Woodland Taxation. 165 



in the woods, leaves it in a* much worse condition for the all but 

 inevitable after-lumbering fire, which all too often leaves the land 

 a waste, hence the net result of the greater demand for wood 

 products in the case of lands held in private ownership is not 

 an increased but a decreased production. 



This tendency for an increased demand to result in the 

 decimation of woo'dlands is not confined to North America, 

 nor our own time, but has been the history of the forest wherever 

 it is held in private ownership unrestrained by state control. 

 There has, however, never been a better illustration of its work- 

 ings than has been witnessed at our very doors throughout the 

 farming sections of Ontario during the last ten and more particu- 

 larly during the last five years. The value of standing timber 

 has doubled within a few years with the result that the wood- 

 lots have been sacrificed at a hitherto unprecedented rate, and 

 one that has alarmed every thoughtful observer. And yet not 

 one farmer in a thousand, perhaps not one in ten thousand, has 

 done any planting on a commercial scale. More serious still, 

 not one farmer in ten has paid the slightest attention to caring 

 for what woodlands remain. On the contrary, the all but uni- 

 versal practice of grazing the farm woodlands effectually prevents 

 any recovery which nature might essay. 



(3) A third plea may well be entered for the removal of all 

 restraint on the production of a commodity which, while so 

 peculiarly in a class by itself so far as regards the laws governing 

 its production, is without exception the most useful raw material 

 of all manufacture, and an indispensable agent in all production 

 and transportation. Aside, indeed, from the character of its 

 population, nothing contributes so much to the material progress 

 and happiness of a nation as an abundant supply of timber at 

 reasonable prices. 



In view, then, of the va'ue of woodlands to the community 

 as a whole, the peculiar temptations to deforestation due to the 

 long time element involved in the production of timber, and the 

 indispensable character of wood in modern industrial life, the 

 state may well exempt from taxation such private woodlands 

 as are devoted exclusively to wood production, and which come 

 up to a reasonable standard of production. 



It stands to reason of course that such tax exemption should 

 be made only in so far as seems necessary to prevent excessive 

 deforestation in the agricultural sections, and to insure a future 

 supply of wood for domestic use. 



