NEWS AND NOTES 



State Control of Private Property 



A decision of the Circuit Court of Ap- 

 peals in the Oklahoma gas case seems to 

 establish the status of a state's rights over 

 the use of its natural resources: 



A state may pass laws to regulate the 

 management of private forests and of pri- 

 vate property in land generally. (Opinion 

 of the Supreme Court of Maine, March 10, 

 1908.) 



A state as quasi sovereign and repre- 

 sentative of the interests of the public has 

 a standing in court to protect the atmos- 

 phere, the water and the forests within its 

 territory, irrespective of the assent of the 

 private owner. (Supreme Court of the 

 United States, April 6, 1908). 



But a state, when once it has permitted 

 property in a natural resource (natural 

 gas) to pass into private hands, cannot 

 maintain its right to protect that resource 

 by compelling the owner of it to refrain 

 from engaging in interstate commerce, any 

 provision of the state constitution to the 

 contrary notwithstanding. (Circuit Court 

 of Appeals, April 7, 1910.) 



A Small Forest Reserve lor Illinois 



Simeon West, a wealthy resident of Mc- 

 Lean County, Illinois, has given to the 

 county a virgin timber tract of twenty 

 acres. Should the county ever undertake 

 to use this tract for any other purpose 

 than a public park or forest the title will 

 revert to the heirs of the donor. Mr. West 

 hopes that his action will be an inspiration 

 to others to do likewise. 



Catalpa by Wholesale tor Arbor Day 



From the cities of Columbus, Kansas 

 City, and Philadelphia come news of the 

 enterprise of local merchants in furnishing 

 the children trees for Arbor Day planting. 

 In Columbus 50,000 little catalpas were so 

 provided, in Kansas City, 100,000 of the 

 same tree, and in Philadelphia, 400,000 

 also catalpas. It is not necessary nor 

 would it be just to question the motive of 

 these gifts to the public. If they were 

 made for advertising purposes it is a kind 

 of advertising that we may welcome. It 

 may be open to question whether it is well 

 to make all these contributions catalpas. 

 For the middle west the hardy catalpa is 

 one of the most serviceable of trees, but 



for Philadelphia, it may be questioned 

 whether it was the best tree that could be 

 chosen. It is to be hoped that due care 

 was exercised to obtain the right variety, for 

 it would be a misfortune to have so many 

 trees planted of the Upnonioides, and those 

 who investigated catalpa at all know how 

 difficult it is to distinguish that very dis- 

 appointing tree from speciosa. In Phila- 

 delphia fifty large trees (not catalpas) 

 were given to eleven schools by the Penn- 

 sylvania Forestry Association. 



The Delaware & Hudson Railroad's Forestry 

 Work 



At the nursery of the Delaware and 

 Hudson Railroad Company at Bluff Point, 

 Lake Champlain, the railroad is growing 

 thousands of Norway spruce and other 

 conifers for use in reforesting waste land 

 in the Adirondacks and other places along 

 the Saratoga and Champlain divisions. At 

 Oneonta the company is growing red oak 

 seedlings for the purpose of providing tim- 

 ber for ties. The company has decided to 

 devote three acres to a nursery for the 

 growing of red oak seedlings. The com- 

 pany plans to plant over 1,000,000 red oak 

 trees, most of which will be furnished 

 from this nursery. The industrial depart- 

 ment of the Delaware and Hudson in col- 

 laboration with the superintendent of 

 woodlands, Mr. Bristol, is preparing a 

 booklet to be issued this spring in which 

 the subject of planting trees is to be 

 brought to the attention of farmers and 

 others along the company's line. In addi- 

 tion to the distribution of the pamphlet the 

 company will offer to farmers and small 

 land owners the advice and instruction of 

 Mr. Bristol free of charge. 



New England Railroads Waking Up 



It is announced that a railroad bureau 

 for the industrial development of New 

 England has been organized and will be 

 opened at Boston May 1. It will be under 

 the control of the New Haven, Boston and 

 Maine and Maine Central railroad systems 

 and will have the title of the New England 

 Lines Industrial Bureau. Its head will be 

 William H. Seely, now general freight and 

 passenger agent of the Central New Eng- 

 land Railroad. 



The object is the promotion by the in- 

 fluence of the three railway systems of 



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