The facts presented below aim to show the 

 part Oregon's timber wealth plays in our 

 prosperity now and to come. Timber, next to 

 land itself, is the State's greatest resource. 

 Needless destruction of timber through fire 

 diminishes the taxable property of the State 

 and each year increases the burden of taxation 

 on other classes of property. Forest cover is 

 necessary to preserve the flow of our streams 

 for irrigation and power purposes, to furnish 

 a refuge for game, and to prevent the erosion 

 of soil in mountainous sections. Already bring- 

 ing into the State each day $70,000.00 of outside 

 money, the industry bids fair to increase five 

 fold in the next decade. At present employing 

 ten times as many men as any other manufac- 

 turing industry, there is room for increasing 

 the field for labor ten fold, with resulting 

 increased population for Oregon. Any timbered 

 section is eventually sure of railroads and a 

 market for farm crops; but the permanence of 

 these developments depends upon safeguarding 

 the supply of raw material. To accomplish this 

 State aid is indispensable. Law enforcement, 

 compulsory elimination of fire traps, regulation 

 of fire preventive equipment used by railroads 

 traversing timbered sections, and regulation of 

 protection work under the provisions of the 

 compulsory law, are matters the State alone can 

 effectively handle. To compensate the State for 

 time and money expended to this end, she 

 retains a constantly increasing payroll, a great 

 source of tax revenue, permanence of stream 

 flow for irrigation and power purposes, an 

 increasing market for farm crops, machinery 

 and supplies, and the bulk of this benefit is 



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