St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1921-02-05
Drainage Cannot be Obtain
ed Until Property Own
ers Give Consent.
MUST ESTABLISH
DRAINAGE DISTRICTS
Big Interest Cannot Afford
to Hold Cheap Unpro-
ductive Lands.
(By A. E. Briggs J

/ ~
drainage would be an advantage to
st. Tammany parish. The case for
drainage, however, is stronger than
that. Drainage Will benefit everyone,
in the parish, and this is why it is
most worth while to urge it forward.
Nevertheless, many of us are SO CON
stlJuted that we don't make up our
minds about anything until we know
pretty much all about it. That is
| an IDEAL community in which every
one is competent to rest on his own
good drainage. 1t is true that
| the more each one of us knows about
drainage the more he can profit by
It, AS we are urging drainage on
the ground of the good to the whole
community, it is our purpose to in
form everyone as fully as he is will
ing to be informed about it. These
letters necessarily leave a lot Of
question and facts about drainage
unanswered and unstated. Perhaps
there are more unfortunate omis-
slons OF statement, and to bring these
out l will welcome any inquiries ad-
dressed to me at Box 80, Marde-
vile, La.
The advantage Of drainage can
not be obtained until the property
owners give consent by the voting OF
drainage bonds. Before the cues
tion of bonds can be submitted to tho
voters, the Police Jury must estab-
lish Drainage Districts, Drainage
Commissioners must be appointed,
and the State Highway Engineer
must map out and estimate the cost
of drainage projects. But the estab-
lishment of districts, appointment Of
commissioners and engineers esti-
mates can accomplish nothing with
out the consent Of the voting prop
erty owners, who absolutely de-
termine whether or not we shall
have drainage.
AS it is the property owners who
decides for or against drainage, 1t is
waste of money for anyone to go
to expense to map out definite note
projects and make estimates thereon
until the property owners have fairly
made UP their minds. The elabo-
rate reports of engineers are chiefly
for the guidance of the drainage
commissioners in charge OF the pro-
ject, and the public can wholly de
pend on the competency Of these ex-
perts. But before the engineers are
put to work the property owner
should have reached what we may
call a sound business judgment on
the feasibility of drainage. It Is to
assist in reaching this sound busi-
ness judgment that have written
these letters.
| have stated facts which can be
understood and appreciated by the
exercise of ordinary common or bu5i-
ness sense. I have called attention
to the fact that in their present .con-
dition Of unproductiVeness these cut
over, lands constitute a financial loss
to the owner Of them. "A writer for
The Country Gentleman has recently
made thorough investigation Of the s
cut-over lands in Michigan, Mime
sofa and Wisconsin, where the prob
lem is more developed than in Lou
isiana. His report furnishes facts
to think over. Read it thoughtfully:
Because the pioneers who settled
Ohio, Southern Wisconsin and siml-
lar country all tackled stumps and
brush and generally made good
go of it, the cut-over states, from
Georgia to Oregon, have been assum-
ing that the old scheme could be de-
pended upon to clear up and settle
their vast aggregates of idle stump
land. For generation now the
owners of these lands have been
peddling them out, by the forty or
hundred and sixty, to anyone who
could be persuaded to take them.
In that time the cut-over territory
has increased from few million
acres to hundreds of millions of
acres. It still increases.
'.The cut-over lands originated
from the numbering Of old virgin tor
ests. The bulk of the cut-over lands
is owned by the lumbermen and ex-
lumbermen. Some sixteen hundred
numbering concerns own more than
one hundred million acres Of land IN
the United States, these holdings In
cluding no deserts and few swamps.
When Rising Taxes Hurt.
During active numbering opera
tions, lumbermen do not want set
tiers coming into the country, but
when the timber is almost drained
out the lumbermen landlords begin
to suffer from rising taxes on the re-
| naming timber and on their cut
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OWL ASSOCIATION.