Periodical Literature. 105 



POLITICS AND LEGISLATION. 



In the report of the Minnesota Tax Com- 



Taxation mission some very unusual and exception- 



of ally well conceived recommendations are 



Timber made relative to the timber taxation policy 



Lands. of the state. 



The report is accompanied by a detailed 

 estimate of the quantity of standing timber in the state by 

 counties, the total being 20,968,902,000 feet. Of this quantity 

 about 50 per cent, is White, Norway and Jack Pine, of an esti- 

 mated value ranging from $45,000,000 to $95,000,000, and aver- 

 aging anywhere from $5 to $10 a thousand feet. 



On the question of the best method of taxing standing timber, 

 attention is given to the present burden on timber lands. It is 

 stated that interest charges are about 23 cents a thousand feet, 

 making the total cost of carrying 38 cents, which naturally in- 

 creases from year to year as the period of nonproductivity 

 lengthens. The carrying charges naturally are compounded as a 

 part of the cost and in time these charges, including the taxes, 

 must be taxed. In ten years the taxes on a thousand feet of 

 timber would be $1.50 and the interest compounded $2.37, making 

 a total carrying charge of $3.87. 



Consideration also is given to the suggested method of sepa- 

 rating the value of the land from the value of the timber and it is 

 pointed out that under the Minnesota taxing laws such a separa- 

 tion is not possible. 



Commenting on the results of the present methods, it is said 

 that an increase in local tax rates would impose a burden that 

 the lumber industry might have difficulty in meeting. 



The American Lumberman, 1909, p. 34. 



One of the strongest and most able reviews 

 Tariff of the tariff question so far made public 



and is supplied by J. A. Foster of the Hilton 



Location. and Dodge Lumber Company, Savannah, 



Ga. It is pointed out that by reason of the 

 tariff timber formerly of no value has since become a source of 

 supply for a variety of forest products including low grade lum- 

 ber, box shooks and similar products. The author states that land 



