EDITORIAL 



361 



and Braunlingen not only is free from 

 all communal taxes, but is enabled to 

 establish electric plants, water-works, 

 and other public improvements. 



In Forestry and Irrigation for 

 September, 1907 (pages 446 and 447) 

 was published a clipping from the Lon- 

 don, England, Bystander, regarding the 

 town of Faleide, Norway, of which it 

 was said : "The town of Faleide, Nor- 

 way, imposes no taxes on its lucky in- 

 habitants. During the last thirty years 

 the authorities of Faleide have sold 

 over $5,000,000 worth of trees ; and, by 

 judicious replanting, have provided for 

 a similar income every thirty years. In 

 consequence of this source of commer- 

 cial wealth, there are no taxes in Fale- 

 ide, and local railways and telephones 

 are free, as well as education — and 

 drinks upon the king's birthday." 



There is a proverb in the United 

 States that two things are inevitable, 

 namely, "death and taxes." The cases 

 of Braunlingen, Faleide, and the other 

 towns named above, appear to be ex- 

 ceptions. In commenting upon the 

 Faleide situation. Forestry and Irri- 

 gation called attention to sources of 

 municipal income, aside from the tax- 

 payer's pocket, in other towns than 

 those named. Ancient Athens derived 

 a substantial revenue from her silver 

 mines at Laurium. The town of Fair- 

 hope, Ala., owns a wharf, fees for the 

 use of which constitute a valuable 

 source of revenue for the village. The 

 city of Chicago still owns her sixteenth 

 section, set apart for school purposes, 

 from the rentals of which the city de- 

 rives a splendid annual revenue. 



America is coming to realize that 

 there is money in wood. As this fact, 

 however, is borne in upon her more 

 strongly through the progressive deple- 

 tion of our timber supply and the conse- 

 quent enhancement in price of all wood 

 products, why may not American cities 

 and towns emulate the example of the 

 European towns above mentioned, buy 

 up cheap lands in the neighborhood of 

 their limits, maintain them in forests 

 managed according to forestry princi- 



ples, and sell the annual product, to the 

 material advantage of their municipal 

 treasuries? 



i« «i &' 

 Public Activity Plus Private 



FROM Colorado comes an interest- 

 ing story of private enterprise. A 

 cowboy becomes a great irrigator. 



Some ten years ago officers of the 

 V. S. Geological Survey were survey- 

 ing the raw prairie in Otero County. A 

 cowboy spent the night with them, be- 

 came interested, stayed with them a few 

 days and told them what he knew of the 

 country. They, in return, showed him 

 one of the best reservoir sites in the 

 country, and told him how water could 

 be had and what territory it might irri- 

 gate. 



The cowboy took the hint. For ten 

 years he nursed his project, surmounted 

 difficulties without number, organized a 

 company and at last succeeded. To-day 

 the works are finished. The dam of one 

 reservoir contains 303,000 cubic yards, 

 and that of another 155,000. The lat- 

 eral canals are twenty-two miles long. 

 The reservoirs will irrigate 10,000 acres 

 of land. Water is now running into 

 them, and farmers are ploughing all 

 over the district. 



"But," inquires one, "why private ir- 

 rigation? Have we not a great na- 

 tional irrigation service? Has not Un- 

 cle Sam taken up this work of redeem- 

 ing the desert? Why should he not 

 carry it through to the end? Is not pri- 

 vate irrigation reactionary and individ- 

 ualistic ? Will it not lead to abuses, and 

 result in the long run in more harm than 

 good?" 



These questions are exactly on a par 

 with questions once, at least, raised by 

 an opposing school of thought. "Why," 

 they asked, "should government take up 

 work of this kind? Is it not thereby 

 transcending its functions ? Is it not in- 

 vading the field of private initiative and 

 narrowing the opportunity for individ- 

 ual freedom? Is it not erecting a bu- 

 reaucracy upon the ruins of a republic, 

 sanctioning 'the great political supersti- 



