10 



MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS. 



Michigan Forestry Association. 



The Michigan Forestry Association was organized in Grand Rapids August 30, 1905, having for its object the promotion of a rational system 

 of forestry in Michigan. The society is managed by the following roster of officers: President, John H. Bissell, of Detroit; Vice-President, R 

 Hanson, Grayling; Secretary, J. Fred Baker, Lansing; Treasurer, J. J. Hubbell, Manistee. Board of Directors Mrs. Francis King, Aima; Hon. 

 Arthur Hill, Saginaw; S. M. Lemon, Grand Rapids; H. N. Loud, Au Sable; Thos. B. Wyman, Munising; Prof. Filibert Roth, Ann Arbor. 



The State Forestry Commission Charles W. Garfield, Grand Rapids; Hon. W. B. Mershon, Saginaw; William H. Rose, Lansing. 



ANNUAL MEETING 



IMCH. FORESTRY ASSN. 



The annual meeting of the Michigan For- 

 estry Association to be held at Battle Creek, 

 Tuesday and Wednesday, Nov. 10 and 11, 

 promises to be the greatest in the history of 

 the association. It is hoped that the recent 

 calamity in Michigan through forest fires will 

 awaken the people of the state to the import- 

 ance of the work of the association, and that 

 its membership will grow to large proportions 

 in the next 12 months. The program will deal 

 to some extent with the forest fire problem. 

 A number of extremely interesting papers on 

 forestry will be road. The program follows: 



Tuesday, Nov. 10 Forenoon Session, 10 

 O'Clock. 



Chairman, J. H. Bissell, Detroit. 



Welcome by the City, Mayor D. H. Frazer. 



Answer by President, J. H. Bissell, Detroit. 



Forestry in Michigan Chas. W. Garfield, 

 Grand Rapids. 



What Forestry Can Do For Michigan W. 

 B. Mershon, Saginaw. 



Appointment of Committees and Reading of 

 Reports. 



Afternoon Session, 1:30 O'Clock, Chairman, C. 

 W. Garfield. 



Forest Fires and What They Have Done for 

 Michigan Prof. Filibert Roth, Ann Arbor. 



Origin .of Fires on Railway Right-of-Ways 

 J. J. Hubbell, Manistee. 



Forest Fires of 1906 and 1908 in the Upper 

 Peninsula T. B. Wyman, Munising. 



What the States, Counties and Towns Have 

 Done About Forest Fires. 



The Remedies for Forest Fires. General 

 discussion. 



The Question Box. 



Evening Session, 8 O'Clock. 



Illustrated Lecture on Forestry Represen- 

 tative of U. S. Forest Service. 



What Trees and Woods Do to Beautify 

 Our Land (illustrated) Dr. Geo. Burns, Ann 

 Arbor 

 Wednesday, Nov. 11 Forenoon Session, 9 



O'Clock Chairman, W. B. Mershon, 

 Saginaw. 



The State Land Question and What We Ex- 

 pect the Legislature to Do Chas. B. Blair, 

 Grand Rapids. 



Our Present Land Ta c System and What it 

 Has Done for the People Carl E. Schmidt, 

 Detroit. 



Lands and Forest Lands H. N. Loud, Au 

 Sable. 



Agriculture and Forestry, Both Have a 

 Place and Room in Our State Dr. J. W. 

 Beal, Lansing. 



The Aesthetic Side of Forestry Chas. E. 

 Barnes, Battle Creek. 

 Afternoon Session, 1:30 O'Clock Chairman, 



R. Hanson, Grayling. 



How Our Forests Are T^i;d and What For 

 Chas. W. Ward, DeWard. 



Forest Taxation in Canada Dr. B. E. Fer- 

 now, Toronto, Ont. 



Our Views on Taxation E. M. Griffith. 

 Madison, Wis. 



Lumbermen's View of Reforestation Ward. 

 Loud and Mershon. 



The Problem of the We ?oV>t Tasnn Wood- 

 man, Paw Paw, and Edw. VlHey. Paw Paw. 



Election of Officers and Reports of Commit- 

 tees. 

 The Question Box. 



Evening Session. 



Illustrated Lecture: How Our Forests Were 

 Destroyed, and What We Could Have Done 

 With Them Roth. 



A Glimpse into a South American Jungle 

 (illustrated) E. M. Brigham, Battle Creek. 



MICHIGAN ROBBED 



OF FOREST LANDS 



The report of the commission on tax and 

 forestry lands in Michigan, authorized by the 

 last legislature, has been submitted to Gover- 

 nor Warner. The report is sensational and 

 will undoubtedly cause a stir when the gover- 

 nor passes it on to the next legislature. Lax 

 business methods, disregard of existing laws 

 and even worse charges are laid against the 

 auditor general's office and that of the state 

 land commissioner. The report is an expose 

 of what are intimated as being at least profit- 

 able practices common to the exploitation and 

 sale of the state's domain by the land office. 

 The profit, however, is not shown to have 

 accrued to the state. Instead, some million 

 and a half dollars of expenditure in the audi- 

 tor general's office and a matter of some hun- 

 dreds of thousands of dollars alleged loss to 

 the state in the land commissioner's office are 

 dealt with in this report. 



The report says: 



"The loss to the state because of inadequate 

 or fraudulent appraisal aside from the loss 

 of $1,501,252 because of advertising and clerk 

 hire has been enormous. The 21,451 acres, 

 which it has only been possible to examine 

 because of the short time, show a loss to the 

 state of $10.20 per acre average. According 

 to the lists received from the land office, there 

 has been sold by the state, during the past 

 five or six years,, 882,000 acres. At tl\is aver- 

 age the loss to the state was $8,996,400. The 

 value of the timber alone was five times that 

 of the price obtained by the state for the land 

 and timber. In the ten years ending 1905, 

 these two items (advertising and extra help 

 in the auditor general's office) amounted to 

 $1,591,252. While there can be no doubt that 

 a certain amount of expenditure is necessary 

 to collect our taxes, the above sum, especially 

 in the advertisement of descriptions, seems ex- 

 orbitant beyond all measure." 



The report further says: "There is a mys- 

 terious relationship between speculators in 

 state lands and the land office; state and 

 county officials act as agents for lumber com- 

 panies and others who buy state lands; the 

 conduct of 'private sales' of state land is, to 

 say the least, reprehensible; state appraisers 

 and purchasers of state lands are too often 

 found cheek by jowl; state trespass agents 

 have failed to turn over to the state moneys 

 collected for trespass (illegal timber cutting 

 on state reserves)." 



Speculators Profit. 



The report points out certain instances in 

 which certain speculators have sold Michigan 

 lands to Illinois buyers, weeks and months 

 '.ffnrp the speculators had themselves secured 

 ''" Ir'nrK Thus the speculators were able 

 <-v Vr-oi.v iust what lands were available, just 



hen thev could be obtained, and obviously 

 for just about how much. 



In this connection the report says: "An- 



other matter which was forcibly brought to 

 our attention was the fact that certain deal- 

 ers and speculators are apparently able to 

 at any time obtain any state lands they may 

 desire. We come to this conclusion because 

 we find that certain dealers have sold state 

 lands from days to months before they had 

 acquired a title from the state. Unless they 

 felt sure of their ability to get what they 

 wanted, and when they wanted it, it is reason- 

 able to suppose they would not have made 

 these sales. 



"We find that John L. Bolan, of Chicago, 

 purchased of the state land office, under date 

 of August 26, 1904, the southwest quarter of 

 the southwest quarter of 13-10-16, at $1 per 

 acre. He had already, on August 15, sold 

 the west half of this description to Charles P. 

 Schmidt at $12 per acre. This same man, on 

 August 25, 1904, purchased the southeast quar- 

 ter of the northeast quarter of 21-10-15, at 

 $1.45 per acre, and on August 17, or eight 

 days before, he had sold the southwest quarter 

 of this to Anna H. Ritter at $12 per acre. 



The Worst Offender. 



"Probably the worst offender in this par- 

 ticular manner was F .W. Sadler, of Chicago, 

 and, by the way, this man has probably bought 

 and sold as much state land as any other man 

 of whom we heard. On November 3, 1904, 

 he purchased the southeast quarter of the 

 northeast quarter of 1-17-13-W, at $1 per acre. 

 On October 26 he sold this land at $5 per 

 acre. On April 20, 1905, he purchased the 

 northeast quarter of the northwest quarter 

 and the northwest quarter of 26-18-14-W, at 

 50 cents per acre. On September 26, 1904, 

 or six months before buying it himself, he 

 sold this land to Frederick C. Schmidt at 

 $3.50 per acre, or seven times what he later 

 was able to buy it for. 



Report of Investigators. 



"On July 18, 1905, Sadler purchased the en- 

 tire section 1, of town 18-13-W, 646 acres, 

 at 75 cents per acre, or $481.50. He had, on 

 September 29, 1904, or nine months and eigh- 

 teen days before he purchased it of the state, 

 sold to J. J. Joseph, et al, at $5 per acre, or 

 $3,200. These facts, in addition to indicating . 

 that certain speculators have apparently an 

 inside track in the land office, would further 

 go to show that the state is exercising no 

 supervision over its appraisers, for in all these 

 cases speculators were assured a handsome 

 profit before they were even obliged to pay 

 any money to the state." 



In addition to setting forth these instances, 

 the report comments at some length on the 

 methods employed in appraising the lands by 

 the state appraisers prior to placing them on 

 sale; on the surprising 'excess of private sales 

 over public sales; on the alleged willingness 

 of state and county officials to act as agents 

 for lumber dealers and buyers; and on the 

 failure of the state to receive moneys col- 

 lected for trespass (timber cutting) on state 

 lands by state trespass agents. 



When the commission was named, it ap- 

 pointed Carl E. Schmidt, of Detroit, and 

 Francis King, of Alma, as a committee on land 

 laws and their administration. This commit- 

 tee, in turn, appointed O. Perry Burgess, of 

 Traverse City, and George Wilson, of Cheboy- 

 gan, as special investigators for the commit- 

 tee and commission. These men were sent 

 into the northern counties of the state to ex- 

 amine lands sold and to gather evidence as 



