SOME QUESTIONS ANSWERED. 37 



It is hardly a matter in which it is wise "to hold on and go slow and see how 

 things turn out. " The .state is losing hundreds of thousands every year now 

 and will lose more in the future on account of the absence of a satisfactory 

 home supply of forest material. Similarly it is easy to regulate the entire 

 m.atter of state lands or poor lands today. A reasonable price alone will do 

 this to quite an extent. If left undone and if the old policy of advertising our 

 lands as sheep range and the encouragem-ent of land monopoly prevails, and 

 once these lands pass into the hands of the land sharks and are hawked out and 

 colonized, the matter will be preciselj^ where the older states of our country 

 and where the states of Europe have foundered. No matter how universally 

 this colonization may fail, no matter how wretched and run down large areas 

 of these lands may become, the apphcation of any remedy will meet with so 

 many heads and so many and such diversified interests, that it will be only by 

 the sacrifices of enormous sums and much time that Michigan in years to come, 

 may correct the evil which the mistakes of Michigan today will cause. With 

 a little conservative restraint, -v^ith a bit of good will and effort, with some 

 attention to the experience of older states and people, the state of Michigan 

 may, in a very short time, develop out of a blackened waste, a property which 

 to the state will mean millions every year and which will mean even more to 

 the people of the district in which it is located. 



To leave millions of acres in a waste-land condition is a waste of money 

 which no state should be guilty of. But this waste can partly be stopped at 

 once and it should be. 



The state should go ahead with the good exaniple. Millions of acres of pri- 

 vate lands await the right care which can and will come, but can come only 

 when the state goes ahead and establishes a proper and efficient system of pro- 

 tection and develops a just method of taxation for these lands. 



Nor should it be forgotten that this matter is one of great magnitude. 

 The possibilities are great and it is doubtful if our state will have such an op- 

 portunity again. 



