The Ely miner., 1926-10-29
V|bERT TALKS To
COMMERCIAL CLUB.
THE ADOPTION OF
AMENDMENT NO. 2 TO ALLOW
LEGISLATURE TO PASS RENE
DIAL LEGISLATION ON RE-
FORESTRATION.

DIAL LEGISLATION ON RE-
FORESTRATION.
The Ely Commercial Club Tues
day evening listened 70 Senator Fred
d. Vibert of Cloquet in charge of
the work of putting over Amend
ment No. 2 for the Minnesota Arrow
head Association, tell of the benefits
to be derived should this amendment
be carried and the legislature passed
to modify the present dras-
tic timber tax laws. as related to
lands to be used for reforestration.
The passing of the amendment
would not change the existing order
of things but would make it possible
for the legislature to make laws
placing premium on the growing of
timber. The regular land tax would
not be abolished but the tax on tim
Der would not become due until the
timber is cut and would be in the
nature of azyield tax. BY reading
the amendment, the work to be ac-
complished can be noted. The
reads:
Section l. Laws may be enacted for
the purpose of encouraging and
promoting forestration and refor-
estration of lands in this state,
whether owned by private persons
or the public, including the fixing
in advance of definite and limit
ed annual tax on such lands for
term of years and yield tax at or
after the end of such term upon
the timber and other forest pro-
ducts so grown, but the taxation
of mineral deposits shall not be af-
fected by this amendment.
Section 2. Any and all provisions
of the constitution of the State of
Minnesota, inconsistent with the
provisions of this article, are here-
by repealed, so far, but only so
far, as the same prohibit or limit
the power of the legislature to en-
act laws authorizing or permitting
the doing of the things hereinbe-
fore authorized.
Senator Vibert cited figures which
wer far reaching. He claimed st.
Louis County was not as yet as SER
iously affected as were other neigh
boring counties owing to its min sral
wealth. The county as a whole has
4, ,161, ,920 acres in its area. 867,-
$40 acres, or over 20 per cent of this
land is State and Federal owned and
not subject to taxes. 4,195 or l 1a
per cent lies within cities. Unplat-
ted lands outside of corporate limits
on the tax lists amounts to $780,
O85 acres assessed at $11,117,158, a
taxable value of $3.44 per acre. The
are valued at $3,716,-
624, leaving a net assessed value on
land and timber of $7,400,534 or
1929 an acre. The timber on this
land is valued at $1,400,000 which
leaves the base land value for taxa
ton $6,O0O,O00 or $1.68 per acre or
a full and true value Of $5.58.
A rough classification made by the
University of Minnesota shows l.
225,545 acres suitable for agricul-
tural development, more than twice
as much as is now owned by farmers
and ten times as much as is now
cleared and cultivated. There are
something over 100000 acres Of
forest land of which less than one
third is held by the large lumber
and land companies. The assessed
value of these lands averages $1.68
or true value of $500.
The county in 1925 collected all
but $106,187.70 of taxes or n of /
per cent. But, nearly all of this
delinquency falls on cut over wild
lands. Unredeemed lands in 1925
amounted to 1870 acres. In 1926
the redeemed lands were 162,790
acres. Add to this the 1922 and
1923 delinquencies gives a total of
309,545 acres or ten per cent of the
taxable area. Settlement of the
agricultural land is injured by this
delinquency as the settler will be
forced to carry the burden for the
unpaid lands. Best les this the as
sessable timber is being removed and
thus more lands are added to The
cutover list liable to become de-
linquent.
Mr.. Vibert told of the refores-
tration policy of Sweden which has
about the best policy in the world,
and showed how the timber value can
be made Of more Importance than
the agricultural value to the average
farmer He showed that an acre of
timber will produce 500,~feet or a
cord of merchantable timber a year
valued at from $500 per acre up to
$1,000 with the least possible effort.
Lands unsuited for cultivation will
produce timber of marketable value
as every stick Is now being utilized.
He claimed the farmer and his wood
lot of 80 or 160 acres could harvest
continuous crop forever from these
acres providing he used care in har-
vesting. The rapid growth of white