MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS 



15 



PUBLIC DOMAIN COMMISSION. 



IK termined to carry en the policies inti- 

 tuled when the Public Domain Comn 



Created b ', of the legislature two 



. and to enlarge e of their 



w. rk and increase their lieid of operation, the 

 member- of the commisi-icn voted to ask the 

 -lature for an appropriation of $50.- 

 ^iid secure authority to make the Public 

 Domain Commission an immigration commis- 

 sion with power to appoint an immigration 

 agent. 



Secretary A. C. Carton pointed out that by 

 working as an immigration commission, the 

 state officials would be in an excellent position 

 to assist in the development and reforestation 

 of the lands in the IK rthern part of the state. 

 "It \i r idea to reforest lands that are 



suitable for agriculture." said Secretary Car- 

 ton, "but we hope to prevent the state from 

 :;ing barren of all timber by planting 



il that is not tit for tilling." 

 It was decided to ask the legislature to fur- 

 ther increase the -c>;pe of the operati< 

 the Public Domain Commission by vesting it 

 with authority to exchange land with the 

 (1 States government or individual land 

 owners. There are various pieces of property 

 adjacent to some of the state forestry re- 

 serves that the commis-ion would like to se- 

 cure in exchange for lands in other sections 

 of the state, but under the present law. it is 

 impossible to consolidate the reserve by the 

 exchange system. The legislature wi! 

 be asked to grant the commission authority to 

 contribute a portion of the highway and school 

 taxes in the county where the reserves are 

 located. 



Secretary of State Martindale. Auditor-Gen- 

 eral Fuller and Deputy Larid Commissioner 

 ton compose the committee on legis- 

 lation and these members will redraft the 

 Public Domain Commission act for presenta- 

 tion to the legislature. \\Tliam Kelley. Julius 

 Real and A. C. Carton will compile the 

 annual report for the legislature. 



1-e present time there are 35 forestry 



ns in the various northern counties 



of the state. With the exception of the re- 



ns lake and the cne at Hough- 



e of the reserves are equipped 



with proper protection against fire, and at 



of A. J. Dougherty, state for- 



Marcus Schaaf will be instructed to 



make an investigation and estimate the cost 



nipping the other reserves with suitable 



protection against forest fires. 



"(i(): .\li-M--ippi third. 2.57:;.<H!0.' 

 ina fourth -' - BO; Arkan-a- fifth, 



2.I11.0UU.OUO: Virginia sixth. 2.]i>2.i>00,000: 

 Tcxa- seventh. -I.099.000.000, and Wisconsin 

 eighth, with In 1907 16 state- 



cut more than l.OOU.tKl- each, ai 



changes in the industry that have taken place 

 since then are indicated by the entrance of 

 Georgia. Tennessee and Florida into the more 

 than 1,000.000.000 feet class; by Mississippi's 

 taking the place of Texas and by Wisconsin, 

 ranked fifth in 1907. taking eighth place in 

 1909 and being ranked by North Carolina, Ar- 

 kansas and Virginia. 



STILL ENOUGH TIMBER. 



_Much pessimistic matter has been written 

 late years concerning the waste of the 

 country's timber, and. in fact, the figures print- 

 showing- the enormous cut each year are 

 startling. This has given rise to the modern 

 TV movement, by which the government 

 is trying to conserve the country's timber re- 

 scurces for the future. 



But the situation is not as had as it looks 

 t is not comparable to the destruction of the 

 coal beds which is going on at so extravagant 

 rate, for every pound of coal .burned has 

 reduced a supply that is not being replaced 

 but the forests are wonderfully reproductive 

 i spite of the wasteful lumber industry and 

 the vast destruction by fires, there is 

 plenty of timber, and the seeming paradox 

 prevails that some of the oldest lumbering 

 states are Mill among the best producers 

 Maine, for instance, has been a lumber pro- 

 ducer tor 300 years, yet in 1909 it was the 

 'i"* '" volume of production, furnishing 

 1.112.000.000 teet of the lumber supplv of the 

 country Pennsylvania produced 1.500.000000 

 teet. and other old states large on the 'list 

 were North Carolina. Virginia. Georgia and 

 ida. Another hopeful side of the situation 

 that in the building industries, especially in 

 large cit.es. concrete and steel are rapidly 

 sunolanting wood. 



Of the nineteen states cutting more than 

 U.OOOno.000 feet in ,909. 11 were sotnhern 



,!nn 8 -' ed r he """try with a cut of 

 3,863.000,000 leet, Louisiana being second with 



FOREST LEGISLATION NEEDED. 



Michigan is. very backward in forest legisla- 

 tion. During it- coming session Wisconsin's 

 legislature will enact laws which will give 

 the standing timber of the state adequate 

 protection, thereby setting an example for 

 Michigan and Minnes< ta. The Wisconsin in- 

 terests are now preparing a bill which will im- 

 pose a tax of two-tenths of one mill on the 

 -ed valuation of the state. The money 

 realized by thi- ' be expended in caring 



for the -tate's forest reserves, buying additions 

 to them and in supporting an active forest 

 patrol. For this latter purpose it is intended 

 to appropriate $250,000 a year. 



The Michigan la- ;>ut $10.000 a year 



for the protection of the forests of the whole 

 state. 



This legislation in Wisconsin is recommend- 

 ed by legislators, members of the public do- 

 main commission and by the big lumber in- 

 terests and it seems certain of passage. 



The Northern F. rest Protective Association, 

 which was organized recently at Marquette. 

 is formed partly for the purpose of promoting 

 legislation for the prrtectkn of standing tim- 

 ber. It will attempt to secure from the Michi- 

 gan legislature a forest patrol such as the pro- 

 posed bill in Wisconsin will establish. The 

 Wi-consin plan is to establish a forest patrol 

 for the northern twenty-two counties of the 

 state. Each county will have not less than 

 ten patrolmen and as high as thirty and no 

 one man will be expected to patrol more 

 than 40,000 acres. 



The forest fires in the last two years in the 

 northern lake states have convinced state of- 

 ficials of the wisdom of protective measures. 

 Governor Eberhart of Minnesota has stated 

 that in Minnesota the present year 



would have paid for forest protection the next 

 fifteen years, based on the less to the state 

 through them. 



There are vet about 5,000.000 acres of stand- 

 ing timber in the upper peninsula and the 

 stumpage is worth on an average $2.50 an 

 acre. The timber manufacturer expends to 

 cut this timber $10 an acre for supplies and 

 labor, making the ccst per acre $12.50. of which 

 the merchants and manufacturers and labor- 

 ing men of the state receive $10. 



The Northern Forest. Protective Association 

 recently organized at Marqt-ette now has .-> 

 membership representing 2,000,000 acres of 

 standing timber, mixed pine and othe- 

 woods and hardwood. It will, according to 

 President Green, have a membership repre- 

 senting 4.000.000 acres by next spring. These 

 interests want their forests protected and will 

 have representatives at the Michigan legisla- 

 ture this winter to show that body the eco- 

 nomic value of legislation and appropriation 

 to that end.. 



NOTABLE TREES OF AN ENGLISH 

 GARDEN 



It is a considerable distinction for a garden 

 !o possess x the finest specimen in the kingdom 

 of even one kind of tree, but Claremont has 

 within its boundaries four or five for which 

 precedence may be claimed over all others 

 of the same species in the British Isles. Clare- 

 mont. a? is generally known, is now the resi- 

 dence of the Duchess of Albany. 



Gymnocladus canadensis (Kentucky coffee 

 tree) is represented by the finest specimen in 

 the British Isles. It is over 60 feet high, and 

 its trunk is seven feet in girth. Sassafras offi- 



cina'e. with a trunk girthing seven feet two 

 inches and heigh; of about 50 feet, is the 

 me specimen in the kingdom. Magn<:lia 

 macrophylia, whose extraordinary leaves are 

 often two feet to two and a half feet long and 

 nine inches or ten inches wide, 40 to 4-5 feet 

 high and the trunk two feet eleven inches in 

 girth. This tree is exceedingly rare in Britain, 

 and no other approaches these dimensicns. A 

 specimen of redwood (Sequoia semperviens) 

 is over 100 feet high and its trunk is 13 feet 

 seven inches in girth, clothed from base to 

 summit with branches and forming a slender 

 pyramid. These four trees are unrivaled in 

 our islands. From the Kew Bulletin. 



OWNERSHIPS OF WATERPOWER 



The following letter is of .interest to all and 

 fully shows how much the people are inter- 

 ested in cur great economic questions: 



With recent water power development there 

 has arisen a situation which should interest 

 vitally every woman in the United States all 

 women alike; those who deem themselves 

 rich. tho?e who live on moderate incomes, and 

 the large army of women who earn a small 

 daily wages, for it concerns the cost of living. 

 We" must have food, clothing, heat and light, 

 in order to exist. Soon the water powers are 

 to provide us with all these essentials, hence 

 the importance of a thorough understanding 

 of what this development is going to mean 

 to every individual housekeeper. It is said 

 that only about one-fourth of the coal now 

 used will be needed in the near future. 



Men who 'stand as authority on questions 

 concerning electrical engineering prophesy 

 that within ten years all necessaries, as well 

 as numerous labor-saving machines, will be 

 produced through waterpower development 

 "white coal." 



Wherever a river exists, science will har- 



to a dynamo. No Aladdin's lamp could 

 perform such magical results as will science 

 when she applies her magician's wand to pro- 

 duce electricity. 



When the times comes for construction of 

 a ? eries of dams en each river with large 

 power stations providing electrical energy in 

 a radius of frcm 100 to 200 miles, it is very 

 evident that large amounts of capital will be 

 required to carry on this work. -The question 

 immediately arises whether these rivers, which 

 are ours by divine right, shall be handed 

 in perpetuity to a few corporations who will 

 then have the privilege of dictating to nearly- 

 one hundred million people, the prices of 

 food, clothing, etc., with the power to reduce 

 the wage-earner's salary to the lowest possible 

 sum en which he can exist; or. should these 

 rivers and potential power sites be controlled 

 by the Federal Government and leased to 

 moneyed interests under reasonable contracts 

 so that it would be within the power of the 

 people at any time that they feel that these 

 interests are abusing their privileges, to force 

 them to reasonable terms. 



A favorite argument of the moneyed inter- 

 ests is to the effect that in order to invest 

 their money for development purposes, they 

 must forever own the water power sites 

 t're contrary, once they cwn these power sites. 

 we lose all power to force their development, 

 nor can we regulate the cost of food and 

 clothing, nor protect ourselves, against any 

 abuse they are minded to inflict upon us. 

 Switzerland and France, who lead the world 

 in water power development, have placed their 

 power sites under government control. Thi- 

 works well for individual manufacturers and 

 the people generally. 



At present ' [ erning po\ver -iu- are 



inadequate to protect the people's interests. 

 The cn'y remedy for this lies in a sweeping 

 public opinion which will fnn - 

 enact siich laws as will meet the present situ- 

 ation. Such an opinion can onlv be created 

 'nfluence. Something must 



he doire. rind close immediately or this ques- 

 will be beyond our control. 



- wirter there are several hills up before 



which. will 



place great b'ocks of power site.- in the hands 



