12 



MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS 



CONSERVATION OF WATER POWER. 



The Commonwealth Power Company has 

 progressed so far with its initial clam l(i miles 

 above the mouth of the Au Sable river, which 

 is to develop 12,000 horse-power for the gen- 

 eration of electricity, that it has agents at 

 work purchasing right of way for the erection 

 of steel towers SMI feet high on which to stretch 

 copper wires that will bring the current to 

 Bay City. 



This is true conservation. The water of the 

 Au Sable has been running to waste for ages. 

 The dams to conserve the wasted force had 

 to be built by the state or by a corporation.. 

 The overflowed lands adjacent to the river 

 were owned by individuals. The right to 

 overflow them had to be bought. The right of 

 way for the transmission of the electric cur- 

 rent had also to be bought. Private enter- 

 prise, in the form of a corporation, could do 

 these things much better than it could be done 

 through the agency of politicians in control 

 of the state. The development of electric pow- 

 er has come to be a great industry itself and 

 is of prime helpfulness to many other indus- 

 tries. Conservation of natural resources re- 

 quired that this should be done. 



Cities for a long distance from the source 

 of power are interested in its development. 

 Wires from a sub-station at Bay City will, it is 

 said, "extend to Saginaw, Flint, Flushing, La- 

 peer, Owosso and scores of other towns that 

 may want the current." Not one, or all, of 

 these places could have purchased the flowage 

 right, built the dam to supply the demand for 

 the electric current. It had to be done, if at 

 all, by a corporation, which, for the present at 

 least, is the true agent for the conservation 

 of these natural resources which have always, 

 heretofore, been running to waste. 



Electricity has come just in the nick of time 

 to take the place of steam. Not only the ir.- 

 vesting, but the industrial public is much in- 

 terested in the development of electric power 

 in connection with the waterways of the lead- 

 ing commercial countries. Those that take the 

 lead in using electric power will keep the lead, 



Foreseeing and farseeing men have already 

 gone so far as to purchase water privileges 

 along the leading streams of the east and the 

 central west. 



Many of the purchases have been made of 

 private owners. Where was only waste, or 

 little or no present value, valuable rights have 

 been obtained and great economic advantages 

 to society have accrued. 



Large amounts of capital were needed. These 

 amounts had to come from accumulations al- 

 leady made. Capital came forth to meet the 

 requirements. Costly dams were built along 

 the Kalamazoo and other rivers of Michigan, 

 in which enterprising Jackson men took the 

 lead. They reached out from the Kalamazoo 

 to Grand river, to the Muskegon, and now are 

 developing power on the swrft Au Sable. 



The same process is going on in other, states. 

 Fortunate are those who have undeveloped 

 water power. In one place in North Carolina, 

 on the Catawba, Pittsburg capitalists put in 

 five million dollars for the development of 

 electric power to be used in cotton manufac- 

 turing. This is only a sample instance. 



For years the census authorities of the 

 United States have been calling attention to 

 these available resources. Nothing was done 

 not a move was made by state or national 

 authority for their development. They had to 

 wait for private enterprise to take the lead. 

 Thus the higher prices of coal, resulting from 

 the ever-increasing demand for fuel and pow- 

 er, brought us to the beginning of a new era 

 in the history of machine industry. Through 

 the location here of W. A. and J. B. Fpote, 

 because of its central position and Business 

 start, Jackson was in at the commencement of 

 the new era. Jackson Patriot. 



"The Forest and the Saw Mill." 

 A 270 page book gives a report of the Eighth 

 Annual Convention of the National Lumber 



Manufacturers' Association, and especially re- 

 produces papers treating of: ( 



"Forest Conservation." 



."Forest Land Taxation." 



"1'rivate Forestry." 



"Utilization of Waste." 



"The Lumberman and the People." 



This book is full of interesting matter, and 

 presents in a clear and concise way the pres- 

 ent status of the lumber industry of our coun- 

 try, the attitude of this industry to the econom- 

 ies of th-e. nation, its position in the movement 

 lor conservation, as well as the intellectual 

 and social cnaracter of the men who make up 

 the backbone 01 this great industry. To any 

 one who desires to learn what this industry 

 is and means, there is no shorter and more 

 pleasant way than to read this book. 



"American Forestry," the successor to "Con- 

 servation" and to "Forestry and Irrigation," 

 is still the great magazine representing conser- 

 vation in the broad sense and forestry in par- 

 ticular. 



From this we take the following: 



Forest Taxation in Wisconsin. 



The United States Forest Service is making 

 a co-operative study, with the Wisconsin State 

 Board of Forestry, of forest taxation in that 

 state. The plan of the study is outlined as 

 follows: 



The purpose of this investigation is to ob- 

 tain the information from which conclusions 

 may be drawn as to whether or not the present 

 method of taxing forests is satisfactory or not; 

 and, if not, what the evil features are, and 

 how the taxation of forests may be placed on 

 a satisfactory basis. For this purpose infor- 

 mation is required upon, the following topics: 



1. The actual burden of taxation on forests, 

 at the present time, and also in the past so far 

 as possible. Also whether forests are taxed 

 more or less heavily than agricultural and oth- 

 er lands. For this purpose it is necessary to 

 ascertain: 



1. The total valuation of all property, reai 

 and personal, in each town and county of the 

 state; the assessed valuations and true values, 

 so far as possible, oi forests, waste lands, and, 

 for the sake of comparison, of agricultural 

 lands, in the several parts of the state. Also 

 the prevailing ratio of assessed valuation to 

 true value. Also the tax rates for every town 

 and county of the state. 



2. Detailed facts about as many particular 

 cases as possible where the relation between 

 assessed and true value and the actual burden 

 of taxation can be accurately determined. 



3. Impressions and opinions of all persons, 

 officials, timber owners, and others who are 

 able to speak with authority. 



II. The administration of the general prop- 

 erty tax in "the case of forests. The method 

 of assessing forests. How does it compare 

 with the assessment of agricultural lands, etc.? 

 Is the law strictly or laxly enforced? Is en- 

 forcement becoming more or less strict? 



III. The importance of the revenue derived 

 from taxes on forests. How large a part of 

 the revenue of each town and county comes 

 from taxes on timberlands? For this purpose 

 we should know the assessed value of forests 

 in each town and county. Assessed value of 

 waste lands should al'so be determined if pos- 

 sible. This question will undoubtedly be hatd 

 to answer; in many cases it will be impossible 

 to get the information required. However, 

 anything that can be obtained along this line 

 will be of great value. 



IV. The effects of taxation on forests; on 

 the management of forest properties; on the 

 cutting of timber; on the use of cut-over lands, 

 etc. Has taxation hastened cutting? Has it 

 led to wasteful cutting or "skinning?" Has it 

 led to abandonment of cut-over lands? Has 

 it prevented reforestation of cut-over lands 

 or the practice of conservative lumbering, etc.? 

 What has happened in the past? What is the 

 present condition? Are there any indications 

 of probable future effects? 



V. The general attitude of people toward 

 the subject: 



1. Is there discontent and complaint of ex- 

 cessive taxation of forests? Is there complaint 



that forests do not bear their fair share of 

 taxes? Or is there general satisfaction with 

 the taxation of forests? Or is the subject not 

 considered of importance? 



2. Are plans of reform being discussed? If 

 so, what: and by what arguments are they 

 supported and opposed? 



:i. Information is especially desired as tc 

 (1) how the plan of a single tax on yield whe 

 cut would be received, and (2) how peopl 

 would regard the plan to separate trees an 

 lands, taxing the former on the yield, and tax 

 ing the latter annually on its value as was 

 land or bare land, or at the lowest value 

 which any land is assessed in the district. 



VII. For aid in answering all of the abo\ 

 questions, general information is needed 

 to the amount and character of forests and 

 waste lands in different parts of the state, tt 

 ownership of such lands, and the uses beir 

 made of them. 



Massachusetts. 



The Massachusetts method of acquiring sta 

 forests and at the same time promoting priva 

 forestry by taking over through purchase or gi: 

 comparatively small tracts of land for reforest 

 tion with the privilege secured by law to th 

 owner of repurchasing the property in ten year 

 paying a moderate percentage to cover the co 

 of the work of planting 'and care by the state 

 the meantime, is progressing slowly but sure 

 Massachusetts forestry figures look small 

 compared with those of states of larger area 

 more scattered population, but it must be remen 

 bered that forestry, so far as this state is co 

 cerned, will always be intensive. At prese 

 nearly 2,000 acres have been taken by the sta 

 under this law and are being planted under 

 direction of the state forester, F. W. Ran 

 White pine and Norway spruce are very large 

 used for this purpose. About 500,000 pine see 

 lings have been imported, and about 1,000,0 

 pines and Norway spruce have been grown in the 1 

 nurseries of the state forest service at Amherst 

 and East Sandwich. The tracts included in the 

 2,00 acres are distributed among about twen 

 towns in different parts of the state. A lar 

 part of the tracts has been turned over to 

 state without cost. If the former owner do 

 not choose to resume his property at the end of 

 the ten years by paying the required amount to 

 the state, it will become the permanent property 

 of the commonwealth. 



The Massachusetts legislature has disposed 

 most of the tree and forest legislation that 

 before it at this year's session. An act was 

 passed to lessen the danger of forest fires in the 

 case of Plymouth and Barnstable by prohibiting 

 aliens from entering upon any land in those 

 counties for the purpose of picking flowers ^o 

 berries or for camping, without first obtaining 

 the written consent of the owner. The pineries 

 in these Cape Cod counties have been subject to 

 continual fires of considerable extent and de- 

 structiveness, and this act seeks to diminish one 

 of the frequent causes of these fires. 



The town shade tree law of Massachusetts has 

 for many years been the most effective law 

 the kind in force in any state in the Union, aa 

 by an act of the present legislature the provii 

 ions of this law are extended to the cities of the 

 state. Another act called forth by prevalent con- 

 ditions in the state requires any one wishing to 

 cut a tree near the highway limits to prove that 

 such tree is not within the highway. In the 

 country towns of the state it has heretofore 

 been very difficult to determine whether trees ir 

 woodlots bordering a highway were within the 

 highway limits, and therefore under public con- 

 trol or not. This was owing to the fact that 

 most of the country roads are 'ancient layouts 

 that have not been accurately surveyed. 

 " At the request of the state forester, a law v 

 enacted prohibiting the sending up of fire-bal- 

 loons of any description and providing a heav 

 penalty for violation. This was prompted by tl 

 fact that forest fires have been traced to the n-=- 

 of these balloons. 



A law was also enacted empowering the stat 

 forester, with the approval of the governor and 

 counsel, to accept bequests or gifts of land < 



^iij 



J 



nas 



I 





