EDITORIAL 



299 



often now, to harvest his crop prema- 

 turely. He waits until it has ripened, 

 cuts it, markets it and out of the pro- 

 ceeds pays his timber tax. 



What proceeding could be more ra- 

 tional than this? Why persecute the 

 owner with annual taxes into destroy- 

 ing a property which, in the interests 

 of the community, may need to be pre- 

 served? Y\ "hy, though the forest be 

 one which may be cut without damage 

 to the public interests, should the owner 

 be forced by annual taxation to hurry 

 it upon the market before it has ma- 

 tured ? 



This method of taxing cut-over lands 

 seems peculiarly appropriate. The an- 

 nual value upon which such lands 

 would be taxed would be slight. The 

 owner would pay no tax at all until the 

 harvest time, many years deferred. The 

 tax burden w r ould thus be light. In 

 consequence he could well afford to 

 hold the cut-over lands for reforesta- 

 tion. 



What objection can be found to this 

 system of taxation? Should there be 

 any, CONSERVATION will be glad to see 

 it and give it publicity. 



A Tree as a Landowner 



SPECIAL attention is called to the 

 brief story in this issue entitled 

 "A Tree Lover." Here, indeed, we 

 find a unique, though evidently not 

 new, method of protecting a tree from 

 the menace of man. Great are the 

 "rights of property!" In their name 

 what has not, hitherto, been accom- 

 plished? Here is instanced a case in 

 which the rights of landed proprietor- 

 ship are bestowed upon a tree. By 

 formal title the tree is made the legal 

 owner "of itself and of all lands within 

 eight feet of it on all sides." And for 

 a hundred years this deed has stood, 

 and so has the tree. In all the dignity 

 of a property owner, with "its feet on 

 the ground," and in it as well, it lifts 

 its head toward heaven and braves not 

 only the elements, but, more dangerous 

 still, man and his municipality. 



Why have we not here a suggestion? 

 Are there not other trees, great and 

 noble, which might and should be pro- 

 tected in this way? Think of the giant 

 redwoods, the Big Trees of Califor- 

 nia trees which have survived almost 

 the entire period of recorded human 

 history yet, in many instances, are now 

 subject to the greed, the need, or the 

 caprice of man ! Think of "Charter 

 Oaks," of "Independence Elms" and 

 other historic trees, living or dead ! Why 

 may not the method adopted by Judge 

 Jackson be exactly the method whereby 

 such monuments may be preserved to 

 live out their allotted time, though that 

 be yet centuries long, and render their 

 service to mankind? 



President Taft for Conservation 



MR. GIFFORD PINCHOT, Chief of 

 the United States Forest Service, 

 has recently issued the following state- 

 ment regarding the administration's at- 

 titude toward National Forests and the 

 w r ork of the Forest Service : 



Any statement that President Taft is not 

 in sympathy with forestry and the conserva- 

 tion movement is without foundation. On the 

 contrary, I am authorized by the President to 

 say that he is in entire sympathy with the 

 forest policy and the conservation policy as 

 already developed and stands behind them. 



This statement is wholly unecessary to 

 those acquainted with the real situation. It 

 is made only in answer to the large numbers 

 of questions asked me during my recent trip 

 through the West and since my return. 

 These questions had to do with rumors to the 

 general effect that the administration is out 

 of sympathy with the forest policy and the 

 conservation policy. In order to set these 

 rumors at rest by an authoritative statement 

 of what I already knew to be the fact, I 

 thought it best to lay them before President 

 Taft. Accordingly, it is with his authority that 

 I make the above statement. 



I am also authorized by the President to 

 deny categorically the story that great areas 

 are to be thrown out of the National Forests 

 by presidential proclamation. The only pos- 

 sible basis for such a rumor that I have been 

 able to discover lies in certain plans adopted 

 by the Forest Service months ago. These 

 plans were in accord with lines of policy 

 long recognized and established. They were 

 approved by Secretary Wilson and they pro- 

 vided for a careful examination and mapping 

 of the boundaries of the National Forests 



