FOREST PRESERVATION GRAVES. 439 



Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan, and of lumbermen, railroads, 

 and others interested, this Minnesota law was passed in a form whicli 

 left decision as to the need of brush disposal and the methods to be 

 followed entirely in the hands of the State forester. 



The Lake State conference adopted resolutions advocating that the 

 forest-fire protective system of each State should be put under the con- 

 trol of a nonpartisan commission, whicli should place the work in 

 charge of a technically trained forester; that instead of the present 

 firewarden service of each State there should be organized and main- 

 tained an adequate system of patrol ; that trails, telephone lines, and 

 lookout stations should be constructed, and that proper safeguards 

 against fire in the form of slash disposal, the establishment of fire 

 lines where necessary, and patrol of railroads should be required. 

 The outcome of this conference must be regarded as a long advance 

 in proposals for State control of fires. 



Forest taxation has for years been recognized as an important 

 part of the forestry problem. If taxes are levied annually on tim- 

 berlands at a high valuation a powerful reason is created for cutting 

 the timber off. Even though the valuation is low, the existence of 

 laws under which timber may, in the discretion of the local authori- 

 ties, be compelled at any time to pay yearly its full share of a general 

 property tax creates an uncertainty which timber owners generally 

 declare to be a serious hindrance to engaging in forestry. As a 

 matter of wise public policy it is certainly worth while not to make 

 the practice of forestry hard. At the same time, if the existing 

 tax laws are modified on the plea that the peculiar interest of the 

 public in forest preservation calls for a lightening of the burden on 

 forest holdings, the public will have a right to demand that those 

 who benefit by the change shall put forestry into practice. 



It must be admitted that as yet large owners have on the whole 

 shown little inclination to take up the actual practice of forestry — 

 that is, to adopt lumbering methods which provide for reproduc- 

 tion and amount to a money investment in the growing of a new crop. 

 There is, however, an important drift toward the making of an 

 investment in what might be called halfway forestry. This appears 

 in the numerous examples of cuttings in which young timber is 

 left to grow, though merchantable, and in which unmerchantable 

 young growth now on the ground is looked after, through care in 

 lumbering or through fire protection, in expectation of a later cut. 

 From this to the actual production of a new crop is but a step, 

 though it may be a long step. 



Since four-fifths of our standing timber is in private hands, the prob- 

 lem of conservation as related to this resource must be held far from 

 satisfactory so long as a reasonable expectation of the general prac- 

 tice of private forestry is not in prospect. To regard any such ex- 



