The Daily Missoulian., 1909-01-23

a yearly average Of 50 lives and $780,
900, 900 worth Of timber. Not less
than 5G,O0o,00O acres of forest is
burned over yearly. The young
growth destroyed by fire is worth far
more than the merchantable timber
burned.
One-fourth Of the standing timber
is lost in logging. The boxing of long
leaf pine for turpetine has destroyed
one-fifth of the forests worked. The
loss in the mill Is from one-third to
two-thirds of the timber sawed. The
loss of mill product in seasoning and
fitting for use is from one-seventh to
one fourth.
OF each 1000 feet which stood in the
forest, an average of only 800 feet of
lumber Is used.
We take from our forests each year,
not counting the loss by fire, three
and one-half times their yearly
growth. We take 40 cubic feet per
acre for each IL cubic feet grown: we
take 260 cubic feet per capita, while
Germany uses 81 and France 25 cubic
feet.
We tax our forests under the gen.
eral property tax, method abandoned
long ago by every other great nation.
Present tax laws prevent reforestation
of cut-over land and the perpetuation
of existing forests by use.
Great damage is done to standing
timber by injurious forest insects.
Much of this damage can be prevented
at small expense.
To protect our farms from winds
and to reforest land best suited for
forest growth will require tree plant
ing on an area larger than Pennsyl-
vania, Ohio, and West Virginia COM
bined. Lands so far successfully
planted make a total area smaller
than Rhode Island; and year by year,
through careless cutting and by fires,
we lower the capacity of existing for
ests to produce their like again; or
else totally destroy them
Need of Much Wood.
| In spite of substitutes we shall al
ways need much wood. So far our
| use of it has steadily increased. The
condition of the worlds supply of tim
| Der makes us already dependent upon
what we produce We send out of
| our country one and one-half times
| as much timber as we bring in. Ex-
| cept for finishing woods, relatively
small in amount, we must grow our
| own supply or go without. Until we
| pay for our lumber what it costs to
! grow it, as we'll as what it costs to
| log and saw, the price will continue
| to rise.
! The preservation by use, under the
method of practical forestry, of all
| public forest lands, either in state or
federal ownership, is essential to the
| permanent public welfare. In many
forest states the requirement of ad-
ditional forest lands as state forests
| is necessary to the best interests of
the states themselves.
| The conservation of our mountain
| forests, as in the Appalachian sys-
| tenn, is a national necessity. These
| forests are required to aid in the reg
ulation of streams used for navigation
and other purposes The conservation
| of these forests is impracticable
through private enterprises alone, by
any state alone, or by the federal
government alone. Effective and i'm
mediate cooperation between these
three agencies Is essential. Federal
ownership of limited protective areas
upon important watersheds, effective
state fire patrol and the cooperation
| of private forest owners are all re-
| quired.
| The true remedy for unwise tax
| laws lies not in laxity in their appli-
cation nor in special exemption, but in
change in the method Of taxation
| An annual tax upon the land itself
exclusive of the value of the timber
and a tax upon the timber when cut
is we'll adapted to actual conditions
Of forest investment, and is practi-
cable and certain.
1t is far better that forest lan6
! should pay a moderate tax perma.
nently than that it should pay an ex
cessive revenue temporarily and ther
cease to pay at all.
Forests in private ownership car
not be conserved unless they are pro
tected from fire. We need good fir.
laws we'll enforced. Fire control /!
impossible without an adequate force
of men whose sole duty is fire patro
during the dangerous season.
Practice Forestry.
The conservative use Of the fores
and of timber by American citizens
will not be general until they learl
how to practice forestry. Through I