The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1919-03-08

n SlIOES pIOleSt against mouse Dill
1877, providing for forestry board, is
being sent to Boise from Moscow and
other northern Idaho towns are ask
ed to join in the protest The bill
provides for forestry board of three
members, including the governor and
two citizens appointed by him only
upon the recommendation of the ma
tional forestry service and the timber
protective association. Ii is claimed
by the protestants that the timber pro-
toctive association and the govern
ment forestry service are both under
the direct domination of the big tim
ber owners and sawmill interests and
that the little man" with 100 acres
&C timber land or with even several
sections, has no representation on
the board.
The provision of the bill against
which the strongest protest is made
is that portion which provides that if
a fire originate upon the land of any
one in the timber belt the forester
shall have power to send men to fight
tn fire and shall charge all of the
costs of the fighting to the owner Of
the land and this shall be reported
| to the assessor who shall file the
claim against the land the same as
taxes and it shall be collected the
same as taxes, and that the land is
subject to sale under lien as for labor
or material.
This is a rank injustice to the
small land owner and will work
great hardship and a great injustice to
him." says the protest. ''If man
who lives 1000 miles away from his
land and has no way of knowing Of
l~1sx, TO- fnI IT, 1,s1 how
which might be by lightning striking
tree or otherwise, and the fire ward
en- sends 40 or so men to put out the
fire and it is put out on this mans
land, even though all the timber on
it is destroyed, he will be held for
the cost of putting out the fire which
has destroyed his timber while the
owners of timber on adjoining land
which has been saved at his expense,
will be charged nothing" The pro-
| test points out that by this law the
holdings of the small timber owner
might be entirely wiped out. 1t would
be an incentive for the starting of
! fires on small holdings with a view to
sending fire fighters to extinguish 1t
and charge all of the costs to the man
on whose land the fire originated, thus
forcing him to sell out at a sacrifice.
The protest points out further that
the forester would be selected by the
big lumber interests and would natur-
ally favor them at all times as against
the small timber owner
There are a number of persons in
Latah county who own timber in this
county and in other portions of the
state and they are being notified of
the bill and of the danger to their
interests by it becoming a law and
are being asked to join in the pro-
test against it. The work of prepar-
ing the protest has been going on
quietly for several days and it has
been forwarded to Boise before it be-
came generally known that there was
such opposition to the bill.
Latah county has billions of feet of
valuable timber owned by individuals,
who own from 100 up to $40 acres,
and several Moscow citizens own tim
Der in other portions of the state
They are alarmed over the provisions
of the bill which they claim makes
it possible for them to lose their hold
ings or at least to be put to heavy ex-
pense. r
The bill provides that all land In
the timber belt shall be assessed not
10 oXCoou live CeItS pei dSiC pei Oil
mum, if north of the south boundary
line of Idaho county ,and two cents
an acre, if south of such boundary, to
pay for fire protection and the addi-
tional proviso that after paying this
tax all of the costs of fighting fire
may be charged to the owner of the
land on which it originates, is regard
ed as unjust. kilograms are being
sent to Boise today protesting against
the passage of the bill in its present
form.