The Pensacola journal., 1913-01-20

CONTINUED from First Page)
ground of mont -fulillment of conditions
imposed in the grants by which these
lands were alienated from the public
domain. For these reasonsl it would
appear, therefore, that the government
may later be able to materially
strengthen it's relative position as a
timber owner.
THE facts set forth in this report
clearly point to the desirability OF
maintaining the integrity of the ma
tional forests and of extending to other
publicly owned timber, including for
ests in Alaska and timber lands that
may be recovered in forfeiture suits
now pending or subsequently insti-
tuted oy the government, the cardinal
principle Of the national forest policy,
namely, the retention of the fee to
such lands at least until the timber
is removed. Decision will then have
to be made between retaining such
lands for reforestation and diSposing
of the surface for agricultural pur-
poses. It seems clear, moreover, that
the fundamental principle to be fol-
lowed In the sale of the timber itself
Is that the terms of sale should be
SUCH dS 10 luSuTe 10 kIIt
ury substantially the full stumpage
ralue at the time that such timber
shall be actually cut"
RAILROAD GREAT HOLDER.
In the summary of the report pre-
viously published, the then commits
sioner of corporations, Herbert Knox
Smith. set forth that the Southern Pa
cific Company is the greatest private
-. - -.
controlling 1o6 billion feet, the Weyer-
haeuser Timber Company, with 90 bill
lion feet, the second largest and the
Northern Pacific Railway Company,
with Ss billion feet. the third Going
further in detail the full report de-
clares that the following Ave inter
ests control in the aggregate 102 bill
lion feet OF timber, practically all To-
Gated in the Pacific northwest; COM
panies controlled by Charles A. Smith,
Of Minneapolis; Thomas B. Walker, of
Minneapolis: concerns in which n. P.
Wheeler and W. E Wheeler. of En-
deavor, Pa, are the chief stockholders;
companies in which the A. B. Ham
mond Company of New Jersey, is the
principal interest: and the timber in
terests of the Chicago, Milwaukee and
sidiary to the Chicago, Milwaukee and
| st. Paul Railway Company
After enormous sales, the commits
sioner points out that the Southern
Pacific, the Northern Pacific and the
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe own
together 33,5O0,00O acres of timbered
and non-timbered lands, an area as
large as England.
| The Amalgamated Copper Co. Mr..
Conant adds. owns over 1000, 900 acres
Of timber land and more than 100000
acres of non timbered land, all in Mon
| tana, and Thomas B. Walker person
ally owns 100000 acres in California
STUMPAGE VALUES INCREASE.
| Despite the great increase in stump
| age values in recent years, Commits
sioner Conant forsees a growing rise
! in prices because of the diminished
/ lumber supply and increasing popula-
| tion. Mr.. Conant takes sharp issue
! with suggestions, amounting he says
| to almost a propaganda at the present
| time, that the price of stumpage should
equal the cost of growing trees. The
| idea, he adds, seems incredible when
| it is considered that standing timber
| is the free gift of nature, requiring
| from scores to hundreds of years for
/ its growth. The proposal, brought
| forth in the name of conservation and
| seized upon by some lumbermen, he
| continues, is a proposal deliberately to
| hasten the evil which conservation
| ought, to moderate-the evil of excess
sive prices Taken N connection
with the increasing concentration of
! timber control, he says, the PROPOSE
ton is a matter of grave concern to the
| consumer Of lumber.
In advocating an extension OF gov
ernment ownership of forest lands, the