FOREST CONSERVATION AND TAXATION 



By CHARLES LATHROP PACK 



CONSERVATION, from a ques- 

 tion of obscurity only ten years 

 ago, has become one of the most 

 vital issues of to-day, an issue which is 

 essentially economic, and which should 

 not become political or personal. Of 

 the many natural resources that should 

 be conserved, there is none more im- 

 portant than the forest. While the 

 Nation and the state are working to 

 devise ways and means of conserving 

 our forest resources, we are at the same 

 time, in a real sense^ taxing our timber 

 to death. In those parts of the country 

 where timber is plenty, little heed is 

 paid to the fact that forests are a crop, 

 just as much as grain, and when the in- 

 dividual owner is obliged to pay an an- 

 nual tax on his growing timber, it is no 

 wonder that he cuts, and usually cuts 

 all. It is the most direct way of escap- 

 ing practical confiscation through taxa- 

 tion. 



Many of the states have passed laws 

 to encourage the planting of trees. If 

 it is a good thing for the state to thus 

 encourage planting, it certainly is a 

 good policy to encourage the forest 

 owner to cut his timber conservatively, 

 and under the best method of forest 

 management. Two great things are 



Note. — The foregoing article is the sub- 

 stance of an address delivered by Mr. Pack 

 before the American Civic League in Wash- 

 ington, January 17. In this connection, we 

 cite the resohition adopted by the American 

 Forestry Association at its recent annual 

 meeting: 



''Resolved, That for purposes of taxation 

 this Association approves the general policy 

 of separating growing timber from the land 

 upon which it stands ; that the land be taxed 

 each year and the timber only when it is cut, 

 when a proper tax shall be paid." 



Among those who have studied forest 

 taxation there is substantial accord on the 

 general principle.^ — The Editor. 



keeping many timber-land owners from 

 adopting forestry methods, and these 

 are fire and taxes. 



When, by a vigorously enforced uni- 

 form law, the responsibility for care- 

 lessness which causes fire is well fixed 

 and enforced, as against individuals 

 and railroads, we can properly prevent 

 forest fires. The principle of fire laws 

 is to prevent fires, and this principle 

 should obtain in enforcing as well as 

 drafting them. I believe that the only 

 effective fire system is one where a force 

 of trained fire wardens is provided, 

 whose first duty is fire patrol, and who 

 are sufficiently paid for their work. 



As was stated in the report of the 

 National Conservation Commission, 

 from now on the relation of taxation 

 to the permanent usefulness of the 

 forest will be vital, and of the first 

 importance. Our present tax laws pre- 

 vent reforestation on cut-over lands 

 and the perpetuation of existing forests 

 by a proper use and economic cutting. 

 The importance of the proper use of 

 our privately owned forests becomes 

 immediately more apparent when it is 

 realized that forests privately owned 

 contain at least four-fifths of the stand- 

 ing timber of the country. The Forest 

 Service tells us forestry is now prac- 

 tised on seventy per cent of the forests 

 publicly owned, but not on more than 

 one per cent of the timber lands pri- 

 vately owned. 



How are we to perpetuate our tim- 

 ber resources and care for the future 

 unless the best principles of forestry are 

 practised by the individual owner ? This 

 can be brought about best, in my judg- 

 ment, by uniform laws for protection 

 from fire and for proper taxation. We 

 tax our forests under the general- 

 property tax, a practise abandoned long 

 ago by other great nations. In fact, we 



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