MICHIGAN 



FORESTS 



DETROIT, MICH., MARCH, 1909. 



MICHIGAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION. 



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

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

 Vice-President, Morrice Quinn, Saginaw; Secretary, Henry G. Steven., Detroit; Treasurer, W. B. Mershon, Saginaw, W. S. Board of 

 Directors S. M. Lemon, Grand Rapids; H. N. Loud, Au Sable; Thos. B. Wyman, Munising; E. C. Nichols, Battle Creek; R. Hanson, Gray- 

 ling; Geo. N. Brady, Detroit. 



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SPECULATORS REAP THE PROFIT. 



The books in the Auditor-General's depart- 

 ment show that in the county of Roscommon 

 alone there are over 7.0(10 descriptions of land 

 delinquent for state taxes, and only a'bout 500 

 voters in the county. The reason for this very 

 large number is furnished not voluntarily, of 

 course by interests that are working hard to 

 defeat the Morrice house liill, which provides 

 for the better conservation of all state lands 

 and the creation of forestry reserves. These 

 interests are land speculators, says the Detroit 

 News. 



An important element operates from Chi- 

 cago. The}- advertise extensively in certain 

 papers whose circulation is confined chiefly to 

 the higher classes. Through these advertise- 

 ments and solicitors they sell thousands of 

 parcels of Michigan tax lands annually, in a 

 great many cases on false representation that 

 they are good agricultural and fruit l;:nds. Ex- 

 Senator Forsyth, of Standish, who is largely 

 interested in lands, and who was in Lansing 

 last week in the interest of the Morrice .bill, 

 said that a large part of the lands so sold by 

 these speculators is light sand, from winch the 

 pine has been cut and which is now of no 

 value except to reforest with pine. Yet the 

 speculators sell these lands for as high as $10 

 : n acre, the purchaser rarely seeing the land 

 until after he has bought it. lint he is delud- 

 ed into believing that he is getting a great 

 bargain. As to what the Chicago speculators 

 pay for the lands, Senator Korsyth says he has 

 i letters from them inquiring about certain 

 tracts of land, and reading like this: 



don't care about the quality of the 

 land, and we don't want to pay more than fifty 

 cents an acre." 



'Some of them go so far as to run in their 

 rimed matter pictures of fine fruit, grains and 

 egetahles of all kinds which they represent a? 

 having grown in sections where nothing but 

 thistles and stunted brush has grown since the 

 pine was lumbered. The speculator sells the 

 small parcels into which he divides his tracts 

 on the installment plan, and the first payment 

 is usually enough, or more than enough, to re- 

 imburse him for what he paid for the land and 

 for his advertising and solicitors. All subse- 

 quent payments are velvet. 



Over !IO per cent of these small purchases 

 are abandoned by the sucker owners and then 

 the land again reverts to the state for delin- 

 quent taxes. There is nothing in the existing 

 laws to prevent the speculators from again 

 buying for the amount of taxes due on tin 

 land and once more selling it to suckers at $~> 

 to $1(1 an acre. It is but one part of the end- 

 less chain system under which the control and 

 disposition of state lands have for so many 

 years been handled and by which the specu- 

 lators invariably get the long end and the state 

 the short end. 



Around Higgins and Houghton lakes, in 

 Roscommon county, Chicago speculators hav< 



:or several years or more been selling alleged 

 'sites" for summer cottages. Some of these 

 "sites" are said to be a mile or more back from 

 the water in the brush. More instances of 

 stickers 'buying "unsight and unseen." Most 

 of these "sites" get back on the delinquent tax 

 roll, every one of them as a separate descrip- 

 tion, and one paper in the county gets annu- 

 ally from the state treasury forty cents 'for 

 advertising each description. That's why the 

 annual advertising of delinquent state tax 

 "amis in Roscommon is worth about $:i,000 an- 

 nually to the paper designated by the Auditor- 

 General to do the advertising. 



The Morrice bill, if enacted into a law, 

 would put the class of speculators referred to 

 out of business, for speculators could get no 

 more state lands at bargain prices. 



LEGISLATORS APATHETIC. 



The Morrice bill, for withdrawing state 

 lands from the market, and creating a state 

 forest reserve under the supervision of the 

 Michigan Forestry Commission, came up for 

 consideration on March 24. I't was defeated 

 47 to 44, then the vote was reconsidered and 

 the measure laid on the table. 



Members openly stated that they voted in 

 the negative 1 because they did not understand 

 the proposition, yet the bill has been printed 

 for weeks, and the subject is a most important 

 one for the state, worthy of serious consider- 

 ation and investigation in order to determine 

 whether or not it would be a good thing for 

 the state. An inquiry commission appointed 

 by the last legislature, devoted months to in- 

 vestigating the state land question, and 

 worked without pay; yet it is doubtful if a 

 dozen members read the report that was got- 

 ten out. 



LEGISLATURE TO INVESTIGATE. 



In unanimously adopting a harmless look- 

 ing little resolution offered by Representative 

 liierd. designed to give the special forestry 

 and land committee of investigation authority 

 to take testimony, the house representatives 

 of the Michigan legislature opened the way 

 for an investigation that is all the term im- 

 plies .and gives the committee promise of a 

 chance to force through the legislature meas- 

 ures to correct the present system of public 

 land sale in spite of the objections of those 

 who will find their political patronage partly 

 if not wholly eliminated 



On its face the resolution seemed of little 

 importance. Only just such another authori- 

 tative resolution as was granted the special 

 waterways committee, but in this instance it 

 opens the way for an invest igation of affairs 

 in the land commissioner's and the auditor 

 general's department with the end in view of 

 learning the number of clerks, employes and 

 the person or territory to which each employe 

 is credited. 



This is the secret of the committee's quiet 



campaign under Representative Maxey. With 

 this power the committee will have something 

 with which to effectually check opposition 

 that may improperly be lined up against the 

 measures in the interests of a better govern- 

 ment in the departments of public domain. 



It is understood on pretty good authority 

 that information along this line has been re- 

 fused the committee. The refusal might be 

 termed a tactful one, but it was effective, none 

 the less. It was evident that some one rec- 

 ognized the value information of this charac- 

 ter would be to the committee in pushing its 

 measures. 



The whole affair resolves itself to this 

 proposition: The committee can now demand 

 to know to whom the various clerks in state 

 offices are credited. It hardly will be conveni- 

 ent for any member of the legislature who 

 has several clerkships to his credit to oppose 

 a creditable measure, since the inference will 

 be made, or. rather, the charge will be made, 

 if it comes to a showdown, that he is actu- 

 ated by his desire to hold his political patron- 

 age. It is generally believed, however, that 

 the mere fact that the committee has this 

 power will have the effect of giving the legis- 

 lation sought smoother and less interrupted 

 passage. 



For the time being it will be sufficient that 

 state departments will be obliged to lend some 

 assistance rather than persevere in blocking 

 tactics. 



TO PREVENT FIRE LOSSES. 

 To provide a better system of fighting for- 

 est fires, Rep. Maxey has introduced a bill in 

 the Michigan legislature. The measure pro- 

 vides for the creation of 25 districts to be 

 handled by deputy state fire, fish and game 

 wardens who shall receive salaries of $1,000 

 a year and expenses. In addition to this force 

 each township shall have a warden in the per- ( 

 son of the supervisor or some other person to 

 be appointed in case the supervisor will not 

 act. He will receive $2 a day while engaged 

 in lighting fires. The till provides that no 

 fires shall be set during the dry season with- 

 out the warden first having been notified. N'o 

 person shall carry torches or open lanterns 

 through the woods, and highway commission- 

 ers shall keep highways free from refuse or 

 dry 'brush and the railroads their roadbeds in 

 like condition. When townships are com- 

 pelled to fight fires two-thirds of the expense 

 shall be borne by the township and the other 

 third by the state. Violations of the act may 

 cause fines of $10 to $200 and jail sentences 

 from GO days to one year. 



At a meeting of the German-American Xa- 

 lional League, of Kalamazoo, it was decided 

 to draft resolutions asking the state legisla- 

 ture to pass a law for the protection of Michi- 

 gan forests. 



