A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1113 



ship and taxable if appropriated. Severity of classification in 

 some units is offset by liberality of classification in others. The 

 figures derived may vary as much as 25 percent from the maximum 

 private appropriation which actually might occur were the national 

 forests thrown open to entry. 



In estimating the potential taxability of national-forest lands no 

 consideration was given to mineral lands, since such lands are now 

 freely open to appropriation under the general mining laws of the 

 United States and would in no way be affected by the abolition of the 

 national forests. The passing comment may, however, be made that 

 the inclusion of such lands within national forests retains them in a 

 status which permits of their full and free development when otherwise 

 they might have been locked up by appropriations for other purposes. 



In compiling statistics as to tax payment on private lands, an effort 

 was made to obtain averages over a period of several years, but where 

 this was not practicable statistics for the last completed tax period 

 were secured. All figures given are for nonurban lands exclusive of 

 improvements. In compiling the figures the plan primarily was to 

 determine the taxes actually paid, but in a majority of cases it was 

 necessary to report instead the taxes as levied by the assessors, which 

 means that the payments shown are greater than those actually col- 

 lected, since inevitably there would be some delinquency. 



In reaching conclusions as to the potential taxability of national- 

 forest lands it is necessary to bear in mind the general difference be- 

 tween such lands and the privately owned taxable properties in the 

 same political unit. With the exception of the lands purchased for 

 national-forest purposes in the Eastern States, the national forests, 

 speaking broadly, are the public lands which remained after an ex- 

 tended period of settlement and appropriation. They are confined 

 largely to the higher elevations of the principal mountain masses of the 

 United States and consequently embrace a great deal of land of low 

 productive value, difficult of accessibility or utilization. It is futile 

 to assume that lands of such character are permanently capable of 

 making substantial contributions to local costs of government whether 

 they are in private or public ownership. This fact necessarily must 

 be taken into account in the consideration of the present subject. 

 With the possible exception of place grants to railroads, States, or other 

 agencies, the privately owned taxpaying lands within national-forest 

 counties normally represent the choicest and most desirable lands, the 

 eagerly acquired, permanently held, and highly developed revenue- 

 productive properties upon which the economic life and industrial 

 prosperity of the unit largely is built. They include the valuable 

 agricultural and grazing lands, the best and most accessible timber, 

 and the lands most highly developed for resort and summer-home 

 purposes. The returns per acre from such lands naturally and prop- 

 erly should be several times the returns per acre which may be expected 

 from lands of the character reserved for national-forest purposes. 

 Yet the disparity is not so great as might be expected. In some 

 cases, the exclusion of a minor acreage of the most valuable lands from 

 the calculations would bring the average tax return from the remainder 

 of the private lands into substantial harmony with the average 

 return from the national-forest land. 



In many units, tax-delinquent private lands which make no return 

 whatever to county costs afford opportunity for interesting compari- 

 sons with the national-forest lands which do make a substantial 



