24 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



Another phase of the conservation question which has caused 

 conservationists a considerable amount of worry has been the ques- 

 tion of obtaining a system of taxation which will lend itself prac- 

 tically to the conditions under which forest lands must be operated 

 to secure a profit on the investment. This question was taken up in 

 a talk by Prof. F. E. Fairchild, assistant professor of political 

 economy of Yale University, before the fifth annual forest confer- 

 ence at Bretton "Woods, N. H. Prof. Fairchild maintains that the 

 general property tax, while at fault in theory and generally unsuited 

 to modern conditions, places timber lands on a particularly unfavor- 

 able basis. The statement will be concurred in by everybody con- 

 cerned in the utilization of stumpage, or who is interested in a long 

 time investment in forest growth. The reason for the truth of the 

 statement is found in the fact that a long period must elapse before 

 the investment in forestry brings an income. During this time, 

 under the present general property tax, the growing timber is 

 taxed over and over again, and the burden of taxes with accumu- 

 lated interest piles up until it usually takes away a good share of 

 the entire income of the forest. Prof. Fairchild maintains that the 

 European system of forest taxation could not be adapted to condi- 

 tions in this country but makes it plain that taxation is capable of 

 taking a large part of the yield from an investment in forest 

 growth. The salient feature of any system of forest taxation 

 which would justify itself must be that it would secure reasonable 

 taxation to the forest owner, protect the public revenue and not be 

 an obstacle to the best use of the forest. The method of taxation 

 which has been advanced by foresters on the subject since this 

 question first commanded serious thought is that a simple tax be 

 imposed on the yield when cut. This method should suit any kind 

 of forest management and does not have to be figured on yield 

 tables or ' ' expectation values, ' ' and rates of interest, future 

 prices of timber and complicated calculations of any kind are elim- 

 inated. In other words, without being any hardship on the owner 

 the tax would yield a larger revenue than is now obtained, and 

 would cease to place a barrier in the way of the best forest man- 

 agement. Through the adoption of such a system forest conser- 

 vation would be materially advanced. 



More of Haywood 



For colossal nerve Wm. B. Haywood, president of the Industrial 

 Workers of the World, has the rest of us " backed off the map. ' ' 

 This gentleman represents an organization notorious for its agita- 

 tion among the laboring class working mainly toward the growth 

 of a campaign of passion and crime aimed apparently without any 

 logical reason at employers in general. Mr. Ha.ywood has ex- 

 pressed his intention of writing an article covering in his own way 

 the sawmill situation in the South, and he has pretty clearly made 

 it understood that his method of treatment will be entirely with a 

 viewpoint of stirring up as broad a wave of prejudice against the 

 sawmill operators as possible. He aims to employ his imagination 

 in connection with a general distortion of facts with the idea of 

 giving the public the impression that conditions as they exist in 

 southern sawmill operations are as uncivilized and barbarous as 

 the human mind can conceive. Mr. Haywood's further purpose is 

 to endeavor to get these articles placed in such periodicals as 

 Collier's, Leslie's and Pierson's, and he actually has had the 

 audacity to approach various lumber publications with the hope of 

 securing from them cuts illustrative of lumbering operations in 

 the territory which he claims he will write up. It is needless to 

 say that he has gotten mighty little satisfaction from this source. 



The purpose of the article in question is to gain strength for 

 the Industrial Workers of the World in their campaign looking 

 toward unionizing the sawmill and woods operators of the southern 

 states on the basis of the standard of violence and hatred estab- 

 lished by this organization of disturbers. So far his efforts have 

 met with decidedly meager success, and it is hoped that this con- 

 dition will continue to such an extent as to discourage further 

 efforts. 



Leonard Bronson, manager of the National Lumber Manufac- 

 turers' Association, in a circular to the trade recites Haywood's 



object and methods and shows wherein the publication of such an 

 article would work a grave injustice to the lumber business. He 

 requests the support of the members in an attempt to prevent its 

 getting before the people. The necessity for such an effort must 

 be conceded by the entire body of the lumber fraternity. 



Not According to Facts 



A prominent furniture publication in a recent issue refers to 

 an article on the "Decadence of Quartered Oak" as appearing 

 in the last issue of Hakdwood Record. Hardwood Eecord wishes 

 to acknowledge credit given to it by the publication in question. 



The editorial analyzes the question and then leads up to pos- 

 sible causes, reaching the conclusion that the weakening of quar- 

 tered oak and the strengthening of mahogany and substitutes 

 and of such other woods as gum and birch has been the result 

 of advertising. In conclusion the editorial states that some lum- 

 ber manufacturers advertise, or at least have a way of telling 

 what they have to sell and various other points, but they merely 

 make these statements through their trade papers to each other 

 and not to the consuming trade. 



Hardwood Kecord wishes emphatically to deny tlie unfounded 

 insinuation that the lumber trade press does not reach the class 

 of trade which buys the goods advertised in its pages. The very 

 fact that there are today a dozen reputable lumber trade papers, 

 all of them in flourishing condition, would successfully refute 

 this assertion. Hardwood RECOftD does not propose to give an 

 expression of opinion as to the value of furniture journals for 

 advertising lumber to furniture factories, but it seems that this 

 type of publication has been soliciting the business of the lumber 

 manufacturer of late, and it may be that the insinuation in ques- 

 tion is prompted by this policy, although the journal does not 

 carry any lumber advertising. 



This is not intended to be in any way a "knock'' at this 

 furniture publication or furniture journals in general, but is 

 merely a statement of a fact of which every lumberman who 

 has analyzed his lumber trade journals is aware. Lumbermen 

 are essentially business men and tlie fact that they are so well repre- 

 sented in lumber trade journal advertising columns is pretty con- 

 clusive evidence that these journals on the whole reach the 

 people to whom they are selling. Otherwise it would be a very 

 short period before the lumber trade press would go to the wall. 



Reduction of National Forests 



Sweeping changes have been made by President Taft in the 

 national forests of the West — in Montana, Arizona, Nevada, Utah 

 and California. Changes have been accomplished by modified 

 boundary lines and as a result 275,000 acres were eliminated and 

 65,000 acres in other sections were added. There was also a trans- 

 fer of 65,000 acres between two forests. The net result is the re- 

 duction of the total area of the national forest to 187,400,000 acres, 

 of which 27,000,000 is in Alaska. 



In 1909 the area of the national forests was at its highest point, 

 including 194,000,000 acres. The reason for this was that in getting 

 the land for national forests the work was necessarily done more 

 or less hastily, and considerable areas were purchased which were 

 really not adapted to the national forest scheme. In other cases 

 land which should have been included was left out. 



Rolling Stock Busy 



Increases in the number of freight cars in use point to con- 

 tinued healthy conditions of trade, and a report of the committee 

 on relations between railroads of the American Railway Asso- 

 ciation shows there has been a continued decrease in the excess 

 of idle railway equipment of various sorts. From June 20 to 

 July 4 the total car surplus was reduced from 74,464 to 70,731. 

 Another significant feature of the report is that on July 5, 1911, 

 165,405 cars were idle. Figures for July 4 of this year show 

 there are shortages totaling 6,707 cars; on June 20, 5,746 cars, 

 and on July 5, 1911, 1,887 cars. As compared with last year's 

 figures, the total decrease in surplus aggregates 94,777 cars. 



