SOME QUESTIONS ANSWERED. 19 



those in authority, with the result of offering a premium, directly or indirectly, 

 on forest preservation, rather than destruction. 



Most respectfully, 



E. A. ROBINSON. 



PERTINENT SUGGESTIONS BY PROF. ROTH. 



That forestry is not a mere experiment, that it is an old, well tried and ap- 

 proved business, that it is the only kind of business capable of using certain 

 classes of land, and that even in fertile farming districts a goodly per cent of 

 land should be devoted to raising a timber crop, all of these things are pretty 

 well conceded. There's no lack of enthusiasm all over the country, from Maine 

 to California we have forestry associations, forestry commissions, forest re- 

 serves and state forests and from one end of the country to the other private 

 owners are trying to find out just how far the matter is practicable and profit- 

 able for private enterprise. 



But everywhere private enterprise meets two serious obstacles. Unrea- 

 sonable taxation, and lack of protection, chiefly protection against fire to a 

 less extent, trespass. 



TAXES TOO HIGH. 



One of our prominent governors very properly stated in a recent article 

 that taxation beyond the average or reasonable rate of income or interest on 

 a man's money or business is nothing less than confiscation of property and 

 should be prevented by law. 



If all the business in the state of Michigan, profit and loss properly bal- 

 anced, pays about two per cent (and it is doubtful if it pays more,) it is quite 

 a burden to pay 1.7 per cent in way of taxes. Again, if the farmers of Wash- 

 tenaw county on land readily saleable at 140.00 per acre find it quite a tax to 

 pay 1.2 per cent it surely is more than a trial for the settler in the pinery re- 

 gion on land sold by the state at $1.00 per acre to pay as high as six per cent 

 and commonly over three per cent in way of tax in the same kind of business. 

 It will be argued that business pays at a better rate, that in a state where 

 monejr readily brings five per cent and over, there is no kind of business which 

 does not pay, at least, this interest of five per cent. Let us see. 



REVENUE OF AVERAGE FARM. 



According to the census of 1900, the average farm in the United States is 

 worth, buildings, stock and implements included, $3,574 and produces a gross 

 income of $656.00 all told. Out of this, $74.00 goes for extra labor 

 and fertilizer and if we put the taxes at only $35.00 and the necessary repairs 

 horseshoeing, etc., at another $40.00, the total income shrivels down to $507. 

 This $507 represents the wages of man and wife and usually one child together 

 with the net income on the investment. Such a man however, is with $450 and 

 the keep of himself and family if he is engaged by the year so that $450 plus 

 the part of the provisions not raised on the farm should be deducted from 

 the $507 of income, which at best would leave perhaps about $25.00 as the net 

 revenue on $3,574. 



In Michigan, these figures are: The average farm contains eighty-six 

 acres; is worth (including stock and implements) $3,398, or very near the 

 average for the country. It has a gross income of $540, which leaves perhaps 

 about $400 to be divided between labor of the farmer's family, part of keep and 

 net income on the investment. 



