240 Forestry Quarterly 



selves until they grow in acreage of tilled land enough to warrant 

 new efforts at improvements. Frequently enough, the settlements 

 gradually starve out and the improvements are largely lost. 



With the first "boom" development, the Counties will have been 

 organized and the County Commissioners will at once be swamped 

 with the demands for improvement work. The funds available 

 through taxation will uniformly be inadequate, and decision as to 

 where the small funds shall be spent will depend as largely on 

 the political complexion of the improvement as upon its imme- 

 diate need or general desirability. Shortage in funds and in en- 

 gineering ability will lead to the building of roads where the loca- 

 tion is later seen to have been very faulty or ill-considered. As 

 the County develops the location of the improvements required 

 will change and there will be constant temptation upon the Com- 

 missioners to declare old roads closed, rather than to attempt to 

 keep them in shape. 



Where the majority of the County is timbered, and the usual 

 concentration in ownership has taken place, the timber will be 

 the most obvious source of revenue and it may be expected that 

 the tax rate will go up. The vicious cycle, common to most of 

 out-timbered regions, is now begun. Agricultural development 

 lags decades behind logging. But with the slow increase in settle- 

 ment and the impoverished condition of backwoods farms, some- 

 thing other than the new farms, must build the roads and main- 

 tain the schools and County machinery. So the timber taxes go 

 up, but the timber owner seldom secures new roads or new 

 protection from fire. Finally, taxes reach a point where they 

 begin to be confiscatory. The owner cuts in order to get from 

 under. The faster the timber is cut out, the less taxable prop- 

 erty remains and the higher the taxes go. 



If the timber is taxed to the limit, it is the appointed time 

 for the County to bond itself for roads. The State is called 

 upon, especially in case it happens to have retained lands for a 

 "Forest Reserve." Where National Forests exist, the County 

 draws a percentage of the gross Forest income, in lieu of taxes. 

 If the income happens to be low, on account of poor market 

 facilities for the National Forest timber, Congress is urged to 

 loan funds for immediate road building, later to be reimbursed 

 from the income which is expected. The Counties are hard put 



