10 



THE STATE REVIEW. 



other land similar in quality and situation is 

 valued; totally dissevered from its production; 

 with ;i fixed average rate of taxation for local 

 purposes, and with a substantial modification 

 of that rate for state purposes. This rule to be 

 applied to true forest lands, which must be ex- 

 plicitly defined. 



"Second The farm wood-lot. 



"For the farm wood-lot the rule should be: 

 A fair and equitable assessment of the land, 

 i. e.. a- bare or wild land, just as other land 

 similar in quality and situation is valued, with- 

 out reference to its crop: having a separate 

 assessment for the' wood-lot, from the rest of 

 the farm; the rate of taxation to be a fair, 

 fixed average; and under explicitly defined 

 limitations as to use or treatment of the land. 



"In both cases there should be a right of ap- 

 peal from the town board to the state tax com- 

 mission, or some other general state authority 

 with the right of revision. 



"Third State lands. 



"All lands set aside by the state as forest re- 

 serves should be assessed on the same equita- 

 ble basis as provided for forest lands, with a 

 fixed average rate of taxation for local pur- 

 poses, and all state lands withdrawn from 

 homestead entry and sale should contribute to 

 the maintenance of county and town at a fair, 

 fixed assessment value and a fair, fixed rate. 



"Under the policy here advocated, if it is 

 broad enough to accomplish the gradual re- 

 foresting of what are now waste and aban- 

 doned lands, there will be a restoration of such 

 lands to the tax-paying lists, most of which 

 are not n^w paying taxes for any purpose, lo- 

 cal or state. 



"It is only on such a basis that the people 

 of the state can bear their fair share of the 

 cost of a comprehensive forest policy, which, 

 we all agree, is the most urgent of the eco- 

 nomic problems now confronting this state, 

 and demanding the thought and intelligent ac- 

 tion of the state's best citizenship." 



Discussion of Mr. Bissell's Paper. 



Mr. Garfield "We hear people say so many 

 times that they would make investments in 

 forest culture for sentimental reasons, if for 

 no other, if this taxation question could be 

 properly adjusted." 



Mr. Loud "A lumberman having 50,000 

 acres of timber land, worth, say, $1 an acre, 

 would be quite willing to crop 1,000 acres at a 

 time and plant it again, under reasonable taxa- 

 tion laws, but he will not endure being taxed 

 49 times before he can crop his holdings. For- 

 est trees, being a growing crop, are not prop- 

 erly assessable until harvested." 



E. A. Wildey, of Paw Paw, former state land 

 commissioner "I believe there is honest in- 

 tent on the part of the legislators to do what 

 is right. The Almighty has for centuries been 

 preparing the forests for the lumbermen. Now 

 the trees are gone a'nd conditions have 

 changed." 



J. J. Hubbell of Manistce, followed and, 

 speaking out of long experience in connection 

 with timber and the taxation problem, his 

 words were very helpful and meaty, lie said: 

 "I am sorry that I did not arrive in time to 

 hear all of President Rissell's paper, but his 

 conclusions seemed very well taken. It is 

 more difficult to adjust properly the tax assess- 

 ment on timber ready for the axe than on 

 young trees. For instance, up in the (irand 

 Traverse region Hannah, Lay & Co. bought a 

 large tract of pine some years ago, paying $1. :.'."> 

 an acre, then sold it to John Torrent at a big 

 profit. Mr. Tor nt kept the timber tr.-n t a 

 few years then s, >i,i it to Mr. Filer, of Manis- 

 lee, for about $:;(l(l.o(i:i. and Filer in time dis- 

 pos, () of it for about $900,000. Now we are up 

 to the man who cut it off. He didn't get the 

 timber for $l.'!."> an acre, but he made money 

 in the deal, just as the previous owners had 



dune. Ti: live owners all paid taxes 



on the timber tract and never complained about 

 it a bit. 



"Here i-. an illustration of the way it works; 

 A lumberman has a valuable tract of timber. 

 The assessor comes round and puts it on tin- 



tax roll, estimating, we will say, a tree worth 

 $10 standing. After paying taxes awhile the 

 owner figures that by cutting it off, or by put- 

 ting $10 expense per tree with it. and selling 

 the tree cut into lumber for $;i5, lie can make 

 a good profit. So lie does this and invests his 

 money in soul hern timber, or out on the Paci- 

 lic coast. Lumbermen owning standing timber 

 are, as a rule, complaining the least about their 

 taxes. The problem is not now to save the 

 old trees, for they are doomed and must go, 

 but what to do to reproduce them. There is 

 no justice in asking the lumbermen to put the 

 trees back, as some people are doing. But 

 something must be done in the way of chang- 

 ing the taxation laws, and I can see no better 

 plan than the one suggested by Mr. Missell." 



Congressman Win. Alden Smith "I feel 

 sure that there is virtue in reforesting the 

 waste lands of the state, and that this is a gen- 

 eral work of public concern. You have a duty 

 before you in the way of educating the people 

 and bringing about reform. The children 

 should be brought up to reverence the tree. 

 When President McKinley lay on his dying 

 bed in the Milburn home in Buffalo, he asked 

 the attendants to part the curtains at the win- 

 dow a little so that he might look out on the 

 trees." 



Prof. Roth "I think that Mr. Hubbell has 

 well pointed out the difficulties that stand in 

 the way of just taxation of forest lands. But 

 the proposition is this we have s, mm, oo; acres 

 of land in the northern part of the state that 

 we can confiscate out of existence, or we can 

 help the owners to do something with them. 

 If, instead ot confiscating the lumberman's 

 property once in 10 years, we are able to 

 sure him quite a profit out of his holdings by 

 handling the timber crop in a rational way, we 

 can rest assured that quite a large proportion 

 of the forests remaining will be saved, instead 

 of being cut off slick and clean. To neglect 

 the 8,000,000 acres of lands means the end of 

 the woods in Michigan, and then the little 

 pines that are being set out will be mighty 

 small potatoes." 



Mr. Loud "The valley of the Jordan was 

 once the garden of Cleopatra and Palestine 

 was a luxuriant country until the Turk put a 

 tax on the tree. Now it's a God-forsaken coun- 

 try, dried out, treeless, desolate and dead." 



The Final Session. 



EVERYBODY SAYS GOOD WORD FOR THE 

 FORESTRY MOVEMENT. 



Messrs. Bissell, Roth, Hubbell, Mulford and 

 Garfield delivered short addresses on forestry 

 matters at the Central High school, the talks 

 being given to live different audiences of wide- 

 awake, enthusiastic students. 



The final session of the convention opened 

 at 0:30 o'clock and President Bissell called on 

 Hon. Huntley Russell, state senator from 

 Grand Rapids, for a talk. 



The senator wished to be excused, saying 

 that he could add nothing to what had already 

 been said, and that he was in attendance to get 

 points. 



"I think that I voice the sentiment of this 

 convention," said Prof. Roth, "when I say that 

 we are delighted to have Senator Russell with 

 us so faithfully." 



"( >ne ot our grave-t dangers in thi> forestry 

 work." said the Rev. F. P. Arthur, "is fire, and 

 I think that the supervisors, in whose hands 

 the authority in these matters largely rests, 

 ought to receive encouragement and support. 

 This lire menace would In' practically taken 

 care of if the supervisors understood their bus- 

 iness. 



"Then we must not forget the boys and girls, 

 who are our recruits in this work. The country 

 school houses which are dotted thickly over 

 the slate seem to oiler a great field. Person- 

 ally I am very much interested in the siu 

 of tlm movement, and am pleased at the prog- 

 ress ,,f the state and the United States already 

 made." 



Mr. Campbell's Loyalty. 



Representative-elect Colin P. Campbell, i 

 (Irand Rapids, followed with a ringing addre 

 that tilled the members of the convention wii 

 hope regarding the needed legislation at I.an 

 ing. 



"3 am with the forestry association from b 

 ginning to end," he declared, "and will sitppo 

 any reasonable measure that you may intr 

 (luce. I have given considerable attention 

 the problems of reforestation and lire prole 

 tion, and have always fell iliat the plantir 

 and culture of trees is a subject that the \>e< 

 pie ought to have at heart. We have Ian 

 areas of land in the stale that are not f 

 physically or chemically, for agriculture-. Mic 

 igan should take the lead in forestry matter 

 and the time to begin is now. It seem 

 that the emphasis should be placed on prote 

 tion from fires and that any legislative nu-asu 

 introduced ought to be along that line." 



In reply to a question by Prof. Roth, A' 

 Campbell staled that be believed the sta 

 should take these protective measures in ban 

 rather than individuals. 



Prof. Roth "I think that we may well co: 

 gratulate Grand Rapids for sending such a mi 

 as Mr. Campbell to the legislature." 



Continuing. Prof. Roth called attention i 

 the fact that if a man raises III acres of tinibi 

 lie has the stumpage for his investment, and. 

 that is enough, all right, while 

 hand the state has alto- 

 lerest in its timber. He said that Dr. 

 had pointed out the correct idea of the indire 

 benefit accruing to the state from cutting c 

 a crop of timber, which is \vorlh as much 

 the timber itself, in furnishing labor in th 

 neighborhood, protecting it from the i 1 

 ot importing timber, etc. 



Senator Russell "I am, and always h 

 been favorable to the reforestation plan, 

 was appointed on the fore-liy committee t 

 years ago in the senate, and while 

 had many discussions, nothing in tin- way 

 action has taken tangible form as yet." 



Prof. Roth gave a further word of enci 

 agenicnt in the announcement that he had 

 ceived a telephone message from Art 

 Holmes, of Detroit, secretary of the Michig 

 Retail Lumber Dealers' Association, who 1 

 expressed sincere regrets that he had been 

 able to attend the forestry meeting, lie sta 

 that the retailers' association was thonuig 

 in sympathy with the movement, and asl 

 that the (irand Rapids convention select a r 

 rcsentative to attend the- annual me 

 the retail lumbermen, to be held in 1) 

 February. 



Raise Trees for Grandchildren. 



John Wilde, a farmer of Coopersville. s 

 lie believed that people could afford to ra: 



<>r their great grandchildren, and he 

 plored the inclination of the people to look 

 i ::,- dollar so much. 



Prof. Roth applauded the sentiment, 

 great things in the world." he said, "have i 

 been done lor money but through high idea 

 The world moves by its ideals. The i 

 money is like boys' play." 



Mr. Garticld announced the rcc< 

 ter from I. M. Smith, of Marcellus. re 

 bis inability to be present and expressing t 

 hope that he might get a full rcpori ol t 

 meeting. Mr. Garfield stated that the I 7 orei 

 Commission would issue a brochure \\ ; 

 plete proceedings, which would be given I 

 widest distribution possible. 



Brief allusion was also made by Mr 

 to the great work of Col.^l.owdcn in seiti 

 out while pine plantations on the Pullman- 

 tales at Oregon, 111. C'ol. I.owden has recen 

 been elected to congress, and he writes J 

 Garfield that he realixes it is a step down ffl 

 forestry to congress, but be hopes to return 

 his old lo\ e later. 



Representative.-elecl Campbell "I don't 



lieve I he time is at hand now for the farmers 

 plant wooil lots, but il is coming." 



President Bissell "The association is dot 

 all it can to promote wood-lot forestry." 



