New-York tribune., 1909-11-21
TREES as BENEFACTORS.
Thcy Pay Tarfs and Largely Sup
port UGricmbcrg THaeCrs.
Nv Cecil I. Dorian.

cou.r.i,. bur.,.nS from his shoulders? There is
ono group "f pe"ple which has done SO. sIn
Wtrt' mb,rs. ia the southwestern part of
Germany. TIC! have arisen from their dreams
of music beneath the trees and have turned
n. forest 90. s;csfried INTO factor in the
world uuaroc They have devised a method
of masking th" trees pay their taxes And as
taxation whether with or without representa-
ti"n. is L. most of us a burden, the Black Forest
c"mmuniti.s have. thanks to their trees, one
dead weight the les.
when these people first settled in the wooded
lands of Wiirtemberg, in the fifteenth and six
teenth centuries. they received grants of so
many acres as community property. Take the
little town of Freudenstadt, the Pearl of the
Black Forest" it is called. II was settled IN
1892 10y the ArchdJko Frederick L. who granted
the hand Ia some Protestant refugees from Salz-
burg In addition Dc gave them eight thousand
acres or ;imicr as communal property, and TO
this day TN people Of Freudenstadt own their
eight th"u-a acres of strong young trees out
in th. forest which surrounds their town.
civilization though il has come and modern
iz.d the people, has not yet suggested TO them
To- ,ut down their Jr-es ana turn the space into
r,~ii.u,. r:rEy. cemeteries or kitchen gardens.
III as they can spare the lana in crowded Ger
many. thry stnl see wisdom IN having forest
t. work ror them. The imperial government
Toe" realizing the benefit of the Pian mas nov
tak,u in hand tn. business of caring for the
tr,e~. but the community Of FGeudenstadt and
all a.. otE.r tow u~niUS like it. which are in
great uuu!b,l m TIE Black Forest, draw the
en;ir" income.
Tn, uorliug out .i the plan seems 10 be SIM
tli,ity its. .}c The over-fo.ester. the resident
.hi,f Of the ti.c industry. attends to the cult
var.o.3 and c.I, oi ,hr timber ana To the growing
.rur~,r, near the town. where young trees
- az. Geyelop-, Tor transplantinG. Every two
k,,.- nr -'c~ "ut INTO the forest TO mark for
:u,,iu2 ,l. trees tia. have reached the standard
viz. W.ojsm-n com" after him TO do the
Jelinc
THE eut lr.nb,r IS sold i'm many forms, and
boin lo,.,uy .uI I'm widely scattered districts
From ir,1ll. r-tadt E, goes ny rail to Naln2 and
ih,u by "a Holland line If rreish1 boats, on which
cu, ,an I,ac,uily md cheaPly accompany the
los IN tl. way down the Rhne To Rotterdam
r., cities Of Coblenz ana coin draw largely
fr,.l the Ei2.a Forest for their building sup
pi,- and amun2 tho interesting more distant
M.s,- that .I, mad. "f Freud ns,adt trees are
s.ll. uf IA" dioes of Holland.
PIN. poles that are dear with Us, sell there
for 20 cents. poles foot thick at the bottom
ana f"rty-live feet long. l remember once ask
in2 au American lumber moTcn2ut whose mills
ar. I'm Can.:a just beyond our borders il he
did not have plenty Of good pine trees there
"N,t one left" he cried. We cleaned al that
out years ago. Sho,. m a pine tree within
1hl-e hundred miles of th.= place and I'm give
ynI a hundred UU.i'si
Ia The christmas market in FreudeIstadt you
can buy big bushy Christmas trees for 10 cents.
for those people do not let their trees die ont
ana trust h. Natur. to them new forest AT
h.r own dreaming leisure.
With the money that the pines the ,lnIs. lin
dtu. beech and aspen earn each year, which for
l:n7-tS WAS ;:26SS marks - pfcunies, tho sal
ar Of the Mayor and the salaries of all thu city
officials paid. Wen as the expenses Of al
the departments in word everything for
which We over here pay taxes. The people there
aI' never assessed one cent foI anything The
punIi" improy. .m'uts are extra agautly up to
dat, ana these. too. come out of tie forests
Earnings. II, str.,'s are ,le.tri, lighted. and
=" r"us.. The community has several fine u.w
schools among which j. higher technical
s'l""l. fnr town. which j. Iac, of only I91J
IL iiitaat-, las besides these advantages an
excellent water supply and sewer system, and
~ roads are regularly Vsitoted. Out IN the
Ct.tro co. t.o market place there is q baudstaud
ana tVi.e week "iI summer there is music by
a In.JjciIa band rIoa4 twilight uu long after
Hiiut IA fallen and lhe day has been forgotten
There is stii another it"m 20 add 10 this list Of
b'u..it.-., -utri.,. Each burgEer of tI, town
dI.vs pleasant 'itte ouuua. bonus Of - or ~