The Idaho recorder., 1921-09-16

Al u
exempt certain timber lands from taxation. as
they have seen wise to do In some OF the older
countries, II Will encourage the seeding Of that
land to timber. As II now stands millions of acres
that might and really should. be yielding timber.
are sown to other products and bringing a mig
gardly return.
This IL simply because this Is timber land and
timber should be on 1t. The farmers, however.
consider that since II Is taxed they must some
thing which Will bring nm Immediate return. There
are 100000 acres of nontillabe land In Illinois
alone.
"we have In the United States 81 100000 acres
of what is called denuded land. and more than
4O0OOO,OOO acres Of what we Gull cutover land.
Denuded land ~ land which forest fires have
occurred and where the fire has eaten Its way so
deep into the soil as to destroy the seedlings that
might spring up.
"Cutover land In land from which timber has
been taken and on which second growth Is possi-
BILE and often times springs up. Such land Will
make forests In period of some forty years IL Ii
Is taken care of. Taking of such land Is
another phase OF the forestry problem"
The National Forests, created In 1905 now con-
tain fa5,Oo00O0 acres of forest and grazing land.
They are managed by the forest service a bureau
of the agriculture department. Col. w. D. Greeley
Is forester, Presumably he Is well Informed on
forestry conditions. Here some figures he
gives which show how the changed and changing
conditions have affected a particular part of the
country. Says Colonel Greeley:
"Chcago Is the greatest lumber market In tho
world. Since 1870 an average OF over > 900 600 900
feet at lumber has come into Chicago every year
In 1920 the figure was nearly 2.a00o0oOoo feet 90
per cent of which went into local construction and
manufacturing industries. In 1900 the average
freight paid on lumber coming into Chicago was
less than 81 per thousand feet. Since that time
the local sources of supply for this territory have
been exhausted one after another Lumber ship
ments have traversed greater and greater dis
fanees. and the average freight bill paid by the
Chicago distributor has steadily risen to more
than Sl2 per thousand feet.
an other words the increased transportation
charge on lumber shipments into Chicago. MS u re-
suit OF the exhaustion of the forest regions sur
rounding H. represents toll OF Soea 800 600 an
nually. And while this has happened there have
accumulated In the central and lake states nearly
o3W0ooo acres of logged-of forest land which Is
producing neither farm crops nor timber; Soa.
100000 Is the yearly tax which the wood. using In
dustries and home builders. supplied through Chi.
cago pay for the deness Of large part of the
soil In the surrounding states which should fur.
nish the natural supply for this district This sum
would plant every year 100000 acres.of land with
forest trees.
This illustration may he extended To cover the
four states OF Illinois. Indiana. WISCONSIN and
Michigan These states consume annually he.
tween IoGo.Qno0oo and a0o0 90 600 feet of timber
. In furniture factories sash and door mills, fac
tories manufacturing agricultural implements
woosltnrning establishments and other wood using
industries. Sawmills excluded from this esti.
mate, also the requirements for general construe.
ton aud housing. and the consumption OF lumber
farms.
The manufacturers referred 10 represent an
Invested capital OF S16no0oooo and enroll 10000
skilled employees. This great misunderstanding In.
dustry was built up on the softwood forest OF the
lake states and the hardwood forests OF the Ohio
and upper Mississippi valleys. whose products
were available at a low transportation cost. In