SUMMER MEETING. 279 



lands could be reduced to a mere nominal sum and the taxes upon 

 the standing timber be somewhat reduced from what it is now, the 

 lumbermen would not destroy this j oun^' timber. I think every one 

 in willitij^ to admit, that some of the counties in our state are laying 

 altogether too heavy a tax on the standin<;^ timber and cut-over 

 lands. In Aitkin county, for instance, they have a magnificent park 

 built out of the taxes on non-resident lumbermen; and the aim of 

 the inhabitajits of these thickly wooded counties is to get all the 

 money possible out of these lumber barons, to rob them of as much 

 as they can, for the buildinfj up of the interests of the county, such 

 as the buikling-of schoolhouses, court-houses and public buildings 

 of that sort and the paying- of salaries altogether unnecessary. The 

 lumbermen say that if these taxes were cixt down to a nominal sum, 

 they would leave a great deal of the small timber to grow. A six- 

 inch tree, in fifteen years, would be worth five times as much as to- 

 day. 



These two points, the preservation of the forests from unnecessary 

 fires and the lowering of taxes to permit this small timber to re- 

 main, are the points that the lumbermen think practical. And these 

 I have endeavored to present to you from their standpoint. You 

 will find that nearly all the lumbermen, so long as you appeal to 

 their self-interest and do not go too much on the benevolent idea, 

 are ready to be practical battlers for any practical schemes the asso- 

 ciation may lay out for the preservation of the forests in the state of 

 Minnesota. 



I thank you for your attention. 



Pres. Underwood: Ladies and gentlemen. I think it has 

 been generally supposed that these commercial clubs were 

 organized chiefly along social lines and for social purposes; 

 but I assure you that our society has found them to be com- 

 posed of men who are ever ready and willing to work in the 

 interest of all good causes in our state and are prominent in 

 furthering all important subjects that are necessary and prom- 

 inent in the growth and development of our state, and that the 

 Minneapolis Commercial Club has been no less active in its 

 work along these lines. Now, I wish to call upon Capt. Cross, 

 who is a gentleman working in another line of thought and 

 business from what we are. but who has found time to give this 

 matter of forestry and the protection of our forest interests 

 very careful consideration, and who has a very practical plan 

 to propose along this line. I would like to have him step for- 

 ward and tell us of his plan at this time. 



ADDRESS BY CAPT. J. N. CK093, OF MI.VNEAPOLIS. 



Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen: I ;im not a j)ractical forester, 

 but I was brought up in the woods of northern New York— the 

 woods of fifty years ago or more. It was while I was listening to a 

 conversation between the president and the regents of this institu- 



