MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS. 



Official Organ of The Michigan Road Makers AuociaBon and Michigan Foceitry Aiioriabon 



SUITE 1*06 MAJESTIC BLILDING DETROIT. MICHIGAN 



Frank E. Carter.. ..Editor 



PUBLISHED EVERY MONTH 



BY 

 THE STATE REVIEW PUBLISHING CO.. 



SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR, 

 PAYABLE IN ADVANCE. 



A WORD ON THE REPORT 



OF THE 

 COMMISSION OF INQUIRY 



In 1907 the legislature, as well as the friends 

 of Forestry, felt that a thorough investiga- 

 tion should be made of the present forest 

 situation in Michigan. Accordingly, the legis- 

 lature provided for a "Commission of Inquiry" 

 to look into this situation, to report at the 

 coming session, i. e-, that of 1909, and to 

 recommend such state action as appears neces- 

 sary and feasible at this time. The report 

 of the commission is now in the hands of 

 the Secretary of State for distribution. It 

 is a most excellent document, and the names 

 of the nine men appointed by the governor 

 in themselves will assure to this report and 

 the recommendations a careful hearing and 

 the fullest consideration at the hands of 

 the people and their legislature. The com- 

 mission is composed of and its report signed 

 by the following members: 



R. D. Graham, of Grand Rapids. 



A. B. Cook, Owosso. 



Geo. B. Horton, Fruit Ridge. 



Francis King, Alma. 



W. E. Osmun. 



A. E. Palmer, Kalkaska. 



Carl E. Schmidt, Detroit. 



C. V. R. Townsend, Negaunee. 



D. B. Waldo, Kalamazoo. 



In keeping with the magnitude of the sub- 

 ject and the law under which it acted, the 

 commission concerned itself primarily with the 

 vast body of "unused" lands in the northern 

 half of the state, and particularly the part 

 which for more than a quarter of a century 

 has formed our tax lands, or lands delinquent 

 for non-payment of taxes. The inquiry in 

 this direction is most thorough and complete. 

 The use of these lands, their possibilities and 

 their history all were carefully looked into, 

 and the recommendations concerning these 

 .lands take into consideration most fully the 

 utilization, settlement, improvement and pro- 

 tection of them from the standpoint, not 

 only of the locality, but of the state of Michi- 

 gan in its entirety. 



According to the report, there are in the 

 northern half of our state vast bodies of lands 

 which were logged, burned over, and now 

 form the "cut-over" lands of the state. Of 



these lands large areas are delinquent for 

 taxes every year, and a goodly part of these 

 delinquent lands is never redeemed, but be- 

 comes state land, or, as it is officially termed, 

 "tax homestead land." In the past these lands 

 were sold as fast as possible, with a view 

 to getting them back on the tax roll and also 

 to encourage their settlement. 



The extent of these lands is reported in 

 the following table: 

 Area, in Acres, of Lands Delinquent for Taxes. 



1875 9,111,000 



1880 7,395,000 



1885 7,421,000 



1890 7,967,000 



1897 8,970,000 



1901 7,022,000 



1902 6,077,000 



1903 6,310,000 



1904 4,964,000 



1905 5,132,000 



The enormous expense which the advertise- 

 ment of the delinquent lands is to the state 

 is apparent from the following: 



Amount in round numbers expended in 

 handling the tax lands in the Auditor Gener- 

 al's office: 



For advertis- 

 ing. (Gener- For ' Extra 

 ally 40o for help" in tne 

 each de- Auditor Go.n- 

 scription), or eral's office. 

 Year. J acres. (Cl3rk hire?.) 



1900 $66,000.00 $111,000.00 



1901 54,000.00 114,000.00 



1902 60,000.00 117,000.00 



1903 56,000.00 120,000.00 



1904 33,000.00 112,000.00 



1905 30,000.00 111,000.00 



1906 30,000.00 114,000-00 



"In the ten years ending 1905, these two 

 items amounted to $1,591,252.00. While there 

 can be no doubt that a certain amount of ex- 

 penditure is necessary to collect our taxes, the 

 above sum, especially in the advertisement of 

 the descriptions, seems exorbitant beyond all 

 measure." 



It is thus seen that, for instance in 1900, 

 the Auditor General advertised over six and 

 one-half million acres of lands, and in this one 

 year spent over $177,000 in this business. 



The commission also points out the fact 

 that much of this land was held in the Auditor 

 General's office far beyond the period intended 

 by law, and that much of this advertising and 

 expense must seem unlawful. 



The area of tax lands ready to deed or 

 deeded to the state in November, 1907, was 

 about 1,112,000 acres of which about half was 

 deeded and under the jurisdiction of the land 

 office. 



Once under the jurisdiction of this office the 

 lands can.be "homesteaded" or bought. Little 

 of the land has been homesteaded and in most 

 cases the homesteads have proven bad affairs, 

 they were taken for the little timber left on 

 the land, skinned, and then abandoned. About 

 half of them were abandoned before they were 

 ever deeded to the homesteader. 



In the sale of the lands, the law requires 

 that they be "appraised," offered at public 

 sale, and then if left unsold, they may be sold 

 at private sale. The report shows that the 

 "appraisal" was a perfunctory business, and 

 that in some cases, the appraiser simply used 

 the assessment roll, and the report says "the 

 appraisal of land was and is generally inade- 

 quate and in most cases so far from the true 

 value of the land and timber that it seems 



doubtful if the appraiser ever actually visited 

 the land." 



The state evidently sold "cat in the poke" 

 fashion. What this led to is illustrated by the 

 following: The N. E. *4 of Sect. 22, T. 35 N., 

 R. 1 E. was sold at $1 per acre, though there 

 was over $4,436 worth of timber, and the land 

 and timber together was worth about $30 per 

 acre instead of $1. 



How this has resulted in the organization 

 of land dealers and in loss to the State is fully 

 set forth. The State Land Office sold during 

 the last six years about 949,000 acres of land 

 and received an average price of 108 cents 

 per acre. 



The commission in its investigation "sam- 

 pled" these sales in eleven counties and found 

 the following: 



Area of land examined, 21,455 acres. 



This was sold by State at $ 31,777 



This area of land was found worth: 



For timber merchantable $158,610 



For land itself 91,916 



Total $250,526 



On these 21,45 acres, then, the State lost 

 over $200,000. 



If this is a good sample, and there is no 

 reason to doubt it, the State in selling the 

 949,000 acres of land lost during these six 

 years over nine million dollars. In this loss 

 the small or young growth is not reckoned; 

 but this young growth could not be put on 

 these lands for $10 per acre, so that on this 

 score there is an additional loss. 



But these money losses do not tell the 

 entire story. As is pointed out, the present 

 policy has failed otherwise: 



1. It has favored speculators as against 

 actual settlers. 



2. It has led to land monopoly so that in 

 one county over half of all the land now be- 

 longs to a syndicate centered in Chicago. 



3. It has not settled the lands, for 95 per 

 cent of all lands in this part of the State are 

 unimproved, and over 85 per cent not settled. 



4. It has lost to the State the control over 

 important watersheds and water powers, 

 growth, but has resulted in further forest 

 devastation. 



6. It has developed contempt for these 

 lands and has thus encouraged firing and other 

 vandalism and trespass, much to the harm of 

 the people and the owners of private lands. 



The chapter dealing with the opinions re- 

 garding the value of these lands is most inter- 

 esting. The following are a few illustrations: 



Profit for Speculators vs. Reserve Minimum 

 Price. 



"I have prepared and am sending you plats 

 showing the lands (between 17,000 and 18,000 

 acres, purchased at prices from fifty cents to 

 two dollars, the top price paid for one eighty- 

 acre parcel; the average price paid per acre 

 was eighty-six cents), purchased in the name 

 of Myrtle E. Hellen, of Chicago, Illinois. 

 These lands are situated in Roscommon and 

 Crawford counties, with one purchase in Mus- 

 kegon county. The lands in Roscommon and 

 Crawford counties are being exploited by the 

 'Michigan Central Park Company' and are be- 

 ing sold, so I understand, at a uniform price 

 of $12 per acre. The purchasers are laboring 



