The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-07-27
The si.e Qua Nos Of Forest Consersa
tion.
Southern Lumbermah.

Southern Lumbermah.
Among the severan notably able pa
Psrs read e the messfn sr Of .hs s sa-
citation at Seattle last week. was one
Conservation" BY Professor Fred Rog-
ssS TsrShs aa grG5ssser q .S.
page Professor Fairchlld gees over
Srsia om inp PSI soussra
tention throughout the south. He
asap sysews ihs ssSefa isn sss
and points out lis peculiar Inequalities
The theory OF this tax system is
that each eisi. s Il ds rs ss ps sSfy
way WAYS. ' By @ ass amount II Wealth Pos
sessed at the time the assessment for
siza nsSms = res sas q au * h
share Of Il railroad stock valued At .
hundred dollars, and which pays an
anaas d ssr %sat the Re
COME GO ais a siGSs II from f ss Would
be 81 per annum In either case; Either
timber land both the property and TIE
income derived from It are taxed: The
income Of the forest hts slm93eE
ana the trees. The law applies to
other winds OF wealth. but there is
sss wsts gsa met s ssasf nee
year, and the tax is levied but once q
year. The farmer Is taxed on his
land, but not on his crops, az the lat.
every year. The Timber land oner
cannot harvest his crop each year |;
Each year the growth Of the forest
..s ed Each year ART, the tay e i'll
s.t4. Is anaity harvested. the same
timber has been taxed over and over
again. perhaps ffty or even hundred
AS matter of fact, however. the
upon, as Professor Fairchild points
out, to bear the heavy burden which
discussion OF the working ,of the gen
srai property tax. The burden has
been ameiiorated through under assess
%soe G1 as sss s sPPs III. z 60 sa the uds
ment, expsrience or caprice Of TIE as
tioP;; or staadssa g e. ~ sSys a Il ts
usually regulating his valuation BY
what he can hear OF as being done 70
the neighboring county or q neighbor-
Ing district. Nothing could De mofs
rofessor Fairchild expresses the opin-
Ion that. except In relatively rev
instances, the assessments made over
any wide extent of country cannoS yet
be said to be unduly burdensoIne, there
Is now and has been for the past sew
eral years a constant tendency toward
Increase Of assessmeEts II is Sniy the the
thus far saved the timber land own
ers, ana continuance OF this cannot be
counted on.
of utter uncertainty on the prictacal
question OF forest conservation. Is
elesriy pointed out BY Professor scr F ts,,I
hope to see the general practice OF for
estry,. by private individuals or cor
porations. as a business proposition,
until the present method OF taxation
Both reaso nabIe and dependable for the
future, guaranteeing the investor
against q progressive Increase Of taxa
% that si - ,0sie,s fsr atm %
calculate in advance what the tax III
be- without some measure OF guar,
antee along these lines no man VIII
Even IL no tendecy towards icrease Of
asse ssrnents were not visible, the fear
OF what might happe min the future
would be euncient 10 operate aS
continual and powerful motive for as
rapid cutting OF the timber as posi-
AS in other articles which we have
printed from his pen, Professor FAIR
child faYors the substitution OF tax
on yield. and goes somewhat fully into
the details or the administration OF
such a tax. While admitting that many
dificult problems, differing with local
conditions, will have to be solved. and
that 1t will be many years before
uniform and ideal administration OF q
tax on Yield could be brought about,
he thinks that some modification OF the
idea could now be advahtageously put
Into effect in all the timber States. He
reviews some of the steps that have
b een taken In different States looking
to such a change. Hts whole paper
will be found OF great interest. II
clearly Indicates the line along which
reform Will come. and come the reform
must before conservation of the exist
ing forests Of this country can become
much more than 2 matter OF academic
discussion.
OF somewhat kindred nature was an
able paper read by Frank II. Lamb
of the Washington State Forest Com
mission of the Fundamental rinciples
of Forest Protection" This paper Is
also printed In this issue. 1t deals
with protection OF forests from IRE,
and is an Interesting review of the
progress being made IN methods Of fire
prevention on the aciflc Coast. These
two questions, IRE prevention and taxa
ton, are at the bottom Of the whole