Hattiesburg daily news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1907-1908, 1907-08-03

IN THE OPEN COURT.

80 80 seses sssess 800
Il The following communication from
a Gulfport citizen will be read with in.
terest by mill men throughout this
TERRITORY:
AS sufferer from particularly ag-
gravated form of misapplication of
law, believe | am taking an effaci-
ous, and certainly an inexpensive.
method Of giving the case publicity.
Let the public Judge, while laying to
! heart (Such of them as may be sus-
pected of having any possessions con-
spicuous enough to attract coventu-
GUS eyes) that in due time, unless
some check is found. they will inevi-
tably receive tar from theNsame brush.
am part owner in small mill in
mississippi. Among our timber leases
there was one on sixteenth sec
lion. My partners and paid for this
al the rate of something like SIS per
al pre-, thus buying the standing timber
fr\pm the original Jesse. We cut it,.
hihuled it and manufactured 1t into
lumber. The authorities are now sue
inn us for an amount estimated on a
| bae is of nearly double OF what we paid
| fort 10 about eighteen months ago. We
shs4l have high lawyers fees to pay
Leve4p If we successfully defend the
suitA
First of all, should be glad If
lsomd one would point out the wrong
we have done. The original lessee
wanted to farm the land, and to farm
it it had to be cleared of trees and he
had 10 obtain money. We took the
trees. paid him the money, and he
promptly used the latter to clear,
fence and pillow the school land, there
lby rendering it an incomepayi piece
!of property, which previously It was
mot, and could not be SO long as the
trees we're there.
When the authorities rented the
land to this man, was it with the in
ltention of sueing anyone who should
cut the timber omit? If SO, the lezeo
was deliberate, conscious n,,.d,o
: because It was worthless to Il ,assss
with the standing timber q T. not
the suit 3 an infractioy - .ho ,ndss
standing IN which ~ 80 80 .--ss.
ed 80
strongly against the waste or
aepsxtion of any of the natural pro-
lets of this or any other country. /
=, had been in Sioux City when buffalo
hides were piled high on the sidewalk
and could be bought (tanned) for Sc
apiece. l have seen hundreds of elk
in band on the foothills in Southern
Wyoming, where they are now rarely
seen singly, and my gorge rises at
the senseless, barbarous butchery that
has nearly exterminated these splen
did creatures. think the turpentinine
and the telling of small timber is a I'll
subject for legislation. fail to see
however, where the thinning out Of
the larger long leaf pine is an injury
to the country.
But, as matter of fact, it is not
and no one SO engaged thinks 1t is
1t is the old story Of the hopes t.
81 whom Solomon, at their request, gave
n crests of gold. Having no means o
OF defense, they soon appealed to hin
w. for protection to avoid being hunted
to death for their headgear. And alas
public opinion has endured the saw
III mill man with a reputation that,
g. though not gold, yet glitters as If !
were. He is enormously supposed t
er make enormous profits. AS matte
of fact, the bulk of them go in tn
immense advance in the cost of labor
III supplies, machinery railroad rates
oxen feed and literally everything b
has to buy. The people who are stil
ic- ring up these suits are not desirou
of profiting the timber, the county, tn
state, or anybody except their own pei
sonal fortunes. Is it likely they wan
to stop these so-calIed infractions Q
the law, when to do SO would sto
their own percentage on the damages
The system of paying percentage a
IRE all for such services win tend to pre-
duce corruption.
The unfortunate millowner is nea
70 his tether's end; what with high taxe'
high and scandalously inefficient labo
insurance SO high as to be PRACTICAL
an prohibitory, and forcing him to recko
ret with fire every few years, and ca
shortage that is an actual dead los
l. for one, fear no honest governmer
nm inquiry into the logging OF mills. Il
us have a commissioner of forestr
even as we have one on fish hatchin
Il =. -. !. u