The Washington times., 1915-12-05
Il imberLand, ,Denuded,
GiOen Back to Public
Private Ownership Fails to Justify Itself in CONNER
cial Results and Brings Industry to Unhealthy
Condon-Good Start Made in Reclamation
BY JUDSON c. WELLIvER.

The tendency Of great areas Of tim
Der lands in all parts of the country to
come back into public ownership is de-
clared by the Forest Service to be high
ly significant. The causes of II are
working more energetically every year,
and there Is a public response that in
dicates willingness to encourage II.
Private ownership has proved a fall
ure in the case of the timber lands
This is the broad generalization Of the
subject which the officials of the For
est Service state without much qualifica-
ton.
Private ownership has denuded the
lands of their timber without giving
them a chance to restore it. 1t has
failed to Justify itself in commercial re-
suits. 1t has at length brought the
numbering industry to the point where
II Is In an exceedingly unhealthy condi-
tion and has even applied to the Ma
uonal Government for help in discover
ing what ails 1t, and what can be done
about II. Speculation has hoisted prices
of stumpagc. and at the same time
caused the sacrifice of much Of the
value in the timber.
Great Areas Given Away.
All this relates back in an intimate
way to the public land policy of the
Government. Half a century ago most
OF the best timber In the country was
still within the public domain. The
Government allowed 1t to be taken over
TO private interests on terms that were
utterly unfair either to the Government
or TO the public interest Great areas
were given away in land grants to cor
poratons, or ceded on conditions that
Ftnl tnI II.
utterly Incapable of protecting this great
natural resource.
AS 4 result Of all this, there has been
IN about iorty years the transfer of
OF the nation to private ownership
This is especially true of the great
t:mbered areas OF the far Northwest
and OF the South ana Southwest. The
because 1t was realized that the Gov
ernnent was in effect giving them
away. They were divided up, parcelcd
out IN some cases, or consolidated into
tectly plain that there were great
lrChts ahead for the owners OF tic
timbcr-if Only they could get the
profits out. The private owners didn't
worry about that until il was too late
now. 1t Is giving the whole industry
trouble.
In the Old Days.
Time was. a lew years ago, when to
capture a big acreage of timber Iapd
at the prices then prevailing. was to
become a millionaire. 1t was merely
rec, Ssary to rush in some sawmills, cut
W the lumber, and sell it, There were
about 5000 sawmills in the country
when the Industry was at its apex;
twc-thirds of million people we're em-
pioyed in ii. ard il was rated as the
second industry in the country.
But there was one great difficulty
with IT. piece OF standing timber
must be cut over and converted into
lumber in order to get the money out
of IT. With four-ifths II the timber
of the whole country crowded into the
hands OF speculating holders within a
few years. all of them wanting and in
deed requiring to convert it into cash
before interest charges and taxes
should eat up their profits and tfeir
capital, there was overproGuctiun. so
long as the timber lard was owned by
Uncle Sam, ii paid taxes to nobody
State, county, town. or nation, Uncle
Sam was able TO own It as long rs he
liked. Nobody else was. When the
| land was turned over TO private hold
ers there was a rush to impose taxes.
Owned generally by non residents, and
| looked upon as A drag on the "deVei-
| opment of the country there was dis
| position to tax 1t into use.
Conservation Impossible
The timber-holding corporations were