AIDING TIMBER OWNERS 



207 



"There are three general propositions which 

 1 think should be stated in this case clearly 

 and fully, without hedging them about with 

 limitations, qualifications and provisos which 

 render them practically useless, and those 

 propositions are as follows: 



"First, the acquisition, preservation and 

 scientific care of forests and forest areas by 

 the State, as well as the sale of timber there- 

 from for gain in accordance with the well 

 understood canons of forest culture, is pre- 

 eminently a public purpose. It would be a 

 mere affection of learning to dwell upon the 

 value to a State of great forest areas. That has 

 been established long since and is not open to 

 question. The lamentable results which have 

 followed the cutting of forest over large areas, 

 the serious effects of such cutting upon climate, 

 rainfall, preservation of the soil from erosion, 

 regularity of river flow and other highly 

 important things which go to make up the 

 welfare of the State are matters of history. 

 They need not be descanted upon. 



"Second, being a public purpose of the first 

 rank in importance, there can be no question 

 of the power of the State to lev>' taxes for tne 

 accomplishment of the purpose. The power 

 of taxation exists for every public purpose 

 unless some constitutional prohibition, either 

 Federal or State, has taken it away. T find 

 no such prohibition. I confess my inability to 

 understand the reasoning which finds it in 

 that clause of the constitution which commands 

 the Legislature to levy an annual tax to defray 



the estimated expenses of the State. The 

 power of taxation is one of the necessary 

 attributes of sovereignty. To say that because 

 the constitution makers thought best to make a 

 specific provision that taxes should be levied 

 for certain purposes they intended thereby 

 to interdict taxation for all other public pur- 

 poses is to my mind unthinkable. Besides if 

 afforestation and reforestation be public pur- 

 poses, then the moneys spent in carrying them 

 on are necessarily and properly expenses of the 

 State and come within the Constitutional 

 command. The expenses of a State include the 

 moneys which it spends in carrying out the 

 public purposes which the Legislative judg- 

 ment directs to be carried out. 



"Third, afforestation and reforestation of 

 large areas are not ' works of internal improve- 

 ment' within the meaning of the constitution. 



"Now I affirm, that it is not to be expected 

 in the light of human experience in this land 

 at least, that the establishment and conserva- 

 tion of large forest areas for the public good 

 should be undertaken by private enterprise, 

 and I also affirm my belief that such work is 

 preeminently a public work, and hence one of 

 the essential functions of government." 



These views of Chief Justice Marshall 

 are well worth reading by the citizens of 

 every State. The belief expressed in 

 the last paragraph is particnlary perti- 

 nent. 



AIDING TIMBER OWNERS 



PARTICULAR attention is being 

 given this winter by the Mary- 

 land State Board of Forestry 

 to its work of cooperation with 

 local woodland owners. 



Where the assistance of the Board has 

 been requested, a preliminary examina- 

 tion of timber tracts is made by the 

 State Forester or his Assistant, a work- 

 ing-plan drawn up to cover plans of 

 management and improvement, and the 

 timber gone over a second time by men 

 experienced in such work. Defective, 

 diseased, and mature trees, and those 

 of undesirable species, are marked for 

 removal, and an estimate of the whole 

 secured. 



The owner pays the actual expense of 

 putting the men in the field, and their 

 work is later summarized at the State 

 Forester's Office free of charge. The 

 stand and value of the timber is tab- 

 ulated, the estimate of stiunpage being 



sent to a list of timber operators in the 

 same locality. This has been found a 

 satisfactory and successful way of 

 getting in touch with the market and 

 securing buyers. 



Within the past few months the 

 timber marked for removal on one 

 tract of woodland in Maryland has been 

 sold for a stun 200 per cent in excess of 

 that originally offered to the owner. 

 The latter would probably have accepted 

 the first offer if this work had not been 

 done. Through it, however, he gained 

 an accurate idea of the value of his 

 property, and the entire proposition, 

 from marking the timber to drawing 

 up the deed of sale, was undertaken 

 for him by the Board of Forestry. 

 The present and future value of this 

 stand was considerably increased, and 

 illustrates one way by which the State 

 of Maryland is extending aid of a very 

 practical nature to local timber owners. 



