XATIONAI. I'OKI.ST STT M PACK APPRAISALS 831 



to the stiimpage. on the basis of past results, there is no reason why 

 we should not be willing to sell on the same basis. The actual selling 

 value of the product from any given tract of timber offered for sale 

 has nothing to do with the basis upon which stumpage prices were 

 fixed. The stumpage values are fixed upon the actual selling value of 

 similar products during a period of from three to four years previous 

 to the sale. It is assumed by both the Government and the purchaser 

 that the actual \alues during a certain period in the past are a suffi- 

 ciently accurate index of the future to be used as a basis upon which 

 the value of certain products may be fixed and business transactions 

 consummated. This is the fundamental principle upon which the sale 

 value of mines, agricultural lands, and all other money-earning indus- 

 tries, commodities, or business enterprises is based. This basis of de- 

 termining values in\ olves a certain amount of risk, not only in timber 

 sales, but in all other lines of business, because of the market fluctua- 

 tions from time to time in the commodity produced. The risk, how- 

 ever, involved in any business enterprise or industrial undertaking is 

 largclv the father of efficiency and the foundation of ])rogress. 



