72 Second Annual Report of the 



the title to a large area has been acquired through tax sales and 

 other sources which would necessitate an extensive search and 

 compilation. It is fair, however, to say that the State in its 

 acquisition spent approximately four million dollars. The interest 

 on this investment at five per cent is two hundred thousand dol- 

 lars per annum, and the taxes are about one hundred and fifty 

 thousand dollars per year; the cost of fire protection and ad- 

 ministration is nearly fifteen thousand dollars more; there is, 

 therefore, a total carrying charge of not less than three hundred 

 sixty-five thousand dollars per year. 



The movement to secure better management, wiser expenditure, 

 increased income and greater efficiency in the management of State 

 affairs is of the utmost importance. The State of New York 

 probably never made a better or wiser investment than the acquisi- 

 tion of the forest lands in the Adirondack and Catskill regions. 

 The value of this property has been variously estimated and is 

 worth many times its cost. The present expenditures by this 

 Commission for protection and administration are probably not 

 more than one-half of a mill per dollar of valuation, which is an 

 insignificant premium for the protection of this valuable property. 

 It would not, therefore, be a wise policy for the State to reduce 

 the expenditure for fire protection or administration, but, on the 

 other hand, an increase is necessary. If this property is intelli- 

 gently and safely handled it is possible to make the same not only 

 self sustaining but revenue producing. There is the possibility 

 of securing all the advantages which are now derived from a 

 protective forest standpoint, and in addition a large income to the 

 State if this area is placed under proper, honest forest manage- 

 ment. 



CLASSIFICATION. 



Mortgage Lands. 



The State has acquired title to over eight thousand acres of land 

 in the Forest Preserve counties through the foreclosure of mort- 

 gages given to Loan Commissioners. The statute provides that if 

 this land was wild at the time of foreclosure it became a part of 

 the Forest Preserve, and therefore, under our jurisdiction, but if 

 it was not wild land at that time then it is not a part of the 

 Forest Preserve, and is in the care of the State Comptroller. A 



