Forestry and Taxation 2 1 7 



wood contained in a forest as expressed in cubic 

 metres. There can be no doubt that this in itself 

 brings about much greater accuracy than our sys- 

 tem of expressing quantity in feet board measure, 

 although it is not so convenient for the lumber- 

 man, because he must first make another calcula- 

 tion before he can tell how many boards he ought 

 to saw out of a given amount of logs. With the 

 development of American silvicultural forestry, 

 methods of mensuration adapted to American con- 

 ditions and approaching those of Europe in accu- 

 racy will undoubtedly be invented. In fact, a very 

 simple and convenient one has already been sug- 

 gested in a recent bulletin of the United States 

 Forestry Division. When such methods shall be 

 in universal use, even the rural assessor will prob- 

 ably be prevailed upon to apply them. But one 

 may hope that by that time a different way may 

 have been found to let the forest and lumber inter- 

 ests bear their fair portion of the public burden. 



We have stated that the owners of timber-lands 

 are affected unjustly not only by the assessment 

 of taxes, but also by the expenditure of the pro- 

 ceeds. The way in which lavish expenditure is 

 more burdensome to them than to other taxpayers 

 is the following. In the districts where the forests 

 are situated, it very often happens that but a small 

 proportion of the taxes levied is paid by residents. 

 The timber-lands from which the greater portion 

 of taxes is derived belong mostly to the non- 

 resident lumbermen. The latter therefore have 



