FOREST TAXATION IN THE UNITED STATES 347 
be a part of a 160-acre tract. A minimum of 300 trees per acre 
(i. e., planted 12 by 12 feet) was permitted. Homesteaders who had 
not perfected their claims to Federal lands were allowed an exemp- 
tion of but $50 for each planted acre and the same exemption was 
allowed for the planting of fruit trees, if not over 33 feet apart. By 
the act of February 15, 1869 (S. L. p. 181, sec. 4), Nebraska also 
reenacted the provision that the cultivation of trees on any tract 
was not to increase its value for revenue purposes. 
Concerning the practical results of this law, all accounts indicate 
that it was unusually popular, and correspondingly costly to the 
State. Scarcely 2 years after the passage of the law, in 1871, the 
State held a constitutional convention and among other things sought 
to perfect its revenue provisions which then made no provision for 
what should be taxed and what not. It was readily agreed that the 
so-called general property tax should be the basis of the new system. 
Differences of opinion arose, however, in deciding what property if 
any the legislature might be authorized to exempt from such tax. 
The report of the convention (206, v. 2, pp. 426-447; v. 8, pp. 251, 355) 
shows that there was a long and spirited debate over a provision to 
permit the granting of tree-planting exemptions on the scale then 
operative. The opposition emphasized both the excessive cost and 
the inequity and proved strong enough to force the proponents to 
offer a compromise, namely, that— 
the legislature may provide that the increased value of lands by reason of live 
fences, fruit and forest trees grown and cultivated thereon shall not be taken 
into account in the assessment of such lands for the purposes of taxation. 
The draft constitution of this convention failed of ratification. In 
1873 Gov. Robert W. Furnas (188) in his message to the legislature 
referred to the tree-planting exemption law as having ‘‘admittably 
served its purpose” and ‘‘become oppressive.” ‘‘I am convinced”’, 
he continued, ‘‘a more efficient plan can be inaugurated at very much 
less expense and confusion with a desired uniform system ‘of taxation 
avoided.’”’ These bounties, he indicated, had cost the State not less 
than $200,000 the past year, and he recommended that the law be 
repealed and in its stead that a law providing for a tree commissioner, 
or State forester, and other features be passed. Again, in his 1875 
message (189) he referred to the matter and stated that $464,769.25 
of property value had that year been granted exemption from taxa- 
tion by reason of tree planting. Another constitutional convention 
met later that same year and its draft was ratified by popular vote. 
It comprised largely the draft of the 1871 convention and included 
the compromise tree-exemption provision. Nevertheless exemptions 
under the former act of February 12, 1869, continued to be granted 
in large amounts until 1878. In that year the Union Pacific Railroad 
Co. sought relief, through an injunction against the commissioners of 
Saunders County, from the excessive tax burden which the practice 
imposed on its property. As a result the State supreme court held 
the law inconsistent with the new constitution and all current exemp- 
tion thereunder void.’ 
Exemption acts to encourage the planting and growing of forest 
trees on privately owned lands in other of the Prairie and Middle 
Western States followed the original Nebraska law in rather quick 
1 Union Pacific R.R. Co. vy. Board of County Commissioners of Saunders County. Nebr. Repts., v. 7s 
1878, pp. 228-229. e 
