MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS 



11 



state paid patrol coupled to a form of special 

 taxation which should place the financial bur- 

 den on the owner of the lands to be pro- 

 tected. 



In providing state action the fact that it is 

 prevention rather than fire fighting should be 

 kept in mind. There are three distinct forms 

 of state action that are today called for in 

 forest protection; 



(a) County and town should e held re- 

 sponsible for damages wherever it can be 

 shown that a satisfactory, reasonable effort 

 was not made by the town and county to pro- 

 tect the property against fires and incendiaries. 

 When Alleghany county (Pittsburg) failed to 

 make reasonable effort to protect the railway 

 properties, in 1877, the county was held re- 

 -)>' nsible. This principle is just, without it 

 government has no meaning. And this prin- 

 ciple should be applied in case of forest fires. 

 As stated before, our older laws which simply 

 demanded that the town fight the fires, evi- 

 dently had this principle as part basis. If a 

 certain courty in Michigan were held respon- 

 sible for the fires of this year, the people 

 would have prevented 75 per cent all fires 

 by prompt action; a number of irrespons'.bles 

 would have been arrested and held until rain 

 come and put an end to the danger; a num- 

 ber of others would be brought into court and 

 convicted; the men would not stand around 

 with their guns on their shoulders and merely 

 inquire and "see if the fire was coming their 

 way" instead of rendering the assistance which 

 the law demands of them. Nor would they 

 protest against U.ws forbidding smoking in 

 the woods; the camper and hunter trespass 

 business during dangerous ;eaou. etc. This 

 same responsibility would preven' the splitting 

 of towns and counties. As it is half our 

 towns and ci. unties were create! to furnish 

 jobs for local politicians who could no longer 

 play boss of the larger town or county. 



(b) Provide the machinery for the enforce- 

 ment of law, the prevention and fighting of fires. 

 Here the old original system as provided in 

 Michigan would serve, provided it were made 

 responsible and amplified. This could then 

 well take on the following form: 



The citizens compelled to prevent anil fight 

 fires as now, but ordinarily without pay from 

 state. The town officials compelled on severe 

 penalty, to do all in their power tc prevent 

 fires to call out the citizens as soon as they 

 learn of fires. 



The sheriff and his men to be fire wardens, 

 compelled, on penalty, to arrest and bring to 

 court any town official neglecting his duty as 

 fire warden; to call out men and act as fire 

 wardens in the suppression of fires. 



This system could and should be reinforced 

 in every state by a body of state police to 

 be distributed (say one to each county) in 

 oil counties where 50 per cent or more of the 

 area of the county is not settled by farm set- 

 tlers. These state policemen to act as regu- 

 lar police patrol the district, protect rural 

 favored by the large majority of state legisla- 

 property, act as trespass agents for state prop- 

 erty, and also act as game wardens if desired. 

 These men to see that the county and town 

 officials do their duty and to have power to 

 act as fire wardens, enforce law in general. 



(c) Amplification of the forest fire laws on 

 the following points: 



The right to go on other people's and state 

 lands. The use of fire in clearing, back firing, 

 for campfires, etc., during certain seasons. 



The smoking, use of match and torch and 

 firearm in and near forests during the dry 

 part of each year. The rights of men of bad 

 records in and about forests. 



To make it prima facie evidence if a man is 

 found near forest fire where he has no busi- 

 ness. To make it possible to prosecute offi- 

 cers and evildoers in a court sufficiently re- 

 mote to insure impartial trial. To compel 

 owners of woods to expend money in cleaning 

 up their slash or guarding their forests in 

 danger seasons. 



To give the right of arrest more liberally. 

 To pay part or all of the fine to the informant. 



These provisions may seem harsh at present, 

 they would be taken as matter of course in- 

 side of five years if enacted. 



4. The Matter of Forest Taxation presents 

 several difficulties. Generally, the forest lands, 

 and especially the large holdings of the lum- 

 bermen, were acquired not with a view to 

 hold them and to convert them into regular 

 forest properties, but merely as so much mer- 

 chantable timber or material to be cut and sold 

 as soon as possible or as fast as the market 

 would take them. Since this formed the ma- 

 jority of cases, it was rather natural that the 

 assessment should be made on the basis of 

 what the material was worth or what the man 

 paid for it. Then again the people argued-. 

 This property was almost given away by the 

 government, and has cost these men far less 

 than it is worth, and as soon as they can they 

 remove this wealth of timber and leave us the 

 bare land. For these reasons it seemed even 

 quite fair that the taxgatherer should take 

 rather a liberal slice with the excuse that the 

 money would serve to build roads and make 

 other needed improvements. 



But today the case is different; we are now 

 anxious to preserve these woods, and to make 

 the supply last as long as it will. And the 

 owners of many of these forests are ready to- 

 day to hold them and to convert them into 

 regular forest properties. In addition there 

 comes the matter of reforestation of vast areas 

 (if land unfit for other uses, where there is no 

 forest and where the case is entirely as on the 

 farm, the trees will form a planted crop, due 

 to the efforts of the owner. To complicate 

 matters still more we have certain intermediate 

 cases where the owner is undecided, claims to 

 want to hold part of his forest, but is not 

 ready to say what part or for what period. 



Centrally it is conceded that the taxes 

 should be so modified as to encourage both 

 holding of forest and planting of forest and 

 should not discourage these enterprises. 



Various remedies have been suggested: 



(a) A Special Tax, merely flat rate per acre 

 on all forest land with the provision that these 

 taxes be used for specific purposes. This 

 method is simple ?,nd feasible in every way. 



(b) Harvest Tax. In this case a forest goes 

 untaxed until the timber is cut when a cer- 

 tain per cent of the values cut is paid as tax. 



This, more seemingly than in fact, has 

 the disadvantage of leaving the local people 

 without taxes for a number of years. In 

 reality there would be a lot of timber cut in 

 such a town every year, may be by dif- 

 ferent owners, and thus there would be a 

 steady though somewhat irregular revenue. 



This method will put a premium on holding 

 forest and thus do some good; it is perfectly 

 simple in execution and therefore feasible. 



(c) Combination Harvest and Land Tax. 

 Here the land is taxed right along every year 

 at its ordinary cash value, but the timber re- 

 mains untaxed until cut when a certain per 

 cent of the value of the cut timber is paid 

 as tax. This nitthod has the advantage of 

 furnishing a regular income at least from the 

 land. 



(d) A Simple Land Tax to be applicable 

 only to real forest properties and cases of 

 reforestations. Under this system the owner 

 declares a certain area of forest or cutover 

 lands, woodlots, etc., to be forest property. He 

 signs a contract with the state which gives 

 the state a certain lien on the property such 

 that the state can dictate that it may not be 

 cleared, and that the forest may not e de- 

 vastated. 



This method is the simplest of all, applies 

 to all woods alike, would work no hardship 

 to anyone, would preserve the forest, furnish 

 a regular tax income and still enable the hold- 

 ing of woods and the reforestation of denuded 

 lands. 



In this case all timber, not registered, would 

 continue to be treated in the ordinary way and 

 might be taxed on the honest tax plan. It 

 might be argued that this would leave too 

 much property untaxed, etc. The fact is that 



the state of Michigan, for instance, could 

 better afford to do without the tax from all 

 its woods, making perhaps 2 to 3 per cent of 

 all taxes, than continue to prevent by law, an 

 industry as necessary as forestry and the 

 preservation of the forests now in existence. 



(e) Income Tax or tax based on the net 

 income of a forest property. Here again a 

 parcel or set of parcels of land would be 

 declared forest property, the owner would enter 

 into an agreement with the state and the as- 

 sessment would be based on the net income 

 (usually the average for say five years) at a 

 certain per cent. 



This is thoroughly scientific and just and 

 might be applied to any forest property, but 

 in our conditions would often be difficult 

 to use since a regular yearly income from 

 such a properiy is rather the exception. 



It is evident that this matter can be ad- 

 justed in various ways, and all that is really 

 necessary is that there be a good will, and 

 that petty politics be left out of considera- 

 tion. 



All but the first of the above methods deal 

 in reality only with the assessmenl and still 

 leave the most mischievous matter, the tax 

 rate, uncured. That this should be regulated 

 that every state should, by law, set a maxi- 

 mum at which any property may be taxed, 

 should be evident. The only question is: 

 "What shall be the maximum?" The average 

 rate of taxation in Michigan is about 1.5 per 

 cent to 1.7 per cent. For rural property in 

 the well farmed counties it is nearer 1.1 per 

 cent, and certainly should not be allowed to 

 go higher in the poorly settled district and 

 on poor lands than in the good district. 



The writer believes that $12.00 per $1,000 

 should be the maximum for all rural prop- 

 erty. That the state has a right to do this 

 there can be no doubt; if not it should have. 



5. The Enforcement of Right Treatment of 

 forest by the owner is a matter of long stand- 

 ing abroad, and yet it has hardly been sug- 

 gested in this country. The matter is quite 

 plain, a simple law forbidding clearing wtih 

 out state permit and forbidding forest de- 

 vastation under penalty, will do tne w jrk. At 

 first this will be quite crude, ii will vary 

 from place to place, according to the notion 

 of the officials, but in time it will work out 

 to the good of the forest and the people. 

 If this form of action were properly extended, 

 all forest taxation couid at once be placed 

 on a simple land tax or on a ne' income 

 basis. 



6. The Laws Encouraging Forestry and pro- 

 moting forestry among the people may well be 

 adopted more generally by all states. This 

 line of action has met with favor from the first 

 and no doubt wil! continue without much agi- 

 tation. Work in school, distribution of litera- 

 ture, free advice and free lectures by a com- 

 petent trained man, free distribution of plant 

 material, establishment of sample nurseries 

 and plantations as object lessions throughout 

 the state, the care of street and highway trees, 

 all these things will help to develop an un- 

 derstanding and love of the tree and the 

 forest and thus will pay hundredfold in a bet- 

 ter and more beautiful home for ihe genera- 

 tions yet to come. 



FOREST WARDEN ALERT. 



State Game Warden Pierce is receiving re- 

 ports of convictions of people in the north- 

 ern part of Michigan who have been arrested 

 for setting fires on their lands or on the high- 

 ways which are liable to cause serious forest 

 fires. James W. Holcomb, a farmer living 

 in Manistique county, was fined $30 for setting 

 fires on his own land. His land was in close 

 range of a huge forest, and it was with diffi- 

 culty that a big fire was prevented. 



"A few such convictions in that section of 

 the state will be a warning to others, and we 

 hope to diminish the fires in this way to a 

 certain extent," says Mr. Pierce. 



