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WISCONSIN CRANBERRY GROWERS' ASSOCIATION 33
niless. Mercantile establishments that had flourished for forty. and
fifty years were bankrupt by the dozen. The business of the entire
nation felt the effect of this one little insect, as it first spread across
Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi, and finally throughout the cotton
belt.. What happened then? Scientists and cotton growers with good
sound horse sense cooperated in an attempt to solve this problem
and they succeeded; and only a few years ago the cotton growers of
the South erected a monument to this boll weevil because it had
revolutionized the cotton-growing industry and made it better and
more profitable than they had ever dreamed it could be, by the em-
ployment of crop rotations, sanitation and cultural practices.
While the number of problems confronting the cranberry grower
are increasing each year, as they are in every other industry, we be-
lieve that the growers are making as good progress as any other
branch of horticulture in getting their problems under control. We
believe that the problems of insect and disease control are likewise
being solved about as rapidly as can be expected with the funds
available for this type of work and that eventually cultural practices,
chemical treatment and the planting of resistant varieties will make
it possible to guard against heavy losses from these sources, and to
this end too much emphasis can not be placed on the importance of
planting vines as free from these various pests as possible.
TAXATION
By DR. B. H. HIBBAiw, Agricultural Economics Department
I have been asked to talk to you on the subject of taxation. No
doubt you are all aware of the fact that we are carrying out a certain
scheme, plah or system of taxation which reaches substantially all of
the business people and farmers of the state. At least, I have found
no place where they are free from it or free from its difficulties.
There is no other class so heavily and severely burdened by taxa-
tion as the farmer, and the fact can be explained. It may be, of
course, that individuals are taxed too heavily, and it may be that cer-
tain industries are taxed too heavily, but probably no other one so
heavily as the farmers.
The reason is an historical one. It comes out of the distant past,
centuries back, as a matter of fact. No one knows when we adopted
our general property tax. It was brought over to this country-
hardly more than the first nucleus of it-with the first settlers. They
didn't tax anybody to speak of. In some of our colonies there was no
system of taxation worthy of the name. They were still living in the
stages when other words were used which preceded the word "taxes"
-aids, gifts, contributions, help-and a long column of similar words.
Taxation means contributions demanded and apportioned on some
basis agreed upon. This is very different from aids, helps, gifts and
the like. In the colony of Maryland, before the Revolution, they had
no system of taxation, but they needed money to run the local govern-