Conservative *
wooded regions of America ; 80,000
square miles of forests was oar in
heritance. They have disappeared.
Thirty years ago Indianapolis was the
center of the hardwood trade. We now
import almost oar entire consumption
of timber.
We see from the car window a skirt
ing of trees which would indicate a
body of woodland , but if we go to any
of these apparent groves we find but a
few worthless beach left , because of the
labor in working them up ; but just
beyond would appear another grove , the
same character as the first. Here and
there has been left a tree , occasionally a
bit of wood , bat , except in a few
localities , there are no forests. "The
Last of the Mohicans" are being gathered
up for the city saw-mills.
Flatboatlng Times.
Less than fifty years ago the banks of
the Ohio river and all its tributaries were
lined with flat boats , each Autumn
loading with hay , pork and farm pro
duce from the rich river farms , to bear
it away to southern plantations Law-
renceburg , Aurora , Rising Sun , Vevay ,
Madison , and on down to Evansville
and Mount Vernon. Every town was a
boom city when the flat boats were re
ceiving produce. The lands were rich
and productive. Farms often paid for
themselves in a few seasons. But a
change came gradually. Now there are
no flat boats , while much of the hill
land is unprofitable to the tiller of the
soil and the labor far more oppressive
than formerly.
Removal of the forests from the steep
hillsides caused a rapid erosion of the
soil. Those rich farms may be found
in the Mississippi's delta , remaining as
monument to the forest clearing mania
of our people.
Summary of Forest Areas.
SQUARE MILES
Total for United States. . . 570,820
New England , all required
at home 18,150
Eastern Atlantic group , all
required at home 35,900
Group of Southern States ,
export and shipment to
Eastern cities 130,000
The prairie group , insuffi
cient for local use 48,900
Pacific states , west of 103 °
west longitude of the lat
ter , all for export 212,400
Lake states group 44,970
Central Manufacturing
states , good , bad and in
different 80,000
While the census of 1890 gave as the
annual consumption of timber 28,488-
997,000 feet , board measure , the annna
consumption of wood as fuel reckoned
to board measure for comparison being
180,000,000,000 feet.
The great commercial zones and larger
manufactories will be limited to the las
two groups or 125,000 square miles. I
it were possible to "average" the yield
over so large and varying territory we
might find 125,000,000,000 feet of avail
able lumber , while another decade of
energetic lumbering will startle this
entire nation.
The authorities dwell upon the vastness -
ness and density of Puget Sound timber ,
which they greatly overestimate , but no
matter how large a yield it will afford ,
what most concerns the lumbermen of
the Middle States is the available supply.
Mountain ranges , with great distance
for transportation , will confine the
dealer and user to the limited region
mentioned.
The year and the day when this
supply will cease is known to no man ,
but if we are assured of what we possess
and know what we annually consume ,
together with the increasing require
ments of a rapidly growing population.
we can guess as well as the eminent
authorities , but assuredly it will not
last fifty years , unless greater economy
be practiced.
Too Great Competition.
In the stress of great competition the
lumbering concerns of this country are
extravagantly wasteful of their forest
property. Ambitious to accumulate
largely in a short period they lose sight
of the more important consideration ,
viz. , permanency.
The critical period of a tree is after it
has reached a diameter of eight inches.
It then increases in lumber rapidly. To
destroy young growing trees is to pre
vent ones successors from reaping
another crop of timber a few years
hence.
Thirty years hence we will have a
population of 150,000,000 , and whether
or not they find a country as good as we
have , and timber resources of sufficient
amplitude , will depend upon the wisdom
patriotism and justice of Americans oJ
this generation. Our forest area is
ample , if fully protected , to furnish the
lumber required for all future time.
The states should enact wise laws and
afford this protection to the forests
Otherwise we are not performing a duty
to our children now in the public
schools.
THE TORRENS LAW.
THE CONSERVATIVE has frequently
called attention to what is known as the
Torrens System of Land Titles , and
recommended to the consideration of its
readers whether this would not be a de
sirable improvement for adoption in
Nebraska. The Torrens system is a
plan devised half a century ago in Ans
tralia , and since adopted in one or two
of the provinces of Canada and severa
states of the Union , by which greate
security in the ownership of land and
greater facility in making transfers and
mortgages are obtained. The presen
system , as practiced , with a few excep
tions , throughout this country , came
down to us from England , where it had
grown up through many centuries , being
little changed from the days when real
estate transfers were few and simple.
It gives no state supervision to the own
ership of so important a class of property
as land , but requires a purchaser to find
out as best he can whether the party to
whom he pays his money is really the . [ |
owner of the land , and provides him no jj | ?
greater safeguard than the promise of
the seller that , if any one turns up and
claims to be the rightful owner , he , the
seller , will protect the purchaser's title.
The Torrens System , on the other hand ,
does away with these individual guaran
tees , and offers in their stead a certifi
cate of ownership from the state , which
is issued anew at each transfer , after
suitable investigation of title in the first
instance , and the authority of which
cannot be questioned. One who once
gets this certificate can be absolutely
certain of the peaceful possession of his
land. No flaws in the title nor claim of
ancient fraud can ever be brought up to
disturb his occupancy.
The system is now lawful in Illinois
and Massachusetts. .There is nothing
compulsory about it , simply anyone who
wishes to avail himself of its privileges
may do so. A recent report from Mass
achusetts shows that after several years
of rather slow growth it has made a
sudden leap into favor in that common
wealth. The fees received by the board
of registration in the quarter ending
January 1899 , were $192 ; in that ending
October 1900 , $1154. The owners of the
city property it seems also are quicker
to take advantage of its benefits than
are holders of farm property ; no doubt
for the reason that city lots are traded
in much more frequently than country
tracts , and for the further reason that
the workings of the new plan are better
understood in the towns.
The recorder quotes an instance to
show the advantages of the system in
the saving of time in making loans. The
owner of some property in North Boston
worth some $10,000 , wished to borrow a
considerable sum on the security of this
land. According to the usual practice ,
the bank to which he applied for the
loan would have first demanded an ab-
straot of his title , which , if he had not , .
one ready , would have taken two or
three weeks to prepare ; the abstract
would then have been placed in the
hands of the bank's attorney or abstractor - | j
or for examination , which would have
taken two or three weeks more ; and if
the attorney's report were favorable ,
the officers of the bank would then have
been in a position to pass upon the ad
visability of the loan. This man how
ever , presenting himself at the bank in
the morning , had with him the abovementioned -
mentioned certificate from the state that
he was the owner of the land and that it
was uninoumbered ; the bank therefore
had merely to consider the value of the
property relative to the size of the pro
posed loan , and the man had his money
by one o'clock of the same day.