The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1922-06-12
MONDAY, JUNE u. 1922.
THE FARM WOOD LOT.

The census of 1920 revealed many I'M
pleasant things to Vermonters and peo-
pie interested in Vermont, not the least
Of which was the fact that scores of
the so-called smaller towns had lost in
population during the decade just pre-
ceding. Theory after theory has been
advanced as 10 what caused this loss in
rural communities and innumerable
suggestions have been offered as to how
the situation might be corrected. In the
final analysis, however, it viii be found
that whatever has happened in Vermont
is the result of economic processes work
ing towards their inevitable end Some
of these processes can be modified to
some extent by remedial legislation
others are so fundamentally economic
that they cannot be affected by political
effort over any long period of time; still
others are entirely beyond control be-
cause a part of an economic change of
countrywide significance. Whenever a
Vermont farm is abandoned, it is be-
cause that farmer has come to the con-
cIusion that getting a living is easier
and more attractive in some other spot.
There are many factors in the prob
lem. One is the farm wood lot Today
some of the most valuable timber in the
state is to be found on the farm wood
lot. but here is an interesting paradox.
According to many who are qualified to
speak, there is lumber shortage in
Vermont and yet the farmer is unable
satisfactorily to market his product.
The truth of the matter is that there is
mill monopoly in many communities
and when the farmer cuts his timber he
can get only what the mill owner or lum-
Der operator sees fit to pay him. Very
frequently it happens that, absolutely
helpless and discouraged by the hopeless
ness of his position, he decides to sell
his farm and earn his living in another
way. To whom does he sell? Not in
frequently-alt although usually he does
not know ito the very monopoly
which made his situation intolerable.
What follows? The lumber interest,
in many cases a foreign corporation,
proceeds to strip the acres of their
wealth, leaving for Yermonters nothing
but the barren landscape. The money
which is realized from the cutting is put
into intangibles or non-taxable property
and the next time the listers make their
appraisal the farm goes into the list as
comparatively worthless land. The bur-
den upon the remaining taxpayers be-
comes heavier until others, driven to
desperation, decide to sell their home
steads This, in a larger measure than
is realized, accounts for abandoned
farms in Vermont Slowly, but surely,
the foreign corporation has bees gain
ing large areas of the countryside which
ought to be TILED by the descendants of
those pioneers who settled the Hamp
shire Grants-perhaps the choicest rae
ial stock which ever established homes
on frontier.
What is the remedy? 1t lies in the
cooperative milling and marketing of
lumber; and in the development of lit
tie woodworking industries capable of |
utilizing Vermont forest products.
This deplorable situation can be rem
edied. The portable mill and the trans |
mission of electricity have opened way
for the farmer to have his trees con-
verted into lumber either for his own
use, or for the use of others. There re-
mains, of course, the problem of mar
keting, as the work is not complete until
he has marketed his product, and not