The Grangeville globe. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho) 1907-1922, 1909-06-09
THE FORESTS
OF IDAHO
law Shall They be Handled
70 Get the Very Best
Possible Results?
Continued from last week.

cord in advocating the conservation
{ natural resources, chief among
,,h;cb in Idaho are the forests. Our
bus affecting the disposal of state
ovned timber and the protection of
Il state forest lands are entirely in
harmony with the forest conservation
idea, but our system of taxation is woe
,,llv at variance with that idea. The
tendency is to tax privately held timber
lands to the highest limit and to COM
oe the owner to cut his timber, which
must compete in the markets of the
world with that taken from the untax-
ed State and National Forests, and re-
move it beyond the reach of the tax
oatherer at the very earliest possible
moment. Any other course would
bring about the total destruction of the
value of his property in a short time,
axes would eat it up. Now, if in
stead Of the present method, the land
on which timber is growing were as
sessed, independently of the timber,
as other unimproved, non-agricultural
land in the vicinity, and the timber
allowed to remain exempt from tax
alton until the trees were felled for
use and then assessed and taxed like
other personal property the fiscal sys-
tenn in this regard would be coordin-
ate with the conservation scheme
There would be an inducement to the
owner to hold his timber until it had
reached the state of greatest utility
which is the state of highest value,
and this in a tree is at maturity.
Thus the mature timber only would be
cut and young trees instead of being
prematurely sacrificed to escape tax
alton would be held over and their de-
velopement stimulated until they at
tanned their greatest timber producing
value 1t would seem that there is a
strong analogy between tract of tim
Der land and mine, the former yields
no returns to the owner until the trees
are cut, the latter is unremunerative
until the ore is extracted. In this
state mineral land is assessed at a
nominal value upon its superficial area
but the mine as such is not taxed at
all. 1t is upon the net product of the
nine that the taxation is imposed.
Since the similarity in character of the
two kinds of property is SO obvious,
why should not the same principal be
applied in taxing timber lands and
mines. We encourage the prospectol
to discover and improve mineral lands
50 as to devclope them into mines, we
DO not discourage his enterprise by tax
ing him upon something which ha
merely speculative value. But wher
MS property yields him an actual rev
enue we tax him on what he gets on
OF the property. Is the owner of ;
nine any more deserving of public
consideration than the owner of tim
Der land? Timber and mineral alik'
are great natural resources both deserv
ing conservation for the public goo'
ana uncut, growing timber fulfilling a
u does other great forest functions II
addition to providing supply of WOO
products is from an economic poin
Oh view far more worthy of tax exemp
uon than is mineral unextracted iron
us native matrix.
Trees like any other vegetable pro
Ouct have peiod of growth, and lik
wheat or corn, should not be harvest
60 until ripe, that is, mature. VIII
should the owner of tract of timbe
land on which crop of trees requll
ing from fifty to one hundred years fo
f'pening be taxed during the Who'll
growing period upon both the Ian
and the immature. uncut timbeI