Fortstry and the Lumber Business. 



••r 



the property. The iner«Me In the value* 

 of for»>>t laniln for the parpoM of tAxa* 

 tion hat* Imhmi from four to five hundred 

 per cent in many cectionn within the past 

 few yearN. Tho rate of taxation varies ac- 

 cording to tho townxhip or county in 

 which the timber iH nituatod, and widely 

 different awHeHKinentH arc made by different 

 tax aHHeHHorH reMiding in the oame towns so 

 that there ih no uniformity in cither tho 

 rate or valuation. There in nowhere in tho 

 United StateH any uniformity for levying 

 asveHsmentH on timber or cut-over lands. 



The rcHultH of Huoh haphazard methods 

 are frequently Hurprising. It is utterly im- 

 posflible to make anything like a definite 

 statement in regard to these matters Ijc- 

 cauKC of the groat variation in asfessmonts 

 and rates upon the timber in the same 

 localities and of apparently tho same value. 

 The system of taxing timber as other pro- 

 perty is taxed was long ago abandoned by 

 every other progresyive nation. To ascer- 

 tain what the actual burden of taxation on 

 timlMjr lands in this country is today will 

 require an exhaustive study covering a long 

 period of time. 



I do not know that excessive taxation has 

 as yet prevented the adoption of forestry 

 methods by lumbermen, for the reason that 

 other conditions have not been propitious. 

 The price of etumpage has not yet reached 

 that point where such methods can be ap- 

 plied even if there were no taxes. It is 

 significant that in the localities and species 

 where timber prices are the highest taxes 

 have correspondingly ri^en. This is true in 

 the white pine of the Northern States where 

 the taxes are much higher than upon tim- 

 ber in other sections. Conservative me- 

 thods might be undertaken in logging white 

 pine if there were no annual taxes, were 

 it not for the fact that physical and cli- 

 matic conditions are far more favorable for 

 securing natural reproduction in yellow pine 

 of the Southern States, and in the fir of 

 the Pacific Coast States. This is, of course, 

 due to the more rapid growth of the latter 

 two species. I believe that the pine forests 

 of the North will have to be sacrificed be- 

 fore Southern and Western timber has 

 reached a value which will make it possible 

 to log it in a way to secure successive 

 crops. All but a remnant of the northern 

 forests will be gone under present condi- 

 tions inside of fifteen years. I do not be- 

 lieve that the Northern States will present a 

 field for the activities of the forester, ex- 

 cept in State and Federal service, to be 

 compared with the opportunities in the 

 Southern and Western States. Private 

 forestry will offer very little inducement to 

 the owners of Southern and Western tim- 

 ber inside of ten to fifteen years, and it 

 never will be much of an inducement until 

 the tax is made to follow the saw. 



A tax upon the timber crop when it is 

 cut would make it unnecessary for the 

 owner to put up additional capital to sus- 



tain hiN property as U neeeeeary under the 

 inereaxing annual tax. A tax on the yield 

 would make it an object tor the tioilMr 

 owner to hold his property for future *p«ea> 

 lative valu«M an it would entirely eliminate 

 the principal element now entering into tlM 

 carrying charge when considering what the 

 final coht may be of holding a tract of tim- 

 ber. Tho problem of how best to tax tim- 

 Ijer wealth in rach a way as to encourage 

 forestry, while at the same time making it 

 bear its juKt burden of the expense of gov* 

 ernment, is one in which the foresters can 

 very properly interest themselves. 



Private Work. 



The question now ari^'es in your minds as 

 to what there is for the forester to do un- 

 til that time when conditions are favorable 

 for the a<ioption of private tore^rj upon 

 a large scale. Tho foresters who are look- 

 ing to tho immediate future need not des* 

 pair, although i am free to confess tlimt 

 the opportunities outside of State and Na- 

 tional work are not as promising as many 

 have doubtless been lea to believe. The 

 foresters will find a limited field with the 

 operators who tako contracts to cut timber 

 off Government land which require more or 

 less forestry regulations. In a short time, 

 the States will demand tho samo require- 

 mnts of those who log timber upon State 

 lands. If the young fore.sters desire to 

 spend a few years in living in the woods, 

 a limited number of men can even now 

 find employment as timber cruisers. As 

 stumpage increases in value, the old- 

 fashioned haphazard methods of estimating 

 timber are found to be nnsatisfaetory. 

 Lumbermen, especially those operating in 

 white pine, have found that trained forest- 

 ers can estimate tho amount of timber on a 

 given tract of land much more closely than 

 can the old-fashioned cruiser. A trained 

 forester consumes considerably more time 

 in estimating timber than docs the old time 

 woodsman l^auso he calipers trees, but 

 his increased accuracy is worth far more 

 than the difference in cost. The forester 

 who seeks employment with lumber com* 

 panics must be skilled in work of this kind, 

 and the time is not far away when thoee 

 dealing in timl)er lands will require that 

 the estimates of standing timber be made 

 in a careful and scientific manner, to in- 

 clude accurate map work and detailed re* 

 ports of topography, species ami the gen- 

 eral physical conditions of the country cov- 

 ered. This work requires men of good 

 physique who are willing to live in the 

 woods for months at a time. It is about the 

 only branch of the lumber industry, as it is 

 at present conducted, in which the scientific 

 knowledge of the forester can 1)6 especially 

 serviceable. There are other dejuirtments 

 of the businss in which the fore)>ter can 

 engage, but they will only make a partial 

 demand for his knowledge of forestry. 



