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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (June 14, 1917)
PAGE Mb 350.000.000 ACRES OF FARM LANDS ARE IDLE TOTHERUSSIANS While People Are Plowing Up Lawns for Gardens, Speculators Are Hold ing Almost Half of Agricultural Land Unimproved to Reap Un earned Increment Congress Acts. (By GIlHon Gardner, Washington Corro BPuniUmt.) WASHINGTON," June 14. There are approximately 350,000,000 acres of Idle land In United States farms, according to latest census figures, ,hose taken In 1910. Less than three-fifths of the land in farms Is Improved. In 1910 a little over half the land In farms In the United States was improved 478,451,750 acres out of a total of 878,798,325 acres. This is how private ownership of land for speculative purposes results in lan dbeing held out of use. fiet Land Into Use. It is one cause of present high prices of foodstuffs and the difficulty of raising enough food to meet the needs of the nations warring to put down German autocracy. How to get this land into use Is one of the government's war prob lems. There is no use plowing up lawns ana renins courts wnen nair the host farm lands are untillod. 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 un tapped source of revenue, and the ef fect or such taxes, unlike taxes on in dustry and improvements, would be tjf stimulate production rather than Discourage it. More food would be ralsod, the farmer would get bolter prices, be cause the speculator would get less in rent and holding price and the con sumer would get food cheaper. Committee nt Worl All this has been urged on the sen ate finance committee which is mull ing over the revenue act. A comnilt- tee has'been formed to help work out the food and land problem with Chas. H. Ingersoll (of watch fame) at its head and containing such men as Frederick C. Howe, immigration com missioner; John J. Hopper of New York: Stiles P. Jones, Minnesota; Lu cius P. C. Garvin, ex-governor, Rhode Island; J. J. Pastorlza, Texas; C. B. Kegloy, Washington state. It Is urged that a tax of this char acter woum produce large revenue and cheapen 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 170,000,000 acres, was i'P 1910 in tracts of a thousand acres flr over and 9 per cent was In tracts of 500 to 999 acres, about 85,000,000 acres, a total of approximately 255, 000,000 acres. Kept Out of Use. The United States commission on Industrial relations reported: "More than four-fifths of the area of the large holding Is being kept out of actual use by their 50,000 own. nrs while 2,250,000 farmsr are strug gling for a bare existence on farms of less than 50 acres." All of which results In high rents as well as high-priced land. In 1916 tho department of agriculture report ed the average value per acre of farm lands, exclusive of improvements, was in north Atlantic states J36.71; In Bouth Atlantic stales $23.79; In north .entrnl enpt of the Mlsslsslnnl $74.95 north central, west of the Mississippi, $59.68; south central, $24.09; and far western, $58.40; for the United States as a whole, $45.55. - By the same authority It is estl muted tho average value of a farm with Its land and buildings alone is $7,121. 1 Public Land I'selcss. It Is true there are nearly 2S0.000, 000 acres of free public land, but most of it Is arid or rocky, not available for farming without outlay of large capi tal. 1'lve ncr cent charged as ground rent for farm land of the United States at present census value would amount to $2.1 05.000.ono. The nresent tax rale on land value does not average over 1 '.i per ccn including tax levied by direct tax, state and local, and amounts to only about $423,000,000 a year. War taxes this year will approxi mate $23 per capita or $150 for a family of six, while in many states lo cal Income tax will make the Individ ual burden greater. So long as capital can find refuge in land Investment whit a prospect of doubling the Investment every ten years wealth Is escaping Its share of the war burden and all forms of pro ductlvo activity are being discour KEEP FIGHTING SHAW S ADVICE Bernard Shaw, World's Foremost So cialist, Maintains That Russian Radicals Should Prosecute War With Vigor "America's Entry Strengthens Their Hands." HY KENNETH W. PAYNE. LONDON, June 14. "If I were to give my advice to the Russian i evo lutionists it would be to keep the war going nt all costs! Ami if peace soon brings nn end to this wiir I would tell thorn to sstr.rt I'.iso'.hs: war Hy lit away!" Thus spoke George Bernard Shaw in nn interview today. The Hussion socialists have repeat edly indicated their desire to work for pence at the curliest moment pos sible without indemnities or annex ations. Rut Shaw, the world's grcnt est socialist thinker, tells them in 1 V? ''yr iLJsJP1' I mill stead to keep on fighting if llioy know what's goud for them. "A nation like the Vnitcd Slates hold together in time of peace,'' he said today, '.Iwcuusc its constitu tion is a going thing, liiissin in revo lution luis rthrown ove the restraint of long established government, in pence now Russia would probablv fly apart. Continued carrying on of I lie wnr is the link to hold her to gether. "The man' in Hie street hardly real izes (he position of the successful revolutionists. They arc men from modest walks of life who are suddenly thrown into positions of unlimited power. They have not the restraint of past experience, and all around thci'i are tempting opportunities for grafl. "To hold their position nnd oppor. t mi it ics, they have to struggle ng.iiv.Nt new 'groups rising from the populace nnd seeking conlrol. Some one of these uroups proves stronger than Ihc existing. government, and so we hi vc the spectacle of successive groups coming to th top, forming new gov ernments,, and then hnvimr their Iieii'ls lopuj-d oft io make way for still other gox c'linicnts. x "That is what happened in the French reve!':lioi:. TI:at is what we 'night call the usual course of revolu tion. "Hut Russia, has a nice war -villi liussia conveniently on her hauls. Let the war keep up, and the Russi.in people feel that 'unless they go on resisting, the Germans are going to & chm:le ah? - j: 7H B!(j BUSINESS-MANS GUM And here's a little bit of advice you. Alwavs carrv a packages of Adams Pepsin Gum and chew it often. It will keep your stomach in perfect trim and will help you keep a cool head in the thick of battle. Your job will be here, when you come back, Jack. Cooling 'Peppermint Flavor come over, devastate their fichLs, burn Iheir homes, rnvish their women; llicn you will have the usual chaos of revolution somewhat ehecked hv the necessity of keeping up a central an. Hmrity slronge Hough to wage Ihc war successfully. "Hut if the Russian socialists now Mid Ihc war outside their borders, fhey will simply he throwing open the door to war within I heir hol ders. Of course it suits us over here for Ihcni to keep the war going, hut it is their own interest as well." The effect of the Russian revolution on America's entrance into the war has been widely discussed. Shaw in his interview today pointed out Unit America's action had in turn ef fected the Russian revolution. "During the French revolution there came a time when the people might have taken the bourbons buck on the throne if the bourbons hadn't been too stpuid to accept the changes brought by tho revolution, such as the land distribution," he said. "To day we would sec the reactionaries of Europe trying to put the Roman offs back on the throne of Russia, if it weren't for the fact lliat Ameri ca has strengthened the hands of the revolutionary leaders, by com ing into the war on the .side of the allies with insistence on the principle! of democracy." Mr. and Mrs. J. N. Dillstrom return ed to Yreka Thursday morning. They have been visiting with relatives at Applegate. . VkratfT AMZRICAIH Ci!i:!.E COMPANY - tita 9 S I M E A beautiful young woman, gowned in deep black, sobbing ns If her heart were broken, and leaning heavily on the arms of her husband and a friend arrived on train No. 13 from Portland Thursday morning. Tho young wo man was Mrs. V. C. Burtlott, who for merly was Miss Zeptha Basye, of Jacksonville, a daughter of tho re spected pioneer, Charles 11. Dasyo, county Jailer, who died shortly after the infliction with a clothes ironer, of a half score ghastly Head wounds nt tho hands of .1. L. Hngsdalo, a pris oner, Tuesday afternoon, llagsdalo committed sulcldo aftorbelng sur rounded by sheriff's deputies and I company guardsmen, dying about the same hour as his victim. Arrangements for Dnsye's funeral, as announced In Wednesday's Mall Tribune, will stand. After brief ox erclses in Perl's chapel at noon Sun day, tho burial will bo at Missouri Flat cemetery at 2 o'clock, with serv ices at tho grave. The arrangements are under direction of the Odd Fel lows. Ttagsdale will he burled at 10 o'clock in the I. O. O. F. cemetery, Medford. few Is THE UNIVERSAL CAR The most dosirablo features of mo tor enr construction are found in Ford cars. They arc strong with the strength of vanadium steel, heat treated by Ford methods. Excess weight is eliminated by strength, and allows the Ford more power for its weight than any other car. Back of the cilr is the organization which has built and sold over two million Ford cars. The Ford saves time is a sure money-maker. Touring Qtxr $3G0; Runabout $345; Sedan $G45; Town Car $595; Coupelet $505 all f. o. b. Detroit. On display and for sale by C. E. Gates" Auto Co.! Studebaker Runabout A BARGAIN In good ordor. Cost $1025.00. Fully equipped, self-starter, electric lights, ono now tiro with pntent wire Bafoty tread. Cash, $350.00'. Reason for sale, ownor leaving city. Box 1125, Medford Post office, or telcphono F. II. Cowles, 127 Central Point. I . AT THE OLD STAND I have returod to Medford and will be found at. the old stand on South Riverside, where I will con-, tinue to do expert horseshoeing and all kinds of blacksmithing. Tom Merriman, Proprietor Ashland and Medford Choral Societies including 150 Singers and Musicians in a joint CONCERT PROGRAM at the Page Theatre - - - June 15 Prices 35c, 50c and 75c Association Labor Bureau All laborers desiring orchard work should register at once at the office of the Rogue River Fruit & Produce Asso ciation, West Main street. No charge to the laborer for securing position A. S. V. CARPENTER, ;' Labor Manager. aged.