The Churchill county standard. (Fallon, Nev.) 1908-1920, 1911-02-22

Have hh d ~ ~sH Stat Ec
MmR dAMmn R~ ~ ~ ~ C
dm
OUR TIMBER SUPPLY HOGGED
Grants Have Impoverished
Nation of Timber Supply
According to Figures.

Concentration of the control of the
standing timber in a very few hands,
vast speculative holdings, "far in adj
vance of any use thereof" and an
enormous increase in the value ''of this
diminishing natural resource with
great profits to its owners" and incl
dentally, "an equally sinister land mo-
nopoly" and "closely connected rail-
road domination" these are the find
ings reported to the President by Her
bert Knox Smith, Commissioner of
! Corporations, in the first installment of
his long awaited report on the lumber
industry in the United States.
The report was made public today by
the President, who sent it to congress.
The report is effectively summarized in
the commissioners letter of submittal.
His conclusion. in a forecast of the
future, partakes of the sensational.
In the last 40 years concentration
has so proceeded that 1876 holders, many
inter-related, have practically one-half
of the privately owned timber in the
investigated area (which contains 80
per cent of the whole)" says the re-
port.
This whole process certainly shows
great future possibilities of impreg-
nable monopolistic conditions, whose
far-reaehing consequences it is difficult
to anticipate fully or to overestimate. !"
The following is substantially the
text Of the letter summarizing the re-
port.
The foremost facts shown are
~. THE concentration of dominat-
Ing control of our standing timber in
comparatively few enormous holdings,
steadily tending toward central con-
trol Of the lumber industry.
"2.-Vast speculative purchase and
holding of timber land far in advance
of any use thereof.
''3.-An enormous increase 9 in the val
ue of this diminishing natural resource,
with great profits to its owners. This
value, by the very nature of standing
timber, the holder neither created nor
substantially enhanced.
"The past history and present status
of our standing timber drives home up
on us the imperative necessity of re-
vising our public policy for the future
management of all our remaining nat
ural resources.
Only 10 years ago at most, three
fourths of the timber now standing
was Git is estimated) publicly owned.
Now about four-fifths of it is privately
owned.
"The great bulk of it has passed
from government to private hands
through (a) enormous railroad, canal
and wagon road grants by the FEEDER
al government; (b) direct government
sales in unlimited quantities at 1.25 an
acre; (c) certain public land laws,
great tracts being assembled In spite of
the legal requirements for small hold
ings.
Such laws were wholly inappropri-
ate to forest regions; but though vigor-
ously condemned in several reports,
they are still largely in force. In the
ordinary sense, they were intended to
distribute the public lands in small
tracts as homes for freeholders. In
fact, they actually furthered timber
concentration in vast holdings.
"The total amount of standing tim
Der in continental United States is
about 800. 900, 900, 900 board feet The
present annual drain upon the supply
of saw timber Is about $4,000, 900, 600
feet. At this rate. the timber now
standing, without allowance tor growth
would last only about 55 years.
Proceeding next to consider the con-
centration of timber ownership, Mr..
Smith says:
"Three vast holdings alone, the
greatest in the country, those of the
Southern Pacific company, the Weyer-
hauser company and the Northern Pa
cific railroad company, including the