The Roanoke times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1897-1977, 1897-04-02

uOn suppose he ever saw Il full blOoded
Indian, and it is doubtful if he ever Wis
tied the interior of the country for any
length of time. 1t is Il mighty poor rule
that is not as applicable to an important
position rs it is to one of little conse-
quence.
The Waste of the Forests.
The American people have been wick
edly wasteful of their forests. A halt
to their distinctions should have been
called long ago Yet the action of OK
President Cleveland ill creating IS new
forest reserves, with total area of
nearly 21,0OO,0 900 acres, has been Sc
verely criticised. Under the Harrison
administration about $4,000, 900 acres
Of forest land were withdrawn from sale
and set apart as q nucleus of system
of forest reserves
The action of the late President Cleve-
land was i'll consonance with the recon-
mendation Of the national forestry COM
mission made after thorough study of
the data available and visit to nearly
all tho reserves in question. The men,
bers of the commission familiariZed
themselves with the work of the irriga-
ton surveys, which show the decided
need of preserving all the waters near
the sources of the great streams. In fact,
one great object of the preservation of
the forests is the continuation of the
water supply.
A Threat OF Veto.
When the sundry civil bill came up
Mt the close of the last session, q rider
was tackled to it which opened these
new rescrycs to settlers, thus annul-
ling the presidents proclamation set
ting them aside President Cleveland
promptly intimated that he would veto
the sundry civil bill if it contained such q
provision, and the friends of the reserves
prepared an amendment as substitute
for the rider, setting forth way in
which the reserve could be made avail
able for mining and domestic purposes
1t provides that forest reservations
found to be more valuable for agricul-
tural purposes than for forest uses after
inspection OH the part of Il competent
person shall be restored to entry under
the general settlement laws. 1t provides
also that prospectors and mineral claim
ants shall have free access to such forest
reservations. 1t has never been the de-
natural developments of the reserves,
but OH the contrary to provide for the
widest use of all their resources COM
| patlble with their preservation. During
| its recent consideration of the Lacey
amendment i'll congress it was repeatedly
| urged that the commission had acted
upon meager knowledge of the matter
but this is Il mistake. The commission
ers were competent men and fully in
vestigated tho subject by personal visits
and study.
AS the sundry civil appropriation bill
failed to pass during the last days of
tho Fifty-fourth congress it must be
passed by the Fifty-tifth congress before
July |, and the forest reserves clause is
sure to provoke good deal of discus
sion.
Farms Rated Too High.
Speaking of forestry reminds me that
local taxation as affecting farms has
been given renewed iaterest as the re-
suit of an investigation made by tho
agricultural department. In 1895 ex-
perts personally visited more than 1, 900
farms, selecting the extreme eastern and
| western sections of the state of New
York. They obtained from the owner of
each farm his estimate of tho actual
market value of his entire estate, in
Guiding personal and real property.
Every farmer visited, feeling assured
from the character of his visitor, who
was well known locally, that the infor-
nation thus obtained would not be given
to the local assessors, was quite willing
to give the information. 1t was found
almost uniformly, however, that farm
ers rated the value of both their land
and their buildings much too high, but
they were disposed toput an excessively
low valuation upon their cattle farming
implements and furniture. OF course it
was impractcable to obtain an estimate
of the invisible personal property OF
farmers, like money i'll bank, bonds and
the like. The statistics show that if
farms We're assessed only ut their strictly
unimprovod value it would be less than
40 per cent of the improved value,
while, on the other hand, similar investi-