The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-08-16

was a definite unoerotandlnS with the Attorney General that no penalties would be sought by the State. How ever, MT. stirling, the present Attorney General, declined to recognise this agreement with his predecessor. and the retailers lost their case in the State courts, the Supreme Court ordering the association dissolved. .s $ To Protect the Forests Against Fire.
 Secretary of Agricuiture Wilson. af- ter a brief vacation at his home in Iowa, will make a trip through the West. visiting the national forest re- serves, and while on this Western journey will make a special study of the question Of forest fires. The re- suit of his visit will be recommends tions to Congress for the passage of Jaws which will further protect the forests.
 q think the Government should pur- sue a more energetic policy than it has in the past in regard to forest hre, said Secretary Wilson before leaving Washington. Congress should pass stringent, laws. and the administration should enforce them rigidly. especially against the railroads and campers. The railroads do not intentionally start fires. but locom otiye cinders escape and start confagrations. The fires of campers and hunters have been the
 
 forest fires in this country in the past few years. The confiagration started from a camp fire seems to be the worst of carelessness when 1t may so easily be avoided. Any camper has simply to build his fire in trench, and this trench can be filled up after the meal is prepared. By this simple precau- ton. millions of dollars could be saw ed." '-
 PinchOt's Invitation to the Schools. Mir. Clifford Pinehot United States Forester. extends a broad invitation to all universities. colleges and schools which are in any way interested in the study of forestry to send a represent ative to the conference on Education in Forestry" which will be held in Washington, December 30, 31.
 Said MT. Pinchot: T believe that a conference of representatives of all forest schools and universities and col- leges in which forestry is taught might be made of great value to the general progress of forestry In the United States, as well as to the institutions which teach forestry, and to the For of their graduates, and which Is vitally interested in the best training of for esters. Such conference might well consider the objects and methods of | forest instruction, the organization and standards of educational work in the field of forestry. the coordination of the work of different institutions, and the needs of the Forest Service and other employers of forest graduates. |" Increase i'm Taxation on Louisiana Tim her Land.
 The state Board of Equalization of | the State of Louisiana now In session at Baton Rouge, heard arguments du- | ring the past week from representa- lives of a number of the lumber com | panieS against the proposed increase in assessment on yellow pine and cypress stumpage. Some of the lumbermen present at the hearing said that 1t ap- peared to be the policy of Governor | Sanders and the State administration l to have the, timber land owners of | Louisiana bear the burden of wiping out the decrease of $10. 100000 shown in the assessed valuation of farming lands in Louisiana during 1909, as compared with the assessment of last l year.
 Timberlands in Louisiana as fixed by law are in three classes: (a) Cutting ] ten thousand feet per acre. (b) Cutting from i've thousand to ten thousand fee, | per acre, (c) Cutting from one thou sand to five thousand feet per acre. As sessments on these. classes have varied in the different parishes there beine no two alike according to the figures turned in by the assessors. It is the contention of the lumbermen that the whole question Is one for f0cal appli. cation, and that the police Juries of the parishes are the best judges as to tho 1 conditions prevailing In their respec. tice parishes, and while the realty values in Louisiana show this year decrease of S10.0O0 900 instead of thu increase of $25.000.0O0,. as expected by Governor Sanders's administration, | is not fair to the lumbermen to in crease their assessments to cover thu l shortcoming.
 The question of the taxation of tim Der lands Is one that must receive seri ous consideration at the hands or eacI of the State governments. If the for