Heppner gazette. [volume] (Heppner, Morrow County, Or.) 1892-1912, 1906-02-01
WILL AMEND
TIMBER LAW
CONGRESS LIKELY TO ADOPT A
NEW PLAN.
Land Will be Sold in such q Man.
ner as to Bring Some thing
Near Real Value.

during the present session of Congress
the timber and stone act is likely to bt
repealed, aud in its place law will be
written on the statute books which au
thorizes the sale OF public timber q,
some hing like it's real value. But be-
fore any legislation of this character is
enacted the public land committee oi
| the Senate and the House will give very
thorough consideration to the various
pending bills, and some practical, ef
fective solution OF the timber land evil
is likely to result
That the timber and stone act in Its
present form is vicious is generally ad-
mit'ed. 1t is generally acknowledged
that no Just law can be enforced which
requires the same price for the valuable e
timber land of Oregon as for the very
cheap timber land of the Rocky noun
tain states. That is what the timber
and stone act does.
While there is very general sentl-
ment in favor OF the repeal of this law. .
Western men are not willing merely to
wipe 1t off the statute books; they in
not only permit the use of mature timb
er but will also provide a meterial re
venue to compensate for the loss OF re
ceipts due to the repeal. This law lie
the principal source of revenue with
which to build the government irriga-
ton works. and to repeal it without
substituting some other means of get
ting revenue from the public timber
would be to hamper materially the con-
structlon of such projects.
The discussion of this problem has
not gone far enough to justify predic-
tlon as to the form OF bill that will be
reported. but it seems probable that
Congress, after repeating the timber
and stone act. will authorize the sale
Of public timber at something like its
real value; that is to say that some
scheme will be deviseu for sppraising
the public timber, and permitting its
sale at not less than it's appraised value
Even iu those states where the timber is
of poor quality the government will de-
rive as much revenue from it's timber
land as it does under the present law,
while in Oregon, Washington, Idaho
and California the prices will range
away above the price required under
the existing law.
There is demand from some quarters
for law which will authorize merely
the sale OF the timer, the title to the
and to remain with the government.
The advocates of this plan point ont
hat by holding the title to the land in
it will be comparatively
Easy to perpetuate the forests, and to
'egulate the cutting 80 that none but
nature timber will be removed. By
the forests the Govern
nent will have continual source of
evenue. whereas. If the title to the
imber land passes to the lumberman,
here is little chance Of retorestation
md no hope whatever of deriving rev.
nue. for the government, once the land
8 sold.
Under existing laws the Government
3 selling mature timber from it's forest
eserves, but the money derived does
ot find its way into the reclamation
und. Attention of Western Senators
nd Representatives has been called to
his fact, and it is not unlikely that d,
Ill will be pressed this session requir- ,
az that such revenues, from the sale OF =
ublic land, shall be turned into the re
fund and not into the Federal
reasury. Strictly speaking, this -.
money ought to go to the reclamation
md, since it is really part OF the
ublc land receipts, and those Senators
nd Congressman who have been handi-
apped because OF a shortage of money
Or irrigation work Will probably favor
ne bill outlined.