DR. COMPTON's fourteen POINTS 963 



ingly admits that it is wasteful to maintain cut-over lands in idleness. 

 Evidently what he has in mind is that as long as the idleness of these 

 lands is not laid at the door of their owners he has no objection to 

 having the public protect privately-owned cut-over lands from fire 

 and devastation. This admission weakens Dr. Compton's entire posi- 

 tion because if it is wasteful to keep cut-over lands in such condi- 

 tion that natural reproduction of desirable species is destroyed, then 

 it is even more wasteful, unless the reproduction is to be supplied 

 by human effort, to cut the land over in the tirst place in such a way 

 that natural reproduction of desirable species is made impossible. 

 It is a pleasing dream, but unfortunately not true, that "nature, 

 unaided by human effort, would, if given the opportunity, itself solve 

 much if not most of the problem of providing forests for distant 

 future use." Protection against "fire and ravage" involves human 

 effort. Moreover, there is no more reason to believe that nature alone 

 can supply the needs for wood of an increasing population and indus- 

 try than to believe that nature alone could supply our future needs 

 for food. Perhaps all or most of the lands producing farm crops 

 today would produce crops of grass or some kind of food plants 

 without human effort, and the persons who harvested these crops 

 could possibly make a large per cent of profit on the capital invested. 

 The man who farms his land has tied up a much larger investment 

 in labor and capital, and probably in most cases makes a smaller per 

 cent on his investment than if he were merely mowing wild lands, 

 but he makes more money altogether and contributes far more to the 

 public welfare. We personally believe that most efficient fire pro- 

 tection will come only when the mature forests themselves shall begin 

 to be cut in such a way as to secure natural reproduction. We can- 

 not expect a high degree of efficiency, involving large expenditures 

 of money, on property which is to be laid waste. Inefficiency in the 

 cutting of the timber without provision for its future replacement 

 tends to be followed by inefficient protection of the property thus 

 treated. Furthermore, when a forest property is handled as a per- 

 manent resource, which involves construction of permanent roads, 

 proper distribution of cuttings, utilization of the tops, and disposal 

 of brush, it provides at the same time a most efficient basis for fire 

 protection. The property then can be so developed that it becomes 

 less subject to fire danger. In order to lessen the danger from fire 

 in a city it is not enough to have an efficient fire department. There 

 must be proper building regulations, proper regulations to prevent the 



