THE CUT-OVER LAND PROBLEM 501 



I 



ing method of obtaining land for the practice of forestry, will hinder its 

 development by reason of the enormous expenditures involved, and by 

 causing owners to refrain from any forestry undertaking which would 

 mean more or less of an investment to them. 



A forest policy or system of management will succeed only to the 

 extent that the rank and file of the people will agree to it. Conse- 

 quently the sympathetic efforts of the individual must be enlisted from 

 the first. An autocratic government can ignore him and work from 

 the national viewpoint, but while quicker action may be obtained there 

 is no reason to anticipate better results than from a democratic method 

 of handling the problem. With the Government acting in the capacity 

 of bondsmen for the State forests, it would be in a position to bring the 

 practice of forestry to the highest level of success. In exercising such 

 functions, it would be free of countless administrative troubles, em- 

 ploying only a comparatively few men of high technical ability. It 

 would hold forest policies in line when changes in state administrative 

 forces might threaten to upset painstaking and successful work of 

 years. On the other hand, the administrative force of the State would 

 be in close touch with the people, closer to the problems, and readily 

 responsive to the current of thought on forestry matters. 



