The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1928-12-28
DELINQUENT LANDS
SIX MILLION ACRES

The state was started by the publ
cation recently of figures furnished by
the state tax commission to the refor-
estation commission, showing 1854, 626
acres delinquent and forfeited.
Ten million acres, of the fifty mil
lion in the state, are not paying taxes.
That includes delinquent lands, lands
owned by the public and exempt lands
One-fifth of the area is off the active
tax roll.
Yet there has been plenty of warn
| ing of this situation. More than two
years ago, when the campaign for the
forest tax amendment was pending,
the Arrowhead Association put out an
| article by P. E. Lovejoy of the Michi-
gan conservation commission, point
ing out that 100000 acres in Michi-
gan were then delinquent and that a
total of 100000 acres had gone or
was going derelict-and that Mime
sofa was headed for the same plight.
The amendment was adopted and
the forest tax inquiry was taken up
That revealed that more than 4,OO0,-
| 900 acres were than delinquent in
| Minnesota, that delinquency was in
year, that while the large owners were
mostly hanging on, immense holdings
were likely to go haywire any minute.
The tax commission showed, too,
that with tax rates of 100, 200 even
300 mills, there was bound to be ser
iouS default, and the reforestation
commission amplified those findings
Now comes this disclosure-6,5 $780,
600 acres delinquent.
Let us analyze the figures. In the
nine counties constituting lie Arrow
head association there is delinquent
and forfeited 3,717,301 acres One-half
of the delinquency of the entire state
| is in these counties.
In the sixteen cutover counties, COW
cred by the forest tax inquiry, there
is delinquent and forfeited 5,069, 784
acres. Three fourths-77 per cent-of
the area delinquent is in the cutover
country.
In the Red River valley the delin-
quency runs to 1,229000 acres
In the other sixty counties there re-
main 255,000 acres delinquent and for
feited. Less than per cent of the
total is outside the Red River valley
and the cutover country.
In the agricultural counties of
southern Minnesota, the delinquencies
are very small. Ownership is stabil-
lied and farmers are either immune
| from reverses or well fortified against
them. In the newer districts of the
Red River valley-not so much in Clay
or Norman, for eXample-the delin-
quency is heavier and especially in
Marshall and Roseau, it is compli-
Gated by enormous assessments for
unremunerative bitches.
In the cutover counties, delinquency
for the most part simply registers the
| fact that millions of acres which are
going to grow trees or do nothing
are doing nothing. The land yields
| no return and pays no taxes.
| That was clearly foreShadowed in
the earlier investigations and is plain
| ly brought out in these bald figures.
The way to realize taxes is to put the
land to work.
Three OF the counties studied in the
forest tax inquiry, Pine, Kanabec and
Mile Laos, were regarded as having
gone through the transition from for
est to farming country. That is true
OF Kanabec where the delinquency is
$4,000 acres, and of Mile Laos where
1T runs to $4,000; but it will have to
be revised as to Pine county. In Pine
county there is delinquency of 1885,
600, mostly on the eastern border, the
district which is under consideration
for a forest reserve to protect the
headwaters of the st. Croiz. When
nature intends that land shall raise
trees or do nothing, it's no use dis
putting nature. This land in Pine
county, logged off many years ago,
may be a case in point.
Something like that is true in the
two counties on the western edge of
the cutover country. Hubbard with
$4,000 acres delinquent, and Clear
water with 100000. To less degree
the same condition is reflected in
Todd and Morrison, which were not
included in the forest tax inquiry.
Turn to the Arrowhead, where the
principal delinquency is found. st.
Louis with 695,000 acres delinquent,