SUMMER MEETING. 283 



^■o before the forestry association and say to them what he 

 thouj^ht of this, and I am sure he ia in hearty accord with every- 

 thinjr this association and the forestrj- association will do in a 

 practical way to preserve the forests of this state; and especially 

 those forest areas that cannot be used for agricultural purposes. It 

 cannot be expected that where the land can be used for aj^riculture. 

 it should be retained for forest purposes. But there is lots of land 

 that cannot be used for agriculture, sandy, rocky land, which could 

 be turned over to the state for permanent forest area. 



I see both General Andrews and Governor Pillsbury here today. 

 They probablj- have some information in their own mind, some 

 criticism or objection to this plan. 



Pres. Underwood: This is a very practical and interesting 

 presentation of the subject. I would be glad to hear from 

 Governor Pillsbury, General Andrews and Mr. Beals. Will 

 Governor Pillsbury say something to us on this subjecf:' 



REMARKS BY EX-GOV. J. S. PILLSBURY, MINNEAPOLIS. 



Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen: I did not expect to be called 

 upon to make a speech or anything of that kind, but as the matter 

 has come up, I will take occasion to say that I have had a talk with 

 Captain Cross in regard to his plan for coming at the details. You 

 may make out all the resolutions you please and have them passed, 

 but when you want to accomplish your object you have got to get 

 at the details, you must have some manner of arriving at objects 

 j'ou want to accomplish. Now, Captain Cross has a paper there 

 that is pretty good, it will reach a certain class of people, the peo- 

 ple who hold the largest portions of the poor lands in the state, and 

 that is the lumbermen. There has been a great deal said here this 

 afternoon about cutting off timber, slashing, murdering, etc. Now, 

 gentlemen, why have the3- done it? It is because they came into 

 this country here for the purpose of making some money. They 

 bought up these pine lands, paid the government its price for them; 

 they are now their property. Now, what these gentlemen have done 

 is to go onto those lands and cut the timber off their own land. Is 

 that right or is it wrong? The state, you may say, is to blame for 

 this destruction of the young timber, of six-inch timber, as this 

 gentleman has told us about. But when a man has bought a hun- 

 dred and sixty acre tract of land, prettj' well timbered, with $1,500 

 worth of timber on it, he will go on to that land and cut ofif his 

 timber and no man in this state or anywhere else can prevent him. 

 He has bought that property, and it is his. So much for that. 



One great trouble about these cut-over lands is the high prices. 

 I can speak from experience, and pretty broad experience at that. 

 In those counties where land has been cut over, the law provides 

 that the assessor shall go onto the ground, go onto the land — in the 

 city, on each lot, in the country, on each forty acres— and he shall 

 appraise the land whatever he thinks it is worth, forty or fifty per 

 cent, of its actual value. Now, instead of doing the duties of the 

 assessor, in these counties he sits in his oflice and never goes onto 

 those lands at all and assesses them at $5 an acre, at $10 an acre, 



