TWO SOLUTIONS OF THE FORESTRY TAX PROBLEM 665 



timber crop is more or less of a hazard 

 and perhaps few would be greatly at- 

 tracted by remote profits especially 

 when interest, hre insurance, mainte- 

 nance and taxes are sure to bring the 

 ultimate cost to ten times the original 

 investment, not reckoning meanwhile 

 the loss of income from the property. 



Forestry even under such equable 

 taxation might be too great a luxury. 



It is then probable that the State will 

 find it necessary to enter upon a more 

 aggressive policy and perhaps after all 

 the only solution of the problem will 

 be found to lie in a system of State 

 loans and management. Extensive for- 

 ests, like liberal educations, pay the 

 highest dividends in the world. They 

 save expenses besides creating revenues 

 and certainly it is much wiser to ex- 

 pend one dollar to hold soil on the hills 

 than to expend $5 in putting it back 

 again. 



If, then, the State shall deem it wiser 

 to at once begin a more speedy and 

 effective policy it seems to the writer 

 that some system like the following 

 would be found constitutional and prac- 

 tical. 



(1) Let the State first enact that all 

 standing immature timber shall be ex- 

 empted absolutely and forever from 

 taxation, and, 



(2) That all lands shall be assessed 

 at a value reckoned without reference 

 to any immature timber standng there- 

 on. 



(3) Then let let the State either by 

 annual approprations or by an issue of 

 4 per cent 30-year bonds raise a special 

 Forestry Fund, the proceeds of which 

 are to be employed is lollows : 



(4) The State shall advertise for of- 

 fers of land in blocks of 10 to 100 

 acres, and shall accept always the land 

 having the lowest average assessment 

 value, preferably on steep hill slopes. 



(5) That it shall agree to pay to the 

 owners an annual rental of 2 1-2 per 

 cent of the assessed value of the land 

 (irrespective of the timber thereon). 



(6) It shall plant this land immedi- 

 ately with seedlings of standard den- 

 sity and quality. 



(7) It shall pay annually to the local 



tax district the tax levied on the land 

 irrespective of the timber. 



(8) It shall pay all fire insurance and 

 maintenance charges. 



(9) The sum total of all moneys ex- 

 pended upon each plantation, including 

 all rentals, costs of plantation, includ- 

 ing trees, seedlings and labor, local land 

 taxes, fire insurance and maintenance 

 charges, shall be reckoned up at the 

 time of the various harvests, and such 

 total multiplied by 1.025 (which is an 

 average of 1.05 per cent), shall consti- 

 tute a preferred claim upon the estate, 

 and said claim, together with a harvest 

 tax of 5 per cent on the stumpage value 

 of the harvest, shall be discharged out 

 of the various harvests, and the re- 

 mainder of the proceeds of said har- 

 vests are to be the property of the 

 owner. 



(10) All mature growth to be har- 

 vested except where the Forest Com- 

 mission should require the strategic 

 protection against erosion and flood, 

 and such excepted lands should be 

 bought by condemnation at the price 

 they would bring if cleared in the open 

 market and the timber thereon bought 

 from the owner at the prevailing stump- 

 age value. 



(11) One-half of one per cent of all 

 lands so leased by the State shall be 

 kept available as public camp sites and 

 recreation grounds under restrictions 

 set by the Forestry Department. 



(12) This forward policy shall con- 

 tinue until one-fourth of the State area 

 is under forest cover. 



(13) All proceeds of the harvest 

 taxes collected by the State shall be ap- 

 plied (first) to a sinking fund to pay 

 interest and capital on the original is- 

 sue, if any, of Forestry Bonds; (sec- 

 ond) to buy the forests and land on the 

 strategic hill slopes; (third) to improve 

 fire-prevention service; (fourth) to de- 

 stroy insect and fungus blights; (fifth) 

 to encourage bird life, to planting trees 

 and bushes along streams and highways, 

 to prosecute timber thieves and fire- 

 bugs, to improve water-ways, to buy 

 lands in the suburbs for parks, to cre- 

 ating forest recreation grounds, to im- 

 prove landscapes, to beautifying the 



