82 FOREST commissioner's REPORT. 



blame the ^ caniiot leave this subject without warding off 



woodsTnan. j^i^Q^g from the head of the lumberman, the hauler 

 of the logs. The fault, if fault there be, does not lie there. 

 The style is set for him, and one man cannot change it. He 

 is generally a poor man, the weak party financially in the 

 trade. Ground between an upper and a nether millstone of 

 price of logs and of stumpage, threatened, too, by a method 

 of measuring timber which keeps him in uncertainty and very 

 likely may more than offset his stoutest efforts, he has to use, 

 to assure himself of a profit and a living, all the advantages 

 of his position. The cause lies with the land owners and 

 the system of absentee landlordism which they maintain. 

 Men of capital who have found out that timberland is a safe 

 and paying investment, in most cases their lands have been 

 bought on other men's judgment. Oftentimes they have 

 never seen their property, and many of them would not know 

 what to make of it if they did. The connection they main- 

 tain with it is simply to charge and collect the highest market 

 price of stumpage. 



Now there is no way in which this matter can be externally 

 remedied. Knowledge of the facts, however, may help to some 

 extent. Knowledge of what is lost may cause land owners 

 to look after their property more carefully. But there is a 

 further idea to be drawn. All who desire the economical 

 utilization of our forest lands should welcome their movement 

 into the hands of those who are to cut and utilize their prdcuct. 

 Outline of Readers, if any have followed thus far, have 



further ex- •> j 



pioration. learned the main principles and a share of the 

 facts on wdiich judgment is based as to the spruce pro- 

 ducin^j- power of the Kennebec river. Not that all facts 

 observed in travel have been recorded, nor that travel on the 

 drainao-e was confined to that which has been described. The 

 Roach river exploration was followed by a visit to Misery 

 and Sapling, while two days were spent on difierent parts of 

 Squaw mountain. Exploration for that time ended at Parlin 

 Pond, whence stage was taken for the railway at Bingham. 

 X-ater in the season again, in November, after the exploration 



