MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS 



11 



BIG DEMAND FOR TREES. 



"We are all gratified, although surprised, 

 at the prompt request for reforestation stock 

 from all over the state in response to our 

 proffer of seedlings from the state reserve," 

 says Secretary A. C. Carton, of the Public 

 Domain Commission. "Everybody seems in- 

 terested, as the orders come from professional 

 men and business men as well as farmers, and 

 from all sections of the state." 



Mr. Carton referred to the proffer made by 

 the commission of 2,000,000 spruce, pine and 

 cedar seedlings from the 4.000,000 miniature 

 trees which have been grown on the state's 

 huge reforestation reserve in Crawford and 

 Roscommon counties. The prices range from 

 #l.:.o to $4 per thousand, according to the 

 species and age of the seedlings, and these 

 prices are so far below the listed prices of 

 nurseries that there is no comparison, the 

 dealers in most instances quoting prices per 

 hundred trees that are higher than the state 

 charges by the thousand. 



This is to be an annual event in the future, 

 the commission having the growth of these 

 little trees under way in a system that will 

 provide for an inexhaustible supply. Aside 

 from supplying the landowners of the state, 

 the commission will use many hundred thou- 

 sand trees on the reservation, and the whole 

 project which has attracted so much attention 

 seems to be well under way. 



There is another phase of activity by the 

 commission which is equally well under way, 

 and that is in regard to reaching a basis of 

 understanding with the people of the upper 

 section of the state by which there will be 

 co-operation in opening up all that section 

 and developing its resources as a productive 

 part of the state. 



"Sentiment up there has changed entirely," 

 says Mr. Carton. "The people used to view 

 the reforestation project as a direct attack 

 on them, but now they appreciate just what 

 the state is doing in withdrawing these cheap 

 lands from sale. Previously the cheap lands 

 competed with the good, and the low price 

 of the poor land made it difficult to sell the 

 good land at a fair price." 



In one way alone the state has done much 

 to bring about an era of good feeling, and 

 that is in paying local taxes on land taken for 

 forest reserves. The highway and school taxes 

 have been paid on the state reservation lying 

 in Crawford county, and Mr. Carton left 

 Thursday evening for a trip to Roscommon 

 county to pay the taxes on the reserve lying 

 in that county. 



This policy toward the upper country was 

 marked out by Secretary of State Martindale, 

 who is a member of the commission, in a 

 speech before the Northeastern Michigan De- 

 velopment Association last December in 

 which he suggested as a general plan for hand- 

 ling the state tax homestead lands, to embrace 

 the withdrawal from sale and reappraisal of 

 all land suitable for agricultural purposes. 

 placing thereon a higher value; the withdrawal 

 from the market of all lands unsuitable for 

 farming and their use for reforestation, and 

 the state pay the local tax on all lands placed 

 in reserves. Relative to the payment of local 

 taxes, Mr. Martindale urged that, in opening 

 state lands to settlement, roads and bridges 

 are a necessary adjunct and increase the value 

 of the lands. 



MUST SAVE THE FORESTS. 



Straight from the Adirondack^ to the Citv 

 Club in New York City came Forest. Fish 

 and Game Commissioner James S. Whipple. 

 and there in the stuffy clubhouse he discoursed 

 with enthusiasm on the dutv and necessity of 

 protecting New York state's trees. 



"We have 27 per cent of the whole water 

 power of the United States in New York 

 state," the commissioner exclaimed, "and it 

 is the more valuable if harnessed 1,000 lakes, 



A Typical Scene of Forest Devastation. 



100 streams. There are the balsam, fir, spruce, 

 pine and hemlock, the trees that purify the 

 air, and there is not a blast of air blowing 

 across the Adirondacks that has a malevolent 

 germ in it, so far as known. And when it 

 is remembered that there are 55,000 victims 

 of the white plague in this state, and that 

 9,000,000 people from other states are within 

 twenty-four hours of this region, it is plain 

 to be seen that the people of New York state 

 could do a great work if they bent their ener- 

 gies to the protection of the forests for that 

 purpose alone. 



"It requires fifteen acres of this woodland 

 to supply the paper for a single Sunday edi- 

 tion of a big New York newspaper alone, and 

 we are using for all purposes 55,000.000,000 

 board feet of lumber every year. In every 

 school of the state the rudiments of forestry 

 should be taught and every child should espe- 

 cially be taught the danger from fire. A single 

 match dropped in any one of a million places 

 in the Adirondacks may produce $1,000, $5,000. 

 $500,000 fire damage. 



"Without trees in the state of New York 

 you cannot have running water constantly in 

 this city. You are spending $162,000.000 for 

 a new water supply and not a dollar for pre- 

 serving the sources of that supply. All the 

 mountain tops are right now being denuded 

 where the land is held in private ownership. 



"The Esopus river last summer didn't have 

 a drop of water running into it, and that is 

 where your chief supply is to come from. The 

 Mohawk, once a mighty stream, last August 

 was a rivulet, and the poet, had he lived, 

 would have been ashamed to think that he had 

 ever thought it a subject for poetry. And all 

 because the storage reservoir of nature, the 

 forests, has been destroyed. 



"All the people of New York ought to plant 

 trees. Why shouldn't I have 500 acres to 

 plant trees? If the water sources fail, the fish 

 supply will fail and three-fourths of the enor- 

 mous consumption of fish for food here comes 

 from our own water courses. It is costing 

 $33 an acre to reforest France, and we can 

 do such work here for $8.50. 



"The wood supply of the country is going 

 at least five times faster than nature's 'repro- 

 duction. The people of the state of New 

 York and the state as such should plant for 

 many years, commencing now, at least 

 50.000.000 trees a year if we are safely to pro- 

 vide for the not distant future. The simple 

 statement of these facts will indicate how rap- 

 idly the forests are going and how soon we 

 shall be without any. What right have you 

 to bring children into the world to reap so dry 

 a heritage? You have none." 



TREE ORDINANCE AT GRAND RAPIDS. 

 The new tree ordinance at Grand Rapids 

 gives the park board authority over the space^ 

 between a man's lot and the street and thus' 

 insures the beauty of the street. That the 

 park board is not going to interfere where- 

 ever the owner has a mind and an eye for 

 good appearance is self-evident. Nevertheless, 

 every city should have an agent with power 

 to act in such cases, and this new ordinance 

 is a step in the right direction and worth 

 following. 



STOLE STATE'S TIMBER. 



Some time ago the state land department 

 investigated' complaints that had been received 

 of the cutting of large amounts of timber in 

 Alcona county, and secured sufficient evidence 

 against J. H. Hayes, a wealthy lumberman 

 of that county, to- warrant his arrest. 



The prosecuting attorney of the county, 

 however, was loath to issue a warrant until 

 he had further investigated the matter and 

 refused to comply with the request of the 

 land department. State Supervisor of Tres- 

 pass Munshaw took the matter up with the 

 attorney general's department and an attor- 

 ney from the department went in company 

 with Mr. Munshaw to Alcona county to in- 

 vestigate. They found conditions there suffi- 

 cient for the issuance of a warrant and yet 

 the prosecutor refused. 



The land department gives out the informa- 

 tion, however, that the prosecuting attorney 

 has been notified by the attorney general that 

 he has no option in the matter whatever and 

 must at once issue the warrant for the arrest 

 of Hayes. 



For some time past it has been hard work 

 for the state to secure a conviction of timber 

 thieves' in Alcona county, and it is intimated 

 that unless there is a radical change that there 

 is apt to be a new set of county officials at 

 Alcona. 



_ The same county has been without a jail 

 since 1905, and recently the attorney general 

 was forced to mandamus the board of super- 

 visors through the supreme court to compel 

 the board to take some action relative to the 

 erection of a jail. The supreme ccurt a short 

 time ago issued an order for the supervisors 

 to show cause why they should not build an- 

 other jail. 



The above report merely shows a very bad 

 condition of affairs in our state government. 

 We have gone on the principle of governing 

 by making laws and depending on the courts 

 to scare people into obedience and respect for 



