The Glenwood post., 1907-04-13
FOREST SERVICE
FEES NOT TAXES
Says Forester pInChOt in His Re-
ply to Letter Written the
President by the Editor
of Avalanche
MEETS ISSUE FAIR AND SQUARE

Washington, April 6. The follow
ing letter has been sent today from
Clifford Pinchot forester of the United
States department of agriculture, tc
II. j. Holmes, editor of the Ava.
lanche, Glenwood Springs, Colo:
"March 3O 1907.
Mr.. H. J, Holmes. Editor The
Avalanche, Glenwood Springs,
Colo.
Dear Sir-An unsigned letter to
the president on paper bearing your
letterhead, dated March 10, and which
| suppose was written by you, has been
referred to me for reply. The recent
addition to the national forest near
Glenwood Springs lies north and east
of the town, and is, in fact, a south
ern extension of the White river ma
tional forest, but for convenience was
included in the Holy Cross national
forest, though not contiguous with it.
This addition protects large part of
the watershed from which Glenwuod
Springs taxes its water supply. | be-
lieve that the reservation of this tract
as national forest lane will prove
substantially beneficial to Glenwood
Springs and to Garfield county. l
will answer the questions propounded
in your letter in their order:
The forest service is not col
lecting taxes. The fees collected by
it are nothing more than fair com
pensation for special and exclusive
privileges in the national forests,
whose preservation is of the utmost
Importance for the permanent pros.
perity of the West The total amount
collected each year is insufficient to
pay the annual cost of maintaining
this great benefit to the Western peo-
pie.
'2-There is no analogy between
the benefits conferred upon the Allan
tic coast fishermen by the revenue
cutter service and those conferred up
on persons who are given exclusive
rights to use national forest land and
resources.
eff the United States had juris
diction over the grand banks of New.
foundland, and could preserve the
cod from threatened extinction and
increase the annual catch by admins
trative regulation and supervision
and by granting exclusive permits for
the rights to fish on the banks, it
could justly make reasonable charge
for such favored permittees to defray
the expense of administration. Some
thing like this mas been done by Con
necticut and New York with respect
to the oyster fishery in Long Island
Sound, to the great advantage of
those states and the industry affected
This is analogous to the giving Of
upon the payment of a fee.
"4-l understand that the engineer
ing works on the Mississippi river are
constructed and maintained by the
United States to improve navigation
for the benefit of all citizens, and the
expense is paid by taxes contributed
by all. Any protection from over
flow that results from these works is
subsidiary to their main purpose.
Levees erected for the special purpose
of protecting lands from overflow
might justly be paid for by special
taxes upon the lands so protected
and | believe this is done by the laws
of certain states. The forest service,
in like manner, makes reasonable
charges for the special benefits con
ferred by it upon persons taking per
mits for the exclusive use of the for
ests.
"5-The government. with respect
to its lands, is the trustee, not merely
of the few who wish to enjoy special
and exclusive privileges and so mo,
nopolize the public lands, but of the
people at large. AS trustee, it is the
duty of the government to secure to
the beneficiaries equal shares in such
distribution of the trust fund rs may
be desirable. and to permanently pre-.
serve those natural resources upon
which the prosperity of the whole
country depends, from the waste and
destruction that have everywhere &C.
companied unregulated exploi .ation.
Therefore, the government freely gives
] ts agricultural lands to bona fide
homemakers, and allows the private
appropriation of lands containing
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