182 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



region just so long as corn production is a profitable line of agri- 

 culture for the farmers to pursue. But if some other crop becomes 

 more profitable than corn, tbe new crop will be raised; or, if the 

 value of dairy products rises proportionately higher tlian corn, the corn 

 will be used for ensilage. 



The removal of such an industry would not impoverish the com- 

 munity except in so far as the local people had invested in it. So a 

 business which exploits without waste a mineral resource, the amount 

 of which can never be increased, can not be considered blameworthy for 

 the entire disappearance of the supply. It is very different when we 

 consider a resource, such as timber, which, by proper handling, can be 

 made permanent, and can be even increased from two to ten fold over 

 its natural productivity. A company which enters a region with the 

 intention of stripping off within ten or twenty years timber which has 

 been one or two hundred "years in growing, and which can not be re- 

 grown in less than three quarters of a century, is in much the same 

 position as the gentleman swindler who entertains lavishly, pays gener- 

 ously for what he gets, but finally escapes with the wealth of his con- 

 fiding friends. It is only fair to say that this does not apply to the 

 lumbermen of the past, for, after all, business honesty is a very relative 

 matter, and one can hardly expect a firm to conduct its business on 

 principles in advance of public opinion. That interlocking directorates 

 were in good repute a decade ago will not excuse such a condition in the 

 future. 



It will be apparent to any one considering permanent prosperity, 

 that such an industry, removing in a wasteful manner a resource like 

 timber, that could be handled in a better way, is anything but an asset 

 to the community. Such a business not only should not be encouraged 

 by tax rebates, but should be controlled by state regulations safeguarding 

 the community from such disastrous results of a wasteful policy as may 

 be seen in many deforested sections of the country. 



Innumerable instances could be cited from various states of seri- 

 ous mistakes in public policy where injurious industries have been en- 

 couraged by tax rebates. One may suffice as an example. In a Vermont 

 town there was a timber property that was assessed fifteen or twenty 

 years ago at $40,000. For several years, while this timber was being 

 removed, the saw-mill manufacturing it was exempted from taxation. 

 The mill is now gone, and the real estate is assessed at $1,000. Many 

 other properties have depreciated in the same way, and the inevitable 

 result is a steady increase of the tax rate. Depopulation and degenera- 

 tion are the natural results of such a policy. 



II 



Lumber prices in the past have not justified much attention to the 

 growing of timber as a private business. It must be remembered that 



