Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1904-09-29
LII MBER NOTES
MISSISSIPPI ZIMMERMAN TALKS
ON TAXES.
Some Reasons Why County Boards Should be
Careful in the Matter of Over.Estimating
the Value Of Timber Lands. Heavy Taxes
Should Not be Imposed.

Word comes from the state of Wash.
ington that county boards in that state
are about to repeat an error that has
marked the proceedings OF similar bodies
in the timber country from Maine to
Minnesota, and which has done more to
strip the country of Its timber than all
the attractions of high prices. This is
the excessive taxation of timber lands.
in this part of the country the history of
the numbering industry is replete with
instances where timber owners have
been obliged to cut their timber as Ia pid-
lv as possible to prevent its practical
confiscation through the levying Of ex.
cessive assessments. The wilderness has
been threaded with well built but use.
less roads far in excess ct requirements
for years into the future; county build.
ings that would not be necessary for a
generation, have been provided for and
built out OF the tax fund gathered from
the owners of timber. and the pockets
OF dishonest county officials have been
lined with wealth squeezed from the
non resident owners of timber, who had
no voice in the conduct OF county affairs.
Because Of these high taxes they have
been forced to cut their timber and man
ufacture it, and the error of overtaxation
has not stopped there. The cut over
lands, or those that have been partly
denuded Of their timber have still been
taxed 30 that reforestation has been
made an impossibility, and the lands
have been permitted to revert to the,
state WREN they might have been ,uSed
for the raisiug Of new forests, or held
until there was demand for them for
agricultural purposes. ~ - NE
The present condition Of the lumber
businesssof the far nest does not warrant
the incrsesing u the saw mill sapscity
of that section. Misunderstanding has ,besn
overdone, I and until the Western Vapu.
factnrJ1s He sdre sssful Ia stkxlF siIsesatN
secured q reduction ia, the freight ratss to
the Missouri river, and the demand for
their lumber 10 such 40 to absorb the
output of the mills now built. forced
manufacture will only result in lower
prices. and possible bankruptcy for many
mill owners While large sums of money
have been invested in Washington state
timber during the past few years, but
little of it has been for speculative pur-
poses. Most of the timber now ia indi.,
vidual or corporate hands has been pur.
chased for manufacture by its present
owners. In the natural course of events
,nuch Of it will eventually change hands
before it is sawed, but the wet coast
timber market has not been speculative
one beyond tho hope Of the owners that
the price Of lumber would be higher
before they found it necessary to manu-.
facture their timber.
But If the county boards pursue the
short.sighted policy of imposing heavy
taxes on the timber. it will force the
owners to put in mills and remove the
timber from the possibility Of absorption
in the vorscious lnaws Of the tax gather.
ers. They will have no alternative but
the choice Of two evils. They must sub
NIT to taxation that will in few years
multiply the value Of their timber beyond
the possibility Of natural appreciation in
value, or they must cut it and sell it at
prices that will net them a loss. This
policy of overtaxation will not stop with
affecting the process above outlined, 1t
will 60 further. There are thousands of
acres OF timber lands in the far west.
still owned by the government, and
there are thousands Of dollars Of idle
lumber capital in the east ready to be
invested in that section If it can be
shown that the conditions are favorable.
BY evincing disposition to overtax
property Of this character, the county
boards will prevent investments that
mean much for the future of the state.
1t is for the best interests of the great
state Of Washington that this disposition
should be headed off at the start. The
history Of the old numbering districts to
the east should offord . warning that
such policy is unwise, to say the least.