EDITORIAL 



The Mill Tax for Forestry 



THE legislature of Minnesota at its 

 last session passed a bill submitting 

 to the people an amendment to the con- 

 stitution providing that one-fifteenth of 

 a mill upon the assessed valuation of 

 property in the state should be applied 

 to the support of forestry. It is greatly 

 to be hoped that such legislation will 

 become common. The "mill tax" has 

 become widely used for the support of 

 educational institutions, and has much 

 to commend it. It is a fixed source of 

 income practically independent of leg- 

 islative caprice, and constantly increas- 

 ing with the increased valuation of the 

 state and the increased needs of growing 

 educational institutions. Similar legis- 

 lation would provide a practically per- 

 manent support for a state forestry 

 policy. 



Legislative Support for Student Labor 



THE legislature of Minnesota also 

 voted $5,000 per year for student 

 labor on the forest reserves. This ap- 

 propriation is peculiarly grateful to 

 those responsible for the Forest School, 

 inasmuch as material difficulty has been 

 encountered in finding opportunity for 

 students to obtain practical knowledge 

 of forestry work. The provision of 

 wages for student workers by the state 

 has much to commend it. Many capable 

 students have not the means with which 

 to pay their way through college. They 

 are willing to earn their way if oppor- 

 tunity can be afforded. In an agricul- 

 tural college, upon an experiment sta- 

 tion, or in the forest connected with a 

 forest school, there should be large op- 

 portunity for student labor, educative in 

 itself and providing at the same time 

 maintenance for needy and industrious 

 students. Among the first state legis- 

 latures to provide for student labor was 

 498 



that of Kansas, which, in 1899, voted 

 $10,000 for 1900, and $10,000 for 1901, 

 applicable, in part, to student wages. 

 Other legislatures might well follow the 

 example of those of Kansas and Min- 



nesota. 



The Washington Forest Fire Association 



THAT portion of Washington State 

 lying west of the Cascade Moun- 

 tains leads the world as a lumber manu- 

 facturing area. Nowhere else can be 

 found such forests in close proximity to 

 accessible ocean harbors and trans- 

 continental railways. 



Yet the fire peril follows hards upon 

 the trail of the lumber industry. Espe- 

 cially is this true of lumbering in the 

 area in question. During the summer 

 months there is practically no rain, and 

 the forests frequently become like a vast 

 tinder-box. More timber has been de- 

 stroyed in Washington by fire than has 

 been manufactured into lumber. In 1902 

 a single fire destroyed more timber in 

 twenty-four hours in Clarke and Cow- 

 litz counties than was that year manu- 

 factured into lumber in that state. ''On 

 September 10, 1902, there was destroyed 

 a forest which, if spared, would have 

 ultimately yielded good profits to the 

 owners and $25,000,000 besides to labor 

 and for supplies in western Washing- 

 ton." 



Last year was notably the fire year 

 for the United States, yet western 

 Washington suffered far less than usual 

 from fires. 



The explanation is to be found in the 

 existence of the Washington Forest 

 Fire Association, composed of corpora- 

 tions, firms and individuals owning tim- 

 berlands. 



This association began by dividing up 

 the state into seven districts, and effect- 

 ing a working organization. Patrolmen 

 were appointed, and each was made 



