174 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



April 



Farm values were only about 25 per 

 cent of what they are to-day. The 

 value of stumpage or standing timber 

 was practically nothing ; it was a nuis- 

 ance, an impediment to settlement of 

 the land by farmers. These lands 

 were granted to the state as a trust, 

 the revenues from which were to be 

 used for the support of the various 

 institutions endowed. The legislature 

 of the state is the trustee of that trust. 

 It is a trust granted by the people of 

 the United States to the people of 

 Washington for the use of the school 

 children of the state for all time to 

 come. 



Can it be supposed that Congress 

 ceded these lands to the state expect- 

 ing it to act as a broker or agent to 

 immediately realize upon them by 

 sale? Did the people of the United 

 States suppose that Washington would 

 sell these lands, as were the 64,080 

 acres of the original territorial grant 

 to the state university, at $1.50 per 

 acre? Did Congress expect or intend 

 that the State of Washington would 

 sell the birthright granted to the school 

 children of the state for a "mess of 

 pottage," or was it the intention of 

 Congress to make this grant to the 

 new state, believing the people of the 

 state would have a proper regard for 

 the welfare of the school children and 

 see that these lands were properly 

 protected and managed and the re- 

 sources husbanded so that the greatest 

 possible annual return might be placed 

 in the various funds? 



Suppose the trustees of that mag- 

 nificent institution, Girard College, 

 had, upon the acceptance of their trust, 

 disposed of the real estate holding of 

 Stephen Girard, located in the city of 

 Philadelphia, and many of which were 

 apparently without any great value, 

 for what they could have secured do 

 you think that the original endowment 

 of $1,000,000 would have grown to the 

 enormous capital of $30,000,000, the 

 revenues of which that institution now 

 disposes annually to orphan children? 

 Suppose these trustees had not taken 

 any steps to build up these properties, 



to develop their latent resources had 

 allowed fire to destroy them would 

 Girard College be the second richest 

 institution of learning in the world 

 to-day ? 



The Legislature of the State of 

 Washington is as much a trustee of 

 the common schools as is the trustee 

 of any other institution or the guard- 

 ian of the person and property of the 

 lone widow or helpless orphan chil- 

 dren. Is it then not right that it should 

 devote as much time, attention and 

 conscientious business ability to the 

 care and management of these lands as 

 would any other trustee or business 

 man ? 



SCHOOL LANDS GRANTED AND NOT DIS- 

 POSED OF. 



The area of these grants and the 

 acreage, not disposed of by sale, lease 

 or contract, is as follows : 



Totals 2,918,080 



There has been received from sales 

 and leases of state lands in the past 

 twelve years a total of $5,140,254.82. 

 This has been derived from deeded 

 sales of .027 per cent of the state's 

 lands, or 78,837.89 acres at an average 

 of $16.68 per acre; from sales by con- 

 tract of .023 per cent of all lands or 

 68,368.47 acres at an average of $19.83 

 per acre ; and from lease of a total of 

 30 per cent of all state lands, or 888,- 

 651.38 acres, at an average annual 

 rental of 14 cents per acre. 



THE STATE TIMBER LANDS. 

 It is safe to presume that, of the 

 state lands, those lying east of the 

 Cascade Mountains include but little 

 merchantable timber, while those west 

 of that divide were selected mainly for 

 the value of their timber. 



