rural people at the present time, 1t
seems to me that the most important
of them may be classified under five
groups or titles. These groups are
Cooperation; taxation; production;
tenancy; and the human problem.
Cooperation
Until recently the cooperative move
ment in this country was entirely
local enterprise, detached from any
important socialized accessories. The
new cooperative movement is nation
alistic. 1t calls upon the people to
join in a great mass movement to cor
rect certain economic EMBELLISHMENTS
that our leaders believe to be response
Bile for the unfavorable economic sit
uation of practically all of our people
during the last few years.
The recovery measures have been
referred to continually as expert
ments. Experiments which must be
replaced by other experiments in the
event that they should fail. The facts
are that about the only experimental
features which they contain are their
application in this country. Practically
every proposal under the several re-
covery measures has been tried out
in one form or another in some other
country. To be sure those countries
definitely have either relationships or
socialistic forms of governments. Inc
only real experimental features about
their use in this country is whether or
not the American people want TINS
type of control over their economic
activities, and whether or not they are
willing to substitute certain socialized
forms of control over agriculture and
industry for individual initiative.
The success of cooperative move
ments is largely dependant upon the
mental attitude of the people who
adopt them. Such movements have
not succeeded we'll in this country in
the past. Whether or not they will
succeed in this our first attempt on
a national scale remains to be seen.
At the present moment there does not
seem to be sufficient unity in the
thought of our people or sufficient
economic inducement offered by a
benefcient government to make the
movement more than a passing eX-
pedient.
Taxation
I have tried to make it clear that
the problem of cooperation has for the
time being at least passed beyond the
stage of isolated community efforts
and that it has become a major con-
Germ of the national government The
remaining items on our list are per-
haps of greater local interest and I'M
portance than they are state or
national.
The tax problem in the state of
Maryland should be of vital interest
to every taxpayer whether he lives on
a farm or lives in town or city.
Probably no problem has caused more
difficulties than the problem OF tax
alton. The American colonies were
established primarily for the purpose
of increasing the revenue OF their
mother country. The impetus to es-
tablish an Independent nation on this
continent came from differences OF
opinion regarding taxation. The great
est struggles that the infant nation
had, were with the problem of tax
alton for the maintenance of the gov
eminent and for the development of
it's necessary functions. Taxation was
a problem to which the very earliest
of economists gave great amount
of attention. The early French econo-
mists known as the "Physiocrats" be-
lieved that agriculture was the only
productive industry and that only pro-
ductive industries should be taxed,
which meant that for time, about
two and one-half centuries ago, the
farmers of France carried the entire
tax burden of the nation. About the
time of the formation of the United
States a new theory of taxation was
evolved, namely, that those people
most able to pay should bear their
proportionate share of the cost of the
government. Between 1775 and 1841
Maryland tried various types of Ii
censes, fees and indirect forms of tax
alton. They even tried for few
years an income tax system.
About 1910 there was established in
this state the basis for our present
form of taxation, namely, the general
property tax.
Without doubt, the general property
tax was for many years the most
equitable form of taxation. That it
has ceased to be the only justifiable
type of taxation is due to the develop