10 



MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS. 



age has led many short-sighted manufacturers 

 to believe they were making a good manufac- 

 turing profit, when in fact if they figured their 

 stumpage, not at what it cost them sometime 

 ago, but at the price they could replace it fof 

 now, their profit would not cover the de- 

 preciation of their plants. In that case, they 

 would have done better had they followed the 

 example of the German farmer who owned a 

 few hundred acres of forest land. He decided | 

 to buy a mill, manufacture lumber and get 

 rich. He wrote a mill company describing the 

 kind of outfit he required and wanted a spot 

 cash price. On being informed that the equip- 

 ment would cost $8,000, he promptly wrote 

 them, they must think him a fool, if he had 

 that much money, he would not buy a mill. 

 Non-Residents Discriminated Against. 

 But to revert to the assessments and taxes. 

 As an instance of what I referred to, I will 

 state a case that came to my notice two years 

 ago in Michigan in which 550 acres of hard- 

 wood land was assessed at $8,200 or $15 per 

 acre and a tax of $315 collected that year on 

 57 cents per acre. On adjoining land of the 

 same nature, owned by a resident, the assess- 

 ment was less than $5 per acre. When the at- 

 tention of the township officers was called to 

 it. they admitted that they were inclined to 

 favor residents as against non-residents. It is 

 well known that in many of the thinly settled 

 forest districts of Michigan and Wisconsin, a 

 large percentage of the funds collected, which 

 should be used in constructing good highways 

 or schools is squandered. A little "ring" is 

 formed among these officers and the "jobs" are 

 let to themselves and accepted again by them- 

 selves. 



It is difficult to conceive that the very men 

 who should be most interested in developing a 

 new country, should be so short-sighted, as to 

 act in a manner that will result in retarding its 

 growth and expansion for years. Were these 

 funds honestly and intelligently applied, the 

 lumberman could have no cause for complaint 

 as he would be benefited by the readier sale of 

 his cut-over land, and the new settler would 

 literally have his path greatly smoothed by rea- 

 son of the better roads. On the other hand, it 

 would seem wiser to tax this class of property 

 moderately, a sit would result, in a measure at 

 least, in more deliberate cutting. Thus a tax 

 of $100 a year for instance, for five or ten years 

 would bring better results in the aggregate to 

 a township, than say $200 a year for a much 

 shorter period. Even now with but an esti- 

 mated twenty years supply in sight at the pres- 

 ent rate of consumption, it is quite possible 

 that some of these few years will be unprofit- 

 able ones for the manufacturer, unless he 

 properly restricts his output proportionate to 

 the demand. 



Slump in Yellow Pine. 



Look at the condition of the yellow pine 

 trade in the south today. With huge invest- 

 ments, the trade has recently fallen off to a 

 marked degree. Cutting of prices does not in- 

 crease the demand in seasons of depression 

 but does cut off the profit and also cuts off the 

 timber on which the investment in expensive 

 equipment was based. Tt cuts both ways and 

 brings loss and in some instances, even bank- 

 ruptcy to the manufacturer. In view of the 

 present conditions in yellow pine particularly 

 ("and which may recur in the future) it seems 

 strange that an agreement between manufac- 

 turers to curtail the cut to the requirements 

 of the trade, made primarily to save the lum- 

 berman from heavier loss than if he manufac- 

 tured to his full capacity, but in its ultimate ef- 

 fect, benefiting the public by supplying the ma- 

 terial as required, should be regarded as a 

 violation of law under the Sherman act. 



It is obvious that a reduced production 

 means some loss to a manufacturer. His in- 

 vestment in equipment and land and the thous- 

 and items required to forward his business 

 depend largely upon full production. His 

 carrying charges are fixed. Shutting down en- 

 tirc'v. mean-; very heavy loss, demoralization 

 : - forces, and many otln-r troubles and ex- 



penses. In this connection, I take the liberty 

 of quoting some extracts from issues of a 

 prominent trade paper, as follows: 



Quotes Trade Papers. 



"Yellow pine lumber people may do the thing 

 singly or collectively just as necessity demands 

 but if they remain a commercial quantity 

 they will make no more lumber than they can 

 sell and let the future take care of itself." 



"Yellow pine lumber cannot be made at the 

 present rate of accumulation coupled with the 

 meagre orders of today (which condition 

 promises to continue indefinitely) without pro- 

 ducing an enormous overstock with which to 

 enter the spring trade." 



"If yellow pine saw mill people want to 

 avoid trouble that is just as certain as death 

 or taxes, they will from now on make no more 

 lumber each day than they receive orders for 

 each day." 



"Yellow pine in the tree represents an aver- 

 age investment of probably not to exceed $2.50. 

 Yellow pine in the yard or in the shed repre- 

 sents an outlay of $10 to $12. At many plants 

 it would seem that the investment in manufac- 

 tured stock is heavy enough without increasing 

 it indefinitely at this time. Furthermore it is 

 not necessary to pay insurance on standing 

 timber while it costs a great deal of money to 

 protect lumber." 



"It is much more to the liking of every busi- 

 ness man to expand his operations than to con- 

 tract them. Yet the folly of expansion clearly 

 having been demonstrated the master minds 

 have bowed gracefully to tne force of the argu- 

 ments presented. The slowing up at the pro- 

 ducing end has been brought about in part by 

 the current financial difficulties. It would be 

 useless to attempt to disguise the fact, how- 

 ever, that the maximum production of the mills 

 for months has been in excess of the require- 

 ments of lumber users. This fact slowly has 

 made its way into the minds of operators and 

 the fruit of its penetration thereinto has been 

 evidenced by an order to reduce the output." 



"What the lumber trade should do at present 

 is to bring about a measure of curtailment in 

 the output, and this should be done by com- 

 mon consent and as uniformly as possible, for 

 the good both of manufacturers and of their 

 employees. Either to sell at a loss or to pile 

 up stock at the mill beyond possibility of sale 

 or shipment is unwise; to shut down entirely 

 involves a serious loss and means a stop of 

 wages and consequent decrease in the buying 

 power of the communities in which these mills 

 are located. This feature of the situation is 

 particularly serious on the Pacific coast, in 

 such states as Washington. Oregon and Idaho, 

 where the lumber business is the main support 

 of many hitherto prosperous communities. In 

 fact, if the freight rates are advanced the entire 

 west coast will receive a blow recovery from 

 which will be difficult. 



"There should be some middle ground, but 

 when lumbermen consider the possibility of an 

 agreement by which operations may be cur- 

 tailed without being suspended, and by which 

 the burden will be distributed over the entire 

 trade instead of the most serious results falling 

 upon individual concerns and localities, .they 

 face the possibility of trouble under the Sher- 

 man act. 



"What can be done under such circumstances 

 is puzzling the wisest minds in the trade. We 

 do not look for trouble, but if the. situation 

 should become serious, so that it would mani- 

 festly affect labor, not only in lumber but in 

 other lines, then there might be hope of relief 

 from unnecessarily burdensome and restrictive 

 laws, for the ear of the politician is always at- 

 tentive to the clamor of labor. There is a 

 strong probability that the next session of 

 Congress will so revise the Sherman act as to 

 render possible under the law those_mutual 

 agreements which are in the interest not only 

 of business stability but of the whole commun- 

 r ity, or at any rate define duties and rights in 

 1 the premises." 

 ' lint let us not get pessimistic. I believe bel- 



ter things are in store for all of us. The mere 

 fact that we realize the condition of the for- 

 ests will help us out of our difficulties. I have 

 already taken up too much of your valuable 

 time, you are engaged in a great work and 

 have already accomplished much. The attitude 

 of the people, including the lumbermen, has 

 changed from indifference to sympathy, active 

 sympathy, I hope. Let us all resolve to stop 

 waste wherever possible, to promote forest 

 culture and conservation, let us be content 

 with a moderate pace, we shall be richer for it 

 in many other directions. Our children will be 

 here when we are gone, let us use our remain- 

 ing, natural resources in such a manner as to 

 give them cause to think of us with gratitude 

 and respect. 



The president then asked for any special 

 resolutions and any special action advising the 

 board of directors in regard to fixing a place, 

 for the next meeting. 



Professor Smith of the Agricultural College 

 in an eloquent manner presented the claims 

 of the college at East Lansing, and strongly 

 urged the directors to fix that as the place 

 for the next meeting of the Association. 



All invitations with reference to place of 

 meeting were referred to the board of di- 

 rectors. 



Mr. Hubbell then reported in behalf of the 

 special committee appointed at Grand Rapids 

 by the board of directors relative to securing 

 memberships and also annual dues. 



FIELD OF THE FOREST AND FARM. 



Prof. C. D. Smith, of Michigan Agricultural 

 College, Reads Interesting Paper. 



The president announced that the last num- 

 ber on the program to be presented was a 

 paper by Prof. C. D. Smith, of the state ex- 

 periment station, entitled. "When Is Land 

 Retter Suited to Forestry Than Agriculture?" 

 Professor Smith illustrated his talk by refer- 

 ring to the map used by ProtYssur Roth dur- 

 ing his address on Tuesday. Professor Smith's 

 paper follows: 



In all the discussions of the day there is 

 bound to be a spirit of frankness. The ques- 

 tions are to be considered from the view point 

 of practical common sense rather than from the 

 standpoint of possibility. The topic assigned 

 me relates to the question when a given tract 

 of land shall be turned over to forestry: when 

 reserved for the farm. I am not a forester. 

 I know just enough about that branch of crop 

 raising to know how little I <lo know about it. 

 I am unlike many of my city correspondents 

 who write to me for minute directions as to all 

 the details of managing a farm, hoping through 

 such meager instructions to derive the ability 

 to manage some recent purchase with financial 

 success. 



I mav be allowed to say in a permitted aside 

 that my office is receiving in these days of 1907 

 an unusual number of letters of this kind. 

 From Chicago comes a whole swarm of ihem 

 asking what crops will grow on recently ac- 

 quired land in northern Michigan, usually ad- 

 mitNng in the letter of inquiry that the land is 

 very sandy but giving no clue whatever as to 

 oil type involved or the previous crops of 

 timber or otherwise. What kinds of grass seed 

 shall T sow for meadow or for pasture? What 

 sort of fertilizer shall I buy? What rotation 

 of crops? These and a hundred similar ques- 

 tions come, and their very frequency points to 

 a rather rapid sale of mid-Michigan lands for 

 farming purposes. 



The attitude of the Experiment Station De- 

 partment of the Agricultural College toward 

 this whole matter is one of encouragement to 

 the settler upon fit land, fitly locatcd_ when a 

 discriminating skill has selected the farm, but 

 also one of uncompromising hostility toward 

 tlii- program of exploiting unfit land and foist- 

 ing it upon an ignorant and too confiding city 

 artisan. 



What. then, are the characteristics of the 

 land which we '"night to utili/e as farms ? Two 



