EMPIRE STATE ASSOCIATION MEETING 



795 



revenue to the State? I do not believe 

 in investments that will not produce 

 some return. The peoj^lc of the State- 

 should arise en masse and demand an 

 income from their investment which 

 should be applied to lessen their taxes. 

 Until our constitution can be amended 

 we should ask the Legislature to pass a 

 law permitting the people to acquire 

 larger interests in forest lands. I 

 belie\-e a law could be drawn that 

 would be constitutional and that would 

 permit the State to reforest ])rivate 

 lands under the following conditions : 



"An individual or corporation to 

 make application to the conservation 

 department to reforest certain lands, 

 the growing crop to be free from tax- 

 ation. The trees, when matured, to be 

 cut under State supervision and a 

 stumpage paid to the State, the stum- 

 page to be a lien against growing crop. 

 The amount of stumpage to be agreed 

 upon by the owners and the commis- 

 sion in charge, the trees to be consid- 

 ered matured when they reach a diam- 

 eter of 13 inches. 



"I believe a law framed as the above 

 would promote continuous reforesting 

 along our rivers and streams. 



"I believe also that the constitution 

 should be so amended as to permit the 

 cutting of matured trees upon State 

 lands under control of the State de- 

 partment, and the proceeds of the sale 

 of the stumpage be applied to further 

 purchases or to help defray the ex- 

 penses of government. 



"The Bird amendment so-called was 

 the result of initiative taken by your 

 officers, and to-day w^e can point with 

 pride to the loyal support it has from 

 all associations interested in permanent 

 growth. 



"I believe in enlarging forest fire 

 service. Reforestation will accomplish 

 but little with inadequate fire protec- 

 tion." 



Prof. Nelson C. Brown, of the New 

 York State College of Forestry at Syr- 

 acuse, read an excellent paper on the 

 development of forest utilization in 

 this country and said he believed the 

 practice of forestry in this country in 

 the future would be devoted as much to 

 complete utilization of the timber re- 

 sources as to the growing of timber. 



lie advocated a more liberal policy in 

 the management of the State-owned 

 limber land. 



i\n address on the work of the 

 American Forestry Association, and 

 the important investigative work to be 

 undertaken next year in co-operation 

 with the lumbermen and timber- 

 land owners. State foresters and fire 

 ])rotective associations, was given by 

 P. S. Ridsdale, the executive sec- 

 retary; A. S. Houghton, of the 

 Camp h'irc Club of America, spoke on 

 the growth of forest conservation in 

 New York State and the increasing in- 

 terest of the lumbermen in the work. 

 Dr. Edward H. Hall, of New York 

 City, the secretary of the Society for 

 the Protection of the Adirondacks, 

 urged, in a witty and impressive talk, 

 an open discussion of any differences 

 of opinion between his association and 

 other organization regarding differences 

 in policy in efforts to preserve the 

 Adirondacks. 



W. L. Sykes, of Buffalo, who had 

 driven forty miles through the rain 

 and over muddy roads in an automobile 

 from Cranberry Lake to get to the 

 meeting, made an interesting report for 

 the forestry committee, of which he is 

 chairman, and this was followed by a 

 general discussion of conditions in the 

 forests. Mr. Sykes urged that the 

 State adopt a more liberal policy in 

 permitting private owners to build roads 

 across State lands in order to market 

 their timber. 



Prof. Samuel N. Spring, of the for- 

 estry department of Cornell, who is a 

 member of the State board, which is 

 investigating the question of forest 

 taxation, lucidly described dift'erent 

 methods of taxation reforms which 

 have been proposed and in which those 

 present were greatly interested. This 

 talk, too, was followed by a general 

 discussion, during which Prof. Spring 

 answered a number of questions about 

 various features of forest taxation laws. 



At the banquet in the evening there 

 were addresses by M. H. Hoover, of 

 the State Conservation Commission; 

 State Senator T. Harvey Ferris, of 

 Utica; James L. Hutchins, of Roches- 

 ter, and an illustrated talk on State 

 forestry by Dean Hugh P. Baker, of 



