, 1906-07-17
Ten Per Cent of Gross Receipts AIIot-
ted by Law to Offset Loss In Taxes
Nearly Seventy-Five Thousand
Dollars This Year, Sixty-Seven
Hundred Dollars OF Which Will
se'Appropriated to Wyoming.


NaAAAcA6 NAAOSS
who were not familiar with the objects
to be attained by forest reserves. All
the enemies of the national forest pol
icy made ammunition of it, and many
of its more timid friends began to fear
that the movement was going too far.
Most of the arguments of doubters,
however, could easily be refuted.
The Forester's Idea.
There were two objects that could
not be disposed of so readily-frst,
that this vast area, as large as all the
New England and middle states with
Maryland and Virginia thrown in, took
away from opportunity for agricultural
settlement and home building many
tracts of land scattered here and there
along creeks and valleys within the
forest reserves. The forester felt the
propriety of this criticism keenly and
studied carefully the boundaries of
each reserve to eliminate as much ag-
ricultural land as possible. Finding
that many small tracts remained, he
submitted to the secretary of agricul-
ture the Agricultural Settlement Bill"
which the latter recommended to con-
gress and which finally received the
presidents signature June IL, 1906.
Counties Materially Affected.
Although under this law all and act
ually disable for home building will be
brought within the reach of the people,
there was another strong objection to
the reserves, namely, that many coun-
ties in which reserves lie have much,
in some instances more than half, of
their area withdrawn from the posi-
bility of private ownership and taxa
ton. The forest service was not un-
mindful of the unfairness of this condi-
ton and submitted a bill to grant 10
per cent of the total receipts from for
est reserves to the counties in which
they are situated. This proposed law
was finally incorporated in the forest
iSSSlNS provisions VI inc asllSuiIupa al
appropriation act of June 80, 1906. The
clause reads as follows
For Schools and Roads.
That ten per centum of all money
received from each forest reserve dur
ing any fiscal year, including the year
ending June thirtieth, nineteen hun
dred and six, shall be paid at the end
thereof by the secretary of the treas
ury to the state or territory in which
said reserve is situated, to be expend-
ed as the state or territorial legisla-
ture may prescribe for the benefit of
the public schools and public roads Of
the county or counties in which the
forest reserve is situated: Provided,
That when any forest reserve is in
more than one state or territory or
county the distributive share to each
from the proceeds of said serve shall
be proportional to its area therein:
And provided further, That there shall
not be paid to any state or territory
for any county an amount equal to
more than forty per centum of the to-
tai income of such county from all 9th
err sources"
Proceeds Figured Up.
The proceeds from forest reserves
in the fiscal year ended June 80, 1904,
were $5S,436.19. During the next ifs
cal year the receipts were S73,276.15.
The transfer of the forest reserve to
the forest service was made February
1 of that year, II during the five
months remaining the forest service
was busy reorganizing the plans for
forest.reserve administration. The re
suit is notable. During the year ended
June 80 last the receipts were $751;
219.96, which was more than a tenfold
increase over the previous year.
The full measure of the Importance
of this 10 per cent provision can not,
however, be taken from the figures Of
this year. The receipts from the re-
serves will probably increase with
great strides for years to come, and
the contribution to the counties is des-
tined to make up richly for the loss of
taxation.
S~afeguarded In the Act.
The 10 per cent contributed to the
counties is safeguarded in the act by
a provision that is must be spent en-
tirely for the maintenance of schools
and public roads. The state legisla-
lures are allowed to direct the expend-
iture. Another safeguard is that the
contributions from forest-reserve re-
ceipts must not in any case be greater
than 40 per cent of the taxes received
from other sources.
The governors of all the states and
territories in which forest reserves are
situated have been informed by letter
concerning the amount which will
come to each state at the present time