Editoriai, comment 819 



forests, and penalties for the setting of forest fires. Aside from pro- 

 tection against fire, the only measure looking toward the prevention of 

 forest devastation is a provision to the efifect that at least one pine 

 seed tree not less than seven inches in diameter shall be left standing 

 on each acre after lumbering, provided, that this measure shall not 

 apply to lands which the owners declare to be susceptible to cultivation, 

 and which they declare is intended for agricultural purposes. A sev- 

 erance tax of 12 cents per thousand feet of lumber and of 5 cents per 

 barrel on crude gum is called for. 



A committee of lumljcrmen, ])resumal)ly representing the lumber 

 industry of Texas, has filed a brief against this bill. This committee 

 argues that the State Forester should never have the power of control 

 over forest interests in the State, and that the lumber industry should 

 not be subject to control by any one official or by any one power other 

 than the legislative power of the State; that the severance tax is objec- 

 tionable because it is class legislation, and that money obtained from 

 the lumbermen should not go to other interests (such as shade tree 

 planting and nurseries) ; that protection against fire would be of slight 

 benefit only ; that the growing of pine seedlings in a nursery for pur- 

 poses of transj)lanting is "absurd." as pine can be successfully grown 

 only from seed; and that it would cost from $75 to $100 per thousand 

 board feet to grow standing timber. 



At the hearings on the bill the spokesman for the lumber industry of 

 Texas argued that when our own saw timber was gone we could easily 

 obtain lumber from Russia ; that fires did not seriously retard forest 

 reproduction or the growth of timber, and that nature would eventually 

 reforest lands in Texas without assistance from the State. 



The emptiness of all these objections is so apparent as to make 

 discussion quite unnecessary. The general opposition of the lumber 

 industry, however, is of decided interest. Here is a bill looking 

 toward the perpetuation of forest growth in Texas. Its provisions 

 are so mild as to raise the question of whether it would really accom- 

 plish much, if passed. The seed tree provision, for example, need not 

 be complied with if the owner declares his land to be susceptible to 

 cultivation and intended for agricultural development. The owners 

 would have wide discretionary powers in this respect, for their say-so 

 would be final. We are wondering what per cent of cut-over lands 

 the owners would class as being not susceptible to cultivation. 



However, in spite of the ultra-reasonableness of the bill, it is being 



