Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1921-03-23
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by deed or any other human docu-
ment.
The tragedy of the Maine forests is
a long tragedy and, it must be said,
has not always been enacted in Sc
cret. Now and then some public off,
cial with a conscience and not in the
prearranged political succession, like
Gov Dingley for instance, has point
ed out the criminal waste of the peo-
pies inheritance, but such men were
powerless in the matter of effective
action. The remedy lay in the state
land office and Legislature, and these
almost always seemed to be under
the spell of the lumber barons. The
last act is still in progress, for the
question of equality in taxation, so
long and persistently contested by the
wild land owners, is still to be set
tied.
The transfer of the public lands to
private ownership went on under diff
ferent administrations from the time
of state incorporation until the early
eighties when it was found that all
large tracts Of any value to lumber
operators had passed out of the con-
| troll of the people as a whole.
One of the remarkable features of
these transactions was that, as years
went by and the wild lands grew in
value as the timber grew both in
amount and market price, the price
received by the state from the ex-
ploiters remained about the same.
i The range was from twenty five
cents to one dollar an acre. The first
deeds in the twenties and early thir-
ties show prices of fifty cents an acre.
AS late as 1875 under the land admin
istratiOn of men who dealt in lands
publicly and privately, who should
have known their true value and
probably did, conveyanceS were made
at the ridiculous prices of thirty
three and a third and fifty cents an
acre. In his History of the Lum-
Der Industry of America" Defebaugh
speaks of Maine timberlands con-
veyed by the state to private owners
, for the price of twelve and a half
cents an acre" 1t is no wonder that
these transactions became known and
talked about by the general public as
the great land steals"
On at least three different occa-
sions the wastefulness and injustice
of this policy was pointed out in Off
cial documents. AS early as 1881
John p Dcane, a member of the
LEGISLATURE of that year, made re-
port rs chairman of a committee
to consider and report upon so much
of the governors message as related
to the wild lands and the land agents
report" He condemned the existing
method of practically giving away
the state lands and suggested that
they be sold to actual settlers only
eff this course is adopted" he said
at may be seen that it may not re-
quire a century to populate the
whole state. 1t is true that shrewd
SPECTATORS may not wish a change,
because it will denrive them of MAX
ing tho same profits out of the state
which they have been accustomed to
make. 1t is rot the interest of the
few. or of any particular class, which
ought to be our guide, but the great
er and permanent interest of the
whole people"
The committee recommended a
new system of procedure in relation
to the disposition of state lands in
the following language:
81. Sales to be made to such as
would settle on the lands.
.. The minimum value of the lands
to be fixed
g. The lands to be surveyed into
such lots rs will best promote the
Interest of the state.
4. Timber to be sold separate from
tho lands
5. One or two great roads to be
constructed progressively and by
contracts, under the direction of the
land department. from the south line
of the states land to the river St
John, the expense to be reimbursed
by small percentage of the amount
of the sales"
But nothing was done.
Eight years later the Legislature
of 1899 adopted this resolution.
Resolved that the policy of con-
fininG the sales of the public lands
to actual settlers would be eminent
" republican in its tendencies. by
chcckln@ the dangerous speculation
of grasping monopolists, by prevent
in" the formation of a landed aris-
tocracy hv increasing the number
of our independent yeomanry, who
are at once the pride and the support
of our country and bv securing to
honest and provident labor for ares
to come the opportunity of acquir-
ing. unOn easy terms the eniovments
and blessings of a freehold possess
sion of the SOIL
Still nothing was done.
In 1874 Governor Nelson DingIey
said in his message to the legisla-
ture:
"It is of the highest impor-
lance to the state that so much
of these lands, as we'll as other
tracts of land within tho c+,+o