THE STATE RE\TE\V. 



The Month in the State. 



Elections in Michigan. 



The elections in Michigan developed nothing 

 unexpected in the matter of a choice of state 

 officer-. Indeed, in the larger cities the local 

 issue- were such as to almost wholly overshadow 

 the interest in the state and county candidates 

 ind policies. In Detroit the supreme issue was 

 that in which the future relations of the Street 

 Railway Company and the city were concerned, 

 ement having been presented by Mayor 

 o the public for consideration which pro- 

 vided for lower fares, increa-ed taxation of the 

 ailwav lines and extensions of franchises to the 

 late at which the latest present franchise ex- 

 I'he agreement, itself, seemed upon first 

 ation to be far and away the best thing 

 hat could be doile to straighten out the tangled 

 Delations between the city of Detroit and the 

 Street Railway Company and to provide for 

 ry extensions which the existence of the 

 Xjptroversy during the last ten years has pre- 

 ented. However, the measure was made a po- 

 itical foot-ball, the Democratic candidate making 

 ppo-ition to it his princ'pal issue. All the daily 

 lew-papers except the Detroit Free Press opposed 

 he adoption of the measure for various reasons 

 : md the result of the election was adverse to its 

 tpproval. Out of something like 70,000 votes 

 egistered in the city of Detroit, about 14,000 

 oted affirmatively on the franchise and 28,000 

 id\ci-ely to it, the remaining 28,000 voters fail- 

 iig to express themselves upon the subject at 

 .11. This leaves the street railway question in 

 tie position in which it has been for some 

 in Detroit, with the exception that the 

 lorough stirring-tip which the discussion has re- 

 ived during the three months preceding the 

 ection has revived interest in it as a source of 

 ntroversy and the advent of the new adminis- 

 ition will probably witness the resumption of 

 >en warfare upon the subject. 



True, he is not above resorting to the finer arts ! counsel, has not made clear whom he favors for 

 of the demagogue and he stands peculiarly for j the Senatorship if, indeed, he favors any of the 

 the open town theory of municipal government, more prominent candidates now before the public. 

 Mayor Lee was elected upon the converse of the | It is a certainty that he has not as yet committed 

 open-town proposition, and in the contest between himself to the candidacy of Mr. McMillan, al- 

 himself and ex-Mayor liauni an excellent oppor- j though desperate efforts have been made in the 



In Grand Rapids the issue was upon the ques- 

 of Sunday theaters and the non-partisan 

 unicipal ballot. The advocates of Sunday- 

 eater- won out despite strenuous opposition. 

 he voters of the city registered themselves as 

 ing in favor of a non-partisan ballot. This 

 ie. not necessarily involve the exclusion of po- 

 ical parties from making nominations for of- 

 ~e. but does involve, if the measure be given 

 jal effect, the placing of the names of all can- 

 date- under the title of the office for which 

 ey are running, without any designation of their 

 'litical affiliations. Such a system would entail 

 e utmost care in the selection on the part of 

 e voter when making his choice, and it seems 



be primarily intended to minimize the influence 

 on candidates for municipal office of the body 



illiterate and unintelligent voters who may be 

 structed to make a cross at the head of the 

 cket and thereby blindly vote for all of the can- 

 ui:on the party ticket. Whether or not 

 e proposed reform will become effective is 

 oblemat'cal. and only when it does become ef- 

 ctive will it be possible to determine its full 

 llue. 



In Sa.ainaw. the third city of the state in point 

 size and importance, the election turned upon 

 ndidates rather than issues. Wm. B. Baum, 

 ho has been, for time out of mind. Mayor of 

 e city of Saginaw. both while it was East Sagi- 

 iw and since the union of the two cities into 

 le. wis a candidate against Mayor Henry K. 

 ee. who had occupied the office of Mayor for a 

 lr term. Of. Mr. Baum it may be said that 

 ithoiu regard to his political affiliations, or his 

 ?culiar doctrines concerning liberal government, 

 is the best lilted man in Michigan for the oc- 

 Apancy of a Mayoralty. His conduct of the 

 u'ncil in the city of Saginaw during all the years 

 which he has been Mayor, his oversight of 

 ty work and his general attention to the public 

 isinc-s, have demonstrated this fact to a nicety. 



ers have found by experiment that timber is the 

 only profitable crop that can be grown there. 



"There are nearly 4.000.000 acres of unim- 

 proved lands in the settled portion of lower Mich- 

 igan. Of the northern peninsula only 5 per cent is 

 cultivated. Twenty million acres of the state are 

 woods or waste lands. When it is realized that 

 lumber is being brought into the state now from 

 the Pacific coast at a cost for freight per car of 

 $350, and that supplies are also brought from the 

 south, the importance of utilizing the waste lands 

 is evident. 



"When farmers sell a farm in Michigan they 

 throw in the wood lot the most valuable part of 

 the farm. The state has not properly protected 

 the lumbermen in either life or property in the 

 forests. I see no way to stop their slaughter of 

 the forests they own, but the state can do much 

 on its own lands. 

 =^34^imn,,^W F 

 ative authority to issue bonds, the proceeds of 

 which were to pay for the new water supply from 

 certain springs, the advocates of which represent 

 them as being ample and uncontaminated. Battle 

 Creek is an ambitious city and has been seeking 

 to accomplish a number of public improvements, 

 varying all the way from building a new city hall 

 :o the municipal ownership of the gas works. 

 The Socialistic sentiment is rather highly de- 

 veloped in that city among its laboring classes, : 

 and a good deal of crankery has been, from time , 

 to time, given expression in connection with its > 

 municipal proposition. Certain opponents of the - 

 proposition with regard to the water works op- ] 

 pose the expenditure of the large sums of money s 

 intended to be applied to the getting of a new s 

 source of supply, on the ground that it would use t 

 up the credit of the city to such an extent as to - 

 make it unavailable for these other improvements < 

 and offset the arguments against the Goguac Lake ,. 

 supply by representing the possibility of filtering , 

 the water form that source. The opponents of 5 

 the measure were in the majority, and the city will s 

 now recur to Goguac Lake and a filtering plant 

 as a solution of its water supply difficulty. s 



A recent movement in the same city promises e 

 to develop something of interest. At present it is e 

 an uncredited proposition that the city shall be 

 reorganized upon the basis of a commercial cor- 

 poration and shall undertake, in that capacity, a 

 number of operations not usually undertaken by 

 cities. Just how far this commercial corporation 

 will go in competition with the municipal cor- 

 porations of the city, either by replacing or by 

 supplementing it, is not made clear by its pro- 

 ponents, but it is to be expected that the plan will 

 be developed in its details before long and made 

 the subject of legitimate criticism and consid- 

 eration, t 



The issues in the other cities of the state were 

 of the usual local and general order, and were not 

 such as to attract much attention outside the im- 

 mediate circle of citizens interested in their re- 

 sults. 



The Next Legislature. 



The selection of the legislature leaves the aver- 

 age student who is unfamiliar with the pledges 

 made by the various candidates quite as much in 

 the dark as he has ever been concerning the choice 

 of Senator to be made next January. It would 

 seem, but for one fact, that Mr. McMillan has a 

 majority of the representatives and senators-elect. 

 That one fact is the position in the game of Rail- 

 road Commissioner Atwood. Up to this time Mr. 

 Atwi .id, who has a habit of keeping his own 



desert, no matter how' forlorn, c'an'equai in ii'iei- 

 ancholy the man-made deserts of Michigan, and 

 at that time the thought occurred to me if it 

 would not be possible to give back to our state 

 our grand forests that had once clothed it with 

 its verdure. A closer investigation of the subject 

 brought me to realize that there were three im- 

 portant steps to be taken to make this possible. 

 First, to prevent our state from selling its lands, 

 and by this I mean such lands as are not suited 

 for agricultural purposes, at a minimum price of 

 let us say, $5 per acre. Arizona, Wyoming and 

 other western states, now have a minimum price 

 of $10 per acre on their lands, whereas ours are 

 advertised in magazines, etc., and offered at 

 prices ranging from 75 cents to $2.50 per acre. 

 With this minimum price for the ground, the 

 value of whatever timber remains on it to be 

 stimated and added to this price, would at least 

 ceep some of these lands in the hands of the state, 

 ir if they were sold an equitable price would be 

 eceivcd. The State of Michigan is now spending 

 for advertising and .clerk hire approximately 

 '165,000 ner year, and this expenditure results in 

 sale of an "average of $60,000 worth of lands. 

 STow I would propose that the money thus spent 

 >e utilized in reforestizing such lands in our state 

 as are unsuited for agricultural purposes. In 

 addition to this, the state should pass an equitable 

 tax bill ; as it is at present, the trees on the land 

 are counted as real estate and this feature of our 

 tax bill makes it prohibitive for rrivate persons 

 to reforest their lands. That reforestizing is 

 practical can best be seen by referring to the 

 older European countries. Frederick the Great 

 introduced the system in Germany, and this sys- 

 tem is practically the one in operation today. 

 While this is not the place to enter into a de- 

 tailed description of the modus operandi, the re- 

 sults will probably strike you forcibly. 

 Kinedom of Wurtemberg consists of about prac- 

 tically all of our Michigan so-called plains. Of 

 these" lands, 485,000 acres have been reforested. 

 The profits upon these 485,000 acres have been 

 in the last rear $2,450000. Now when you con- 

 sider that Michigan has about six million acres 

 which could be utilized in the same manner by a 

 very simple process of multiplication you will find 

 that an income of $25,000,000, or even $30,000,000, 

 is not beyond reason. 



Forestry Meeting. 



To the members of the Michigan Forestry As- 

 sociation and citizens interested in forestry: 

 first annual meeting of the Michigan Forestry As- 

 sociation is apoointed to be held in the audi- 

 torium of the Grand Rapids Board of Trade, in 

 the city of Grand Rapids, Mich., Tuesday and 

 Wednesday. November 27 and 28, 1906. Sessions 

 will be held on Tuesday at 10 a. m., 2 p. m. and 

 at 8 p. m. ; and on Wednesday at 9 a. m. Public 

 addresses by our best authorities will be given 

 at these sessions on different aspects of the Mich- 

 igan Forestry Problem. 



You are cordially invited to attend the meet- 

 ings and encourage, by your presence, the move- 

 ment for the adoption by this State of an intelli- 

 gent and comprehensive state policy in forestry. 



The regular business meeting of the associa- 

 tion will be held on Wednesday morning, at which 

 time formal action will be taken upon the recom- 

 mendations of the standing committees of the 

 association, and the election of officers for the 

 ensuing year. 



Come, and bring one or more friends we need 

 your help ! 



Send your name immediately to Mr. John Ihl- 

 der, of Grand Rapids, so that he can make the 

 necessary arrangements for your stay. 



HENRY G. STEVENS, 



JOHN H. BISSELL, Secretary. 



President. 



