Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1930-01-30
ABOUT PROPOSED FOREST
Editor AskOy American:

Editor Askov American:
Again | am asking in all sincerity
every citizen and taxpayer to get on
the firing line and help keep the pro-
posed federal forest reserve out of
our county. Stop and think, use rea-
thousand acres of our county off the
tax list and put it into this forest re-
serve where we, or anyone else, can
not get any material benefit from it
for at least fifty to one hundred years?
What is the matter, can't people see
heard people try to defend this pro-
posal with mythical arguments as
thin as the steam off kidney stew.
Let's get down to the bottom of this
thing. Do we want to speculate on a
project where it will be practically
a hundred years before we can expect
much financial relief? Oh, well, some
say that it is our government. l wish
to ask who is our government?
! admit we need financial relief
But can't you see the federal forest
reserve will not bring it? Some peo-
pie argue that if we just keep quiet
while they are forcing this outrageous
thorn into our fertile county every
thing will be o. K. and after that
Uncle Sam is going to just walk
around and scatter money for us
settlers to pick up. Well, isn't that
returns from this forest crop for so
long and is going to put us on easy
street in just a short time. Well, if
Uncle does this for us, l for one will
believe in him-believe he has gone
nuts. After the timber crop is raised
and nursed for one hundred years
there will be just about as much
timber on it as there was twenty years
ago, and while some pieces had more
and some less, the average price for
stumpage would be about $40 per
forty, or one dollar per acre. That
would be about what the tax would
amount to each year, and yet they
say it's a good thing for our county.
will admit that if eastern Pine
county was a swamp with a few lakes
scattered throughout, like some of the
reserves we have been referred to
for information, a certain class of
pollywog catchers would be content
to stay here and catch bait and dig
worms. for the tourists and sight
seers
l have talked to people who have
friends and relatives on those re-
serves and others who have been
there themselves and they all say the
same thing-that we do not want
forest reserve in Eastern Pine county.
| realize that some may try to help
put this across from some selfish mo-
tive, others may be misinfOrmed' by
some federal supervisor under big
salary, while others without proper
investigation will fall i'm line, but
if everyone just stops and thinks, /
will guarantee that this agricultural
menace will never be established in
Pine county.
If the state should take the sixty
thousand acres of delinquent tax
lands for taxes instead of putting it
into the proposed forest reserve it
could not help but work out better.
Anyone familiar with state lands
knows how it is put on the market.
1t would be priced at about five dol
lars per acre, one dollar per acre first
payment and Az interest on balance
for forty years, which would be about
eight dollars per year on each 40
acre tract. At the expiration Of 40
years you get a deed without paying
any more on principal. That would
give a poor man a chance to get a
home. All he would have to pay on
the 40 acres would be the eight dol
lars interest and taxes. That would
put this land back on the tax list.