EDITORIAL 



47 



Some states acquire forests by pur- 

 chase. In the South, however, this is 

 impracticable, partly because of inade- 

 quate state revenues and partly because 

 of the slight return which the state 

 would secure from such forests as it 

 could purchase. 



How, then, may a system of state 

 forests be inaugurated in the South? 



Mr. Finney pointed out that, scattered 

 over the South, are considerable forest 

 areas in private ownership, largely or 

 wholly held out of use. 



Some of these belong to private es- 

 tates, some to water-power companies, 

 some to municipalities holding them as 

 watershed protectors, some to public 

 utility corporations, and still others to 

 railways. 



Such forests, he declared, if under 

 state control and conservatively handled 

 would yield an income more than suf- 

 ficient to offset the cost of their man- 

 agement. 



But if the state cannot buy them, 

 how can they come under state con- 

 trol? 



M^r. Finney's proposal is that the 

 owner of such a forest tract either give 

 it outright or loan it to the state for a 

 term of years. 



Lands loaned the state for a con- 

 siderable time, as fifty years, could be 

 offered under definite conditions, in- 

 cluding the following: 



First, the tract should be known as 

 a "state forest ;" 



Second, it should be placed in charge 

 of a state forester, and handled in ac- 

 cordance with forestry principles ; 



Third, taxes should be remitted 

 throughout the period of the loan ; 



Fourth, the tract should be carefully 

 protected by the state against fire ; 



Fifth, the returns from the forest 

 during the loan period shouUl go to the 

 state. 



This plan should, in many instances, 

 commend itself to the forest owner ; 

 under it, he escapes taxation on his 

 forest land during the loan period, and, 

 at the end of that period, receives 

 back his tract in 1)(.'tt(.'r condition than 

 before. 



The forests will cost the state noth- 

 ing, save the expense of maintenance, 

 which should be met from the proceeds 

 of the forest itself. 



Meanwhile, the public will have 

 gained through the demonstration of 

 the practicability and profitableness of 

 state forests administration. 



To secure the best results, a con- 

 siderable area should be offered at the 

 outset. The income from 20,000 acres 

 of fair forest land would, in Mr. 

 Finney's judgment, suffice to maintain 

 a state bureau of forestry with an in- 

 come of probably $10,000 per annum. 

 With the growth of the area would 

 come a growth in income and in the 

 efficiency of the forest bureau. 



These 20,000 acres need not lie in 

 a single .body. Smaller areas scat- 

 tered throughout the state while more 

 expensive for maintenance would be 

 correspondingly more valuable for 

 demonstration purposes, as the effects 

 of state administration would be wit- 

 nessed by a far larger body of citi- 

 zens. 



Whether the proffer of such an area 

 would be accepted by the state is not, 

 in Mr. Finney's judgment, a question 

 for debate. Public sentiment would 

 demand its acceptance and the enact- 

 ment of necessary legislation to provide 

 for its administration. 



That the plan may succeed it is neces- 

 sary, apparently, that only a single donor 

 of sufficient breadth of view and public 

 spirit shall be found to make the initial 

 offer. The offer will be accepted, 

 other offers will follow, the area will 

 grow, the bureau will grow, the wis- 

 dom of the plan will promptly become 

 manifest and similar state forests will 

 quickly spread throughout the entire 

 limits of the Southland, to the infinite 

 advantage of that great and growing 

 section. 



Can the man be found large enough 

 to grasp the opportunity, and, as a 

 benefactor to the South, outrival Mr. 

 Carnegie with his libraries, or Mr. 

 Rockefeller with his anti-hookworm 

 fund? 



