HERMAN H. CHAPMAN 65 



vides that town constables shall be fire wardens, and in 

 many sections it is a dead letter. But this association has 

 secured by petition, the appointment of special constables 

 to serve as fire wardens, and pays them a salary to patrol 

 this district. Rewards are offered for the capture of per- 

 sons setting fires and a campaign of education has been 

 waged against the habit, formerly common, of burning the 

 ground over annually. As a result fires have almost 

 ceased in this vicinity. In many cut-over districts the 

 annual fire is not thought to do any harm, and land owners 

 are indifferent to its occurrence. Under such circum- 

 stances no system of laws or wardens will stop the fires. 

 State wide fire protection is an impossibility in many 

 states until a much greater amount of interest is roused 

 in the possibilities of our forest lands. This must be 

 brought about by owners of lands who are willing to set 

 the example of growing trees and to a large extent fur- 

 nishing their own fire protection, with the assistance when 

 needed of town fire wardens and state laws. 



i VIII. TAX LAWS. 



Aside from proper fire laws, states can do more to en- 

 courage private forestry by wise systems of taxation than 

 in any other way. Forests are now taxed as real estate 

 is taxed. As long as trees are regarded as so much lumber 

 on the stump, waiting to be cut, the policy will be con- 

 tinued of taxing this material as long as it is there to yield 

 a revenue, with the knowledge that once cut there will 

 be no further income to be derived from it by the local 

 government. But this policy is only a part of the vicious 

 system of destruction which is laying waste lands that 

 should be kept in a productive condition forever. Since 

 the returns on young timber are deferred until it reaches 

 merchantable size, the longer the owner defers the cutting 

 the more taxes he has to pay, and the less will his ulti- 

 mate profit be. Such taxation stimulates and even com- 



