510 



CONSERVATION 



States Government and the lumber companies 

 this land can be obtained for about $10,000. 

 It also appropriated $2,500 per year to care 

 for the same. It provided an appropriation 

 of $4,000 per year for the support of the for- 

 est school, $S,ooo per year for student labor 

 on the forest reserves, and $1,500 per year 

 for creosoting wood and similar experi- 

 ments. For Itasca Park, which is the large 

 reserve connected with the forest school of 

 the University of Minnesota, it appropri- 

 ated $10,000 for a new road, and $14,500 

 for maintenance and repairs, making the 

 total appropriation for the support of the 

 School of Forestry and the reserves con- 

 nected with it $55,500. It also passed a bill 

 authorizing the Forestry Board to accept a 

 donation of 3,200 acres of land from the 

 Pine Tree Lumber Co., together with all 

 the hardwoods, and all the pine, spruce, 

 cedar and balsam under eight inches in 

 diameter, in consideration for which all their 

 timber over eight inches in diameter shall 

 be free from taxes for a period not exceed- 

 ing ten years. An amendment to the consti- 

 tution was also passed, and as a result will 

 be submitted to the people, exempting tim- 

 ber lands from taxation. 



^ ^ iii 



Minnesota Out of Conservation Plans 



None will find fault with Governor John- 

 son for his refusal to appoint a conservation 

 commission for Minnesota at the present 

 time. The legislature failed to make pro- 

 vision for any such commission, and, while 

 there are men who would serve gladly with- 

 out personal compensation, the preliminary 

 work would entail a considerable expense, 

 for which no appropriation is available. 



The situation is most unfortunate. Prac- 

 tically all of the states of the Nation have 

 joined in the general conservation movement, 

 admittedly one of the most important that 

 has been advanced in this country. Each 

 state is making a study and survey of its 

 timber, mineral and coal lands, considering 

 its waterways and water-power possibilities, 

 and preparing to cooperate with the Federal 

 Government in the work of conserving and 

 developing these resources for the benefit of 

 the people of the individual states and of the 

 whole Nation. When the time comes for 

 active work on the part of the Federal Gov- 

 ernment in placing its conservation program 

 into effect, the states that have done most 

 in the preliminary work will be the largest 

 sharers in the distribution of Federal funds 

 in aid of the general movement. Minnesota 

 need not expect the Federal Government to 

 do anything for the state until the state does 

 something for itself. The question of con- 

 servation of state resources will be one of 

 the live issues for consideration by the next 

 legislature.— 5"/. Paul (Minn.) Dispatch. 



Railroads for Conservation 



A plan by which the railroads are to take 

 part in the conservation movement is an- 

 nounced as the outgrowth of conferences and 

 correspondence between representatives of 

 the carriers and the joint committee on con- 

 servation. Preliminary negotiations on the 

 part of the railroads have been conducted 

 by representatives of the American Railway 

 Engineering and Maintenance of Way Asso- 

 ciation. Attention was also given to the sub- 

 ject of conservation at the recent meeting of 

 the American Railway Master Mechanics' 

 Association, at Atlantic City, N. J. The great 

 quantities of timber, iron and coal used by the 

 transportation lines are the bond of interest 

 between them and the conservationists. 



The plan as outlined provides for a sys- 

 tematic arrangement by which the committee 

 on conservation is to give the railroads sug- 

 gestions as to the most practical method of 

 putting conservation policies into effect. The 

 railway men agree to carry out these sug- 

 gestions. The conservation authorities have 

 submitted a plan, which is now in the hands 

 of A. S. Baldwin, chief engineer of the Illi- 

 nois Central Railroad, who in a letter to the 

 conservation committee says : 



"On account of the wide areas traversed by 

 the railroads and the great consumption by 

 them of timber and fuel, with their enormous 

 use of iron and steel products, it is believed 

 that the most effectual assistance of the 

 American Railway Engineering and Mainte- 

 nance of Way Association can be in directing 

 the attention of railroad officials to the ex- 

 cessive wastefulness in the present methods 

 of production of timber and fuel, and the 

 great importance of introducing economies 

 in their use and consumption ; also to the im- 

 portance of economizing in the use of iron 

 and steel products and the possibilities of 

 preservation by protective coatings and other- 

 wise." 



With this end in view, the railroad con- 

 servation committee has asked for specific 

 suggestions as to the best methods that 

 should be used by railroads in the prevention 

 and control of forest fires. The conserva- 

 tion committee has presented an outline for 

 this work, and with it a statement showing 

 the enormous loss of lumber through forest 

 fires every year. — Norzunch (Conn.) Record 



The railroads also ask information regard- 

 ing possible economies through use of treated 

 ties, the desirability of by-product ovens in 

 coal territory, the species of trees railroads 

 might profitably plant, the gain through sub- 

 stitution of sawed for hewed ties, and the 

 prolongation of life of steel and iron in 

 bridges. The railroads will also investigate 

 and report to the joint committee on the pos- 

 sibilit}' of substituting other materials for ties 

 and timber. 



