TAX LANDS AND FORESTRY. 109 



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placed on the land, it would gradually work out a system of selection, 

 and the lands which are suited only for forest culture would no longer 

 be denuded for the purpose of establishing a farm which never can be 

 profitable. In this way the lands would gradually restock themselves 

 from the natural growth, particularly, if, as before stated, they are 

 given proper fire and trespass protection. 



"As to the loss to the State, because of inadequate or fraudulent ap- 

 praisal — ^side from the loss because of advertising and clerk hire — this 

 has been enormous. The 21,451 acres which it has only been possible 

 to examine because of the short time, show a loss to the State of $10.20 

 per acre average. According to the lists received from the Land OflSce, 

 there has been sold by the State, during the past five to six years, 

 882,000 acres. At this average the loss to the State was $8,996,400. 

 The value of the timber alone was five times that of the price obtained 

 by the State for the land and timber." 



Another value which many of these lands have, and which has also 

 been ignored, is that of flowage. For instance, the S W % of the N E 

 14 and lots 1 and 2 of 15-13-11- W, 107 acres, was sold by the State to 

 Hugh French at |1.25 per acre, or $134. French sold this land to the 

 Muskegon Realty Co. for flowage rights for $2,000. 



From the lists furnished by the Land OflSce, it was ascertained that 

 the private sales outnumbered the public sales as 4.2 to 1. This is 

 easily explained if the procedure at the sale of June 25, 1908, when 

 the Wnds in Charlotte county were sold at public auction at Lansing, 

 may be taken as an example of the methods usually followed. When 

 the sale opened, Mr. Havens, chief clerk under Mr. Rose, stated that 

 the lands were to be sold at public auction, that the State's appraised 

 valuation would not be given, and that only such lands, as where the 

 bid equalled or exceeded this appraisal, would be sold. He added that 

 on the morrow such lands as were not disposed of at public sale, could 

 be purchased at private sale, and that the State's appraisal on them 

 would then be made known and that the lands would be disposed of at 

 this figure to such as desired them. 



It naturally followed that only such lands as are bid for by others 

 would be taken up at the public sale, because these same lands could 

 probably be bought cheaper the following day, whereas at the public 

 auction the price would have to be at least equal to the appraised value 

 and an offer might be made which was above this and which would then 

 of course be accepted. 



This sale further illustrated the great inconvenience of having these 

 sales at the State capital, instead of at the county seat, or place where 

 the lands are located, because at least one case is known where the 

 owner of land, who was in unfortunate circumstances and unable to 

 pay his taxes, did not have the necessary means to make the trip to 

 Lansing to bid in his farm, and which would have probably or possibly 

 been sold to some speculator, and thus deprived him of his home. This 

 trip to Lansing is an unnecessary hardship and should be done away 

 with by having the lands ofifered for sale in the locality where they are 

 situated. 



Respectfully submitted, 



CARL E. SCHMIDT, 

 FRANCIS KING. 



