NEWS AND NOTES 



TAXATION OF FOREST LANDS 



Pertinent Comments by Henry James, Jr., and 

 Hermann von Schrenk 



In a letter to the SpringHcld Republican, 

 Henry James,. Jr., chairman of the com- 

 mittee on legislation of the Massachusetts 

 State Forestry Association, makes this ad- 

 mirably clear statement of the position of the 

 association on the question of forest taxation, 

 and of its relation to the present movement 

 to so amend the constitution of that state 

 as to permit the classification of property by 

 the legislature for purposes of taxation : 



"The present law, which taxes woodlands 

 on their full market value each year, is 

 tolerable only because it is not enforced 

 by the assessors. This is conceded, and one 

 illustration will serve to make it quite clear. 

 Imagine a bond, the conditions of which 

 were that no coupons could be cut until the 

 fortieth year ! A growing forest is com- 

 parable to such a bond. If the bond were 

 to be taxed annually on the full capital 

 value of its accumulating but unavailable 

 coupons, nobody would own it. In an ex- 

 actly similar way no one would hold wood- 

 land if taxed annually on the full value of 

 the uncut and immature crop. Forest land 

 is very generally assessed at less than half, 

 and as little as a quarter of its value. The 

 law is thus made bearable. 



"But it is idle to pretend that a law which 

 appears so bad on paper is n'ot an evil in 

 fact simply because it is not generally en- 

 forced. It may be enforced, and sometimes 

 is. I know of a case in which the board 

 of selectmen recently increased the valua- 

 tion on a large tract of woodland 300 per 

 cent in one year. A law under which valu- 

 ations, and therefore taxes (a chief expense 

 in forest management, be it remembered, 

 though not the only risk), are unpredict- 

 able within 300 to 400 per cent is a real 

 discouragement to enterprise and to long- 

 sighted and progressive forest management. 

 If it is possible and desirable for the state 

 to increase its forest resources such legal 

 discouragements should be removed immedi- 

 ately. The forestry association believes that 

 the state can now expect greatly increased 

 returns from its nearly 3,000,000 acres of 

 forest and waste land. The forest products 

 which we have drawn from other states have 

 lately been reaching starvation prices. We 

 have ourselves a climate and soil admirably 

 adapted to the growth of several of the best 

 forest trees and the Massachusetts market 

 3f4 



offers advantages unsurpassed in America for 

 both large and small operators. 



"To point to one industry only: The con- 

 sumption of box and package material in this 

 manufacturing community is constant and 

 amounted in 1908 to more than $5,500,000 

 worth in wood, yet only about two-fifths of 

 this was supplied by the woodlots of the state. 

 The opposition has argued that although the 

 forest products of the state might be greatly 

 increased, danger from forest fires and other 

 risks stand in the way as much as do taxes, 

 and that these other difficulties should be re- 

 moved first. 



"This, however, is plainly a desperate ar- 

 gument. We should do away with each 

 difficulty as soon as we can and not stand 

 upon the order of their going. Finally, al- 

 though the association cannot say that con- 

 stitvitional relief is clearly impossible, it has, 

 during the last five years, given a good deal 

 of attention to this subject without being 

 able to hear of or devise any satisfactory law 

 which appears to be within the requirements 

 of the present constitution. In advocating 

 a radical reform in the taxation of forest 

 land the forestry association does not, how- 

 ever, go beyond its own field. The proposed 

 amendment to the constitution is broad and 

 other tax reforms and legal questions are un- 

 der discussion. In justice to some of its 

 members and to the public, the forestry as- 

 sociation wishes it understood that with these 

 other questions it has no concern." 



THE MOST VITAL PROBLEM 



Dr. Flermann von Schrenk in the course 

 of an address to the Louisiana conservation 

 congress, said: "The most vital as well as 

 most pressing problem is that of taxation of 

 timber lands. We cannot discuss this enough. 

 As now practiced, the method of taxing lands 

 Avith standing timber puts a premium on cut- 

 ting all the timber as quicklv as possible. 

 * * * The first thing to be" worked out, 

 then, is to find some method whereby the 

 taxes levied on forest lands and cut-over 

 lands are so regulated that it may become 

 a profitable matter to grow trees either by 

 natural seeding, or, if necessary, by replant- 

 ing. It has been suggested that we recom- 

 mend the adoption of some plan like that in 

 force at the present time in Canada, where 

 growing timber, left on the land for the 

 avowed purpose of yielding a future crop, 

 is charged only a nominal general rent until 

 ready for cutting, and when actually cut, 

 such timber is taxed on the basis of the 

 actual value of the logs put through the mill. 



