62 Vermont Agbictjltukai, Repobt. 



sert a sixth fundamental which we can derive from the poHcy 

 inaugurated by Prussia of buying up waste lands and exchang- 

 ing good forest lands for poor farms and forests ; namely : 



Forests can be produced on soils unfit for farm use; and 

 hence, as far as no other considerations prevail, it is proper policy 

 to devote to wood crops only lands not fit for food crops. Such 

 poor lands produce wood crops more slowly, to be sure, and 

 hence the time element is here still further accentuated and 

 private interest in such lands and business is still further 

 lessened. 



Someone might point out that there is in Germany a large 

 amount of private forest apparently in good condition and man- 

 aged for continuity, for the various governments of Germany 

 own only 34% of the total forest area ; but if you inquire further 

 you will find that about 18% belongs to cities, village commun- 

 ities, institutes and other public corporations over which the 

 government exercises more or less direct control; a portion of 

 private forests, especially in Southern Germany, is, by law, pre- 

 vented from being cleared on account of its protective quality, 

 and some 14% of the forest area belongs to private families as 

 entailed property, i. e.„ owned in trust for the family by the 

 oldest son and managed under government supervision, so that 

 altogether probably not one-quarter of the German forest area is 

 without some government supervision and that mostly in farm- 

 ers' woodlots. And if you wish to see mismanaged woods in 

 Germany you will be referred to this class of property. In 

 other words, except under government restriction private inter- 

 est has not found inducements for conservative management. 



A seventh fundamental may then be formulated: Private 

 interest in conservative forest management is in general insuffi- 

 cient to be relied upon for taking care of public interests, except 

 under the stimulus of government aid or of government restric- 

 tion. In the end the public must take care of its own interests, 

 which is best done by State ownership. 



This doctrine, I know, is entirely un-American as far as 

 piofessions of principles are concerned, but in practice the prin- 

 ciple of self help, which is supposed to be the true American 

 principle, has been again and again set aside in the past and the 

 tendency of government interference is growing in the present. 

 It would, indeed, be difficult to point out any field in our 

 economic life where reliance on self help and on natural com- 

 petition is less likely to produce good results and preserve de- 

 sirable conditions and where governmental influence is more 

 needful than in the treatment of our forest resources. 



This fact has been, happily, although slowly and only half- 

 heartedly, recognized by the Federal government and several 



