10 MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS 



that in this investigation I have been actuated dollars worth of coal now to be made at prices mon interest. A great deal can be accom- 



solely by a sense of public duty without the representing less than one dollar on the thousand plished by the schools of the upper peninsula, 



slightest prejudice for or against any person or dollars of actual commercial value? if the scholars are properly instructed in the 



persons interested. In such efforts as I have value of the standing green timber and in the 



made to protect the service in my charge from Secretary Roth's Comment. methods of preserving it for the future devel- 



the ravages of inordinate greed it has not been Jhe aboye items afe rathef timdy and indi . opment of the country. 



my custom to consider the station or power of catg hat {he Congress might profitably busy it- A lew minutes may profitably be given each 



the guilty; they all look alike to me, except that , { with investigating the j^d office affairs school day to the subject of fire and the pro- 



in my view the higher the offender the greater rather than frittering awa the time and effort tection of the standing green timber espe- 



the crime against society and law, because of the , indudi the forest service and all works cially along the highways, around the homes 



force and influence of the higher example. * irrelevant matter in this much noised in- and school grounds, and for windbreaks 



Thus Ethan Allen Hitchcock to Theodore vest j 8a ti O n whitewash exposed places, the protection of the small 



Roosevelt a little more than three years ago. ; green timber along the streams, their head- 



FOREST FIRE PROBLEM. waters and drainage districts. 



Our Lands, Forests and Coal. interesting naoer bv Wm G Mather In a timbered country like the upper penin- 



The people of the United States, represented < tere* S P*P er by VV er, are indined to , ook at the 



by the Federal Government, are the absolute own- . commercial value of timber as its only value. 



ers of about 173,000,000 acres of forest and for- The upper peninsula of .Michigan has in ))ut ag {he count develops we will all realize 



est land valued somewhere broadly at $1,500,000,- the past attracted much attention because of {hat the {rees we saye a , ong Qur h j ghways , 



000, says a Washington correspondent. The its extensive mining and lumbering operations. around Qur homes> sc hcols and shady groves 



present purpose of the government, approved by I; arming has received until recently, very here and there for jcnic grounds a i ong the 



Congress and by the country generally, is to little consideration. Ihe future developments, ])anks of gome of Qur favorite stream s, will 



hold and to develop this vast property for the however will be along agricultural and re- be of more ya]ue to us standing than they 



benefit of the owners. Any proposal to follow forestry lines because of the large areas ot can ibly be com mercially because of the 



the methods formerly employed, under which cut-over lands The coming of the farm is fact tha( . wg can , eaye jn them a heritage of 



these forests and the lands incidentally included a matter in which all of us have a common ugeful d tQ Qur children and children's 



with them would be turned over to private own- and personal interest. It brings in a people childrcn Let us all become active members 



ership at a price representing an infinitesimal who are more closely identified with the up- of the Upper Peninsula Tree Protective Asso- 



fraction of their -value, would encounter wide- building of the country. They have a pocket- ciation ;u]d d[) our t in this t patr i otic 



spread and emphatic denunciation. book interest in all matters pertaining to the work 



The system which is now in operation and is welfare of their communities, 



to be expanded as rapidly as possible includes In the passing of the timbered to the cleared 



the sale of timber, both standing and fallen, un- lands a condition, from every point of view OPTIMISTIC ON OUR LUMBER SUPPLY 

 der rules that will prevent waste and at prices the most serious, confronts us, namely: Thomas H. Shevlin of Minneapolis, one of 

 fair for the sawmill men who buy and for the if every man, woman and child in. the upper the largest lumber manufacturers and timber 

 American people, the actual owners and the peninsula can be brought to a full realization owners in the United States, is full of optim- 

 actual sellers. Fifty years ago such a system O f his or her personal interest in this forest ism in regard to the future of the American 

 might have been both undesirable and impos- fi re problem, the fire hazard can be reduced forest. He says it is "all rot" to get alarmed 

 sible, but the national attitude toward national t o a minimum. To bring each individual into over "cur disappearing forests." 

 property has undergone a material change. Much ac tion and make him or her a self-constituted "The fact is not generally appreciated that 

 of the public domain has been stolen from those fi re warden, who will at every opportunity the Government has a forest reserve of 

 whom Mr. Pinchot calls "the complacent victims use a ]] trl e means in his power to prevent 105,000,000 acres of land, much of which is 

 of plunderers," and more has been almost given ;illd put out f lre? j s the one thing to be accom- timbered," Mr. Shevlin added. "Through its 

 away. There no longer remains any sound pij s h e d. Public sentiment can do more to forestry department the Government proposes 

 reason for the disposal of public property at p rev ent fires than anything else, and this can cutting timber in a scientific fashion by fell- 

 nominal prices. There is every reason why the ] )e brought about when the people see that j ng only matured trees and burning the debris 

 present owners, the people of the country col- t h ey have a personal interest in the matter, and to patrol the forests against fire. 

 lectively, should receive a fair market value for ln t h e destruction of standing timber by fire "The example set by the Government for 

 stumpage, mineral lands or mineral rights and we sus t a in a loss that cannot be replaced in l arge private owners is being followed by 

 any other property belonging to them. a lifetime. The taxpayer is interested because private owners to a reasonable extent, but the 



The property of special and immediate inter- it ] essens t h e opportunity to sell his labor. Government is free from taxation, whereas the 



est is the Alaska coal land. On the basis oi The fisherman is interested because it has individual owner is heavily taxed in some 



expert reports it is apparent that under the laws a tendency to dry up the streams. The hunter parts of the United States, and to carry on 



as they now stand the price set on those vast de- is interested because it drives game out of business profitably he is compelled to cut tim- 



posits is less than one-tenth of 1 per -cent of their t h e country. We are all interested in making ber clean If laws are passed that land shall 



commercial value The sale of Western farm our part j cu i ar locality attractive, and what be taxed more lightly after a cutting has 



lands at nominal prices during the last half is mor e attractive than to have our highways been made owners can afford to follow the 



century is easily defensible. The premium of Hned with trees? This can be done by sav i ng Government's example to the letter. We can 



cheap land increased our population by millions the trees along the right of way The women go on cutting and still have a perpetual forest, 



and our national wealth by billions. No such in each township can with the ir potent influ- .. Th Unite(1 St ites last vear consumed 540 



argument can be advanced in connection with h , much in this direction for surelv r year consumed su 



the Alaska coal nronertv Cheao land save us u j -I on, lor . ely feet of ] um b e r per capita, against England's 



11inns of nronftetors laree and smafl bull ^ are Interested ln Caving a nice shaded 87 and Frari ce's 37. As we build more and 



millions of proprietors, large and small I t driveway into town. The man who comes of imperishable materials such as iron 



busy cities and gndironed an empire with rail- : t y i oca ij tv to KUV land to settle on will itenais, su 



7o-,rc TV.P Alast-a r-na1 hpHs ran Hr> Uttlp mnrp n y , , and cement, the consumption of lumber per 



ways. Ihe Alaska coal s can do little m . , ln fl uenc ed by the appearances of the high- . decrelse wn ii e the nrice of lumber 



than establish a mining camp within a limited f i oublic srounds The home ?, sewnne tne price < 



arpa Thpir sale at the now leeallv fixed nrice y ' , , " will increase and will in itself bring about a 



P* or school with trees is much more attractive decreased consumntion " 



o f $10 an acre would be equivalent to a public than without . How is it with our town de e - 



gift to individuals or to organizations of more , oda ? The highway commission, in laying . The . al j o statement may have been made 



than enough money to pay the national debt. ' d constr t ctin * highways, can easily !" ? od falth , and with good intentions, but it 



Two years ago Mr. Balhnger, then at the head selert tre tllat rqn JL saved alona the rtiriit 1S the very klnd of rot ' to use Mr " Shev ' 

 of the General Land Office, said of the coal of " av Hn's term, that has prevented our States and 

 land claimants: "In the securing of these lands nation from doing something to preserve their 

 the unscrupulous have not hesitated to resort to x " e lumberman, in cutting timber for the f orests . Mr. Shevlin is one of the very men 

 perjury and fraud, carrying their schemes of market, finds trees that he cannot use and who have helped to denude the Lake Region 

 fraud and corruption to such an extent as to 'eaves them standing. tor shade an orna- "townshipwise" and convert our forests into 

 amount to national scandal." It will be well for mental purposes they are just as good as any, uns i g htly cut and burned over wastelands by 

 the country if a thorough investigation of the :ind lf saved can be made to serve a very the millions of acres. When Massachusetts 

 scandal shall result in clearance of the entire useful purpose How many places can you cut more p i, le f rom her few abandoned pas- 

 area and establishment of those 12,000 square call to mind where the people would be glad Ulres than the entire pine cut of Michigan 

 miles of coal fields as a possesison of the Amer- to have such trees in their locality? They anl ounts to (see latest report of United States 

 ican people, etablished as are the 173,000,000 P ;i V out large sums of money and wait for government) the forest seems pretty well de- 

 acres of national forests. Under new laws con- y ars i r wh at we already have. Shall we str oyed, and it is not the friends of forestry 

 tracts could then be made with responsible in- allow these trees to be destroyed, when they w h o are talking "rot," but Mr. Shevlin and 

 dividuals or organizations under which the con- add so much to the value and attractiveness his kind, 

 tractors could make a satisfactory profit, while of our homes and the comfort and pleasure 



the people would receive a fair payment for the "f cur families? T he Chesbrough Lumber Company, of Em- 

 coal mined and removed. We have laws regarding forest fires. The erson, is using a log hauler for handling its 



The sale of public lands at nominal prices necessity, however, of harshly enforcing these logs. It has a five-mile haul to its mill at 



was an excellent investment. The conservation laws against those who are careless and ig- Emerson, and the hauler makes four trips a 



of a vast forest area is also an excellent invest- norant of them makes the careless violators day, averaging 150,000 feet a day. The mill 



ment. Is the sale of hundreds of millions of indifferent and ofttimes enemies to the com- cuts about 17,000,000 feet during the season. 



