A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 885 



This is land which in last analysis is in the mind of the owner not 

 thought to be sufficiently promising of yields in the present condition 

 to be economic to hold. It presents a very serious legislative and 

 economic problem, because, although it is counted upon in the budgets 

 to yield a tax revenue, it pays taxes only intermittently if at all. 

 Either there is no provision or only inadequate provision for its man- 

 agement and protection from fire and it is therefore not only a liability 

 but a menace to the community. 



The reasons why such lands are held in this unsatisfactory and 

 unsafe condition and do not immediately pass to public ownership 

 may be chiefly summarized as follows: 



1 . It usually being the desire of local poli tical units to keep land on 

 the tax rolls, the laws are commonly framed with that end in view. 

 Penalties for delinquency are not so severe as to be a real detriment; 

 there is liberal provision for redemption by the original owner; 

 delinquency, before the county can foreclose, is sometimes as long as 

 5 years (Washington). By sale of tax certificates, the land can go 

 back into private ownership at much less than its assessed value. In 

 many States an effort to resell the land after foreclosure is compulsory, 

 and therefore so long as there are buyers at almost any price the lands 

 cannot stay in public ownership. The now amended tax homestead 

 law of 1893 in Michigan is an instance of the strenuous attempt to 

 keep land on the tax rolls, even though it be not the kind of land that 

 is economically sound for homesteading and could not permanently 

 remain in private ownership. 



2. Furthermore, the laws which in themselves favor retention in 

 private ownership are commonly enforced with such laxity as to 

 further favor private possession. Land is often not foreclosed until 

 long after the statutory period and occupancy continues after legal 

 rights of the owner have lapsed. The costly procedure of foreclosure 

 is a further detriment to prompt execution of the tax-delinquency 

 statutes. 



3. In the absence of any definite policy and machinery on the part 

 of the State or county for the management of public forest land, there 

 is no incentive for the public to hold tax- title land. The tradition in 

 most States has been to keep the land in private hands on the tax 

 rolls. Where this is not the case, it becomes a "no man 's land." It 

 is little wonder therefore that tax-forfeited lands become a battledore 

 to be batted back and forth between private owners and public 

 agencies, often falling down between them and being picked up and 

 used by neither. 



In a few States definite provision has been made for the manage- 

 ment of tax-reverted lands as State or county forests. This seems to 

 be a remedy for the evils of the laissez-faire tax-reversion practices. 

 Instances of such provisions are given in a later paragraph. 



PRESENT PROVISIONS FOR THE DISPOSITION OF TAX- 

 TITLE LANDS 



The laws of the several States vary greatly as to the processes by 

 which tax-delinquent land becomes forfeited and may ultimately 

 become public property. The tax lien may be enforced in various 

 ways and at various periods after delinquency. The most common 

 ways (without going into the details of legal procedure) are the sale to 



