anybody gets in this world, I reckon. But taxes are mighty high, I
tell you. About $75 to $80 I have to pay. Are taxes high out West?"

"We pay about forty to fifty cents an acre in the corn belt," Percy
replied; "but, in a course I took in economics, I learned that the
taxes do not vary in proportion to land values. Poor lands, if
inhabited, must always pay heavy taxes; whereas, large areas of good
land carry lighter taxes compared with their earning capacity. You
must provide your regular expenses for county officers, county
courthouse, jail, and poorhouse, about the same as we do. Your roads
and bridges cost as much as ours; and the schools in the South must
cost more than ours, for a complete double system of schools is
usually provided.

"But did you say that you paid fifty cents an acre in taxes?" asked
Mr. Jones.

"Yes, about that, in the corn belt," replied Percy, "but not so much
in Southern Illinois where the land is poor. I think the farmers in
that section pay taxes as low as yours. Perhaps twenty cents an
acre."

"Do you mean to say that you have poor land in Illinois?"

"Yes, the common prairie land of Southern Illinois must be called
poor as compared with the corn belt land. There is a good deal of
land in Southern Illinois that was put under cultivation before
1820, and eighty crops must have made a heavy draft upon the store
of plant food originally contained in those soils."