416 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



table will show, Mr. Foster framed a revenue bill wliich was introduced into 

 the legislature of Louisiana and passed before the end of the session. This 

 revenue bill became law, but it has been inoperative the past year owing to 

 the activities of certain lumber companies. And this is the reason why, in 

 order to assess the license tax of one cent on pine and one-half cent on hard- 

 woods to produce the revenue by means of which fire patrol is to be main- 

 tained, it was found necessary to frame an amendment to Article 229 of the 

 constitution. 



QUANTITY AND VALUE OF FOREST LANDS IN LOUISIANA, 1909 



Figures from State Conservation Commission Report, 1910. 



For in 1902 a general license act had passed the legislature carrying a 

 license tax on the manufacture of lumber and when an attempt was made to 

 collect this tax, the case was carried to the supreme court of the state, which 

 held that the tax was unconstitutional and in violation of Article 229. 



Upon the amendment of Article 229 of the constitution, the entire con- 

 servation program of the state was found to depend. A joint resolution 

 therefore proposed an amendment to Article 229, which read as follows: 



"Those engaged in business of severing natural resources as timber or 

 minerals from the soil or water, whether they thereafter convert them by 

 manufacturing or not, may also be rendered liable to a license tax, but in this 

 case the amount to be collected may either be graduated or fixed according 

 to the quantity or value of the product at the place where it is sevei-ed." 



Note in the above amendment that no attempt is made to levy a tax on 

 the manufacture of lumber, but on the cutting down of trees. This act pro- 

 tects practically all of the natural resources of the state; the timber, the 

 oil, the gas, and the mineral. 



