FOREST SERVICE. 



313 



given an impetus through the aid of the Federal Government. A 

 general formula for the cost of protecting private forest lands which 

 has been widely accepted is that the owners and the public should 

 share it alike and that the share of the public, as represented by the 

 Federal Government, should be approximately one-fourth. On this 

 basis, if the yearly expenditure required to protect private forest 

 lands in the United States is $9,263,000, as is estimated, the share of 

 the Federal Government would be about $2,300,000 yearly, or nearly 

 six times the present appropriation for this purpose. 



NATIONAL FOREST 3IANAGEMENT. 



TIMBER. 



More timber was cut from the national forests during the past 

 year than ever before in their history, and the receipts from sales 

 were greater. The timber business of the year compared with that 

 of 1922 is as follows : 



Totals of timber sold, timber cut, and receipts from sales. 



> The figures given on p. 10 include receipts for timber cut in trespass. 



There has been on the whole a steady rise in the amount of timber 

 cut and sold annually from the national forests since their creation. 

 The sharp increase in the business last year is more than a temporary 

 peak ; it is the result of clearly defined economic forces that have been 

 at work for several years and point to a continuing increase during 

 the next decade. 



Perhaps the greatest factor affecting the growth of the timber- 

 sale business in the national forests is the continued activity in 

 lumber production stimulated by the favorable market of the last 

 two years. Throughout the United States and during practically the 

 entire year urban and industrial construction has gone forward 

 steadily. 



The export lumber business has not fully recovered from the 

 effects of the war, but well-informed men in the industry believe that 

 the volume of lumber required for domestic use and the export trade 

 combined will not recede from its present level. 



Another prime factor affecting the volume of timber business in 

 the national forests, as pointed out in last year's report, is the con- 

 tinued western migration of forest industries from the depleted 

 regions of the East. Eastern sawmill capital is at present being 

 invested more largely on the Pacific coast than elsewhere. This is 

 reflected in the timber sales in the national forests of that reerion. In 



