STATK OWNERSHIP OF FOREST LANDS 961 



the retention in public ownership of vast areas of Canadian forest are 

 undoubtedly the inhospitality of the region to agricultural settlement 

 and the somewhat more paternalistic nature of the government. 



That such lands cannot be unloaded permanently on private owners, 

 Michigan, for example, has learned by the repeated reversion of tracts 

 for non-payment of taxes. Fortunately, from the point of view of the 

 public welfare, the opposition to forest reserves in the Lake States has 

 come primarily from real-estate interests bent on the development for 

 agriculture of lands which have been proven unfit for that purpose by 

 the bitter experience of deluded settlers. 



The possibilities in permanent public ownership of forest lands are 

 now generally recognized by the States which own considerable areas 

 of land unsuited to annual operation, and, as has already been noted, 

 there is a general movement in the public-land States of the West to 

 consolidate their lands by exchange with the National Government, so 

 that areas of size sufficient for economical administration by the States 

 will be established. 



But whereas the reservation in public ownership of lands unsuitable 

 to annual operation has proven eminently economical and practical, the 

 expenditure of State funds to purchase forest-reserve areas may be a 

 more debatable project. Extravagance in purchasing forest lands 

 would be no less economically wrong than would complete neglect of 

 the State to acquire such lands. 



In the first place, erroneous conclusions as to the "inestimable" value 

 of timber supplies, arising from ignorance or incomplete analysis of 

 the facts, are very common. It should be kept in mind that the ex- 

 perience of the European countries which have found public ownership 

 of forests necessary for adequate control applies to tracts important 

 for protection of water resources rather than for timber production. 

 Timber, like any other commodity, is not of "inestimable" value, but is 

 worth just what people are willing to pay for it. Policies designed to 

 insure future supplies should take into account what the natural supply 

 will be and what the demand will be. The extent to which substitutes 

 will be preferred, either on account of their cheapness or their relative 

 adaptability for the purposes for which materials are required, de- 

 mands particular consideration. It is common knowledge that although 

 there are many uses of wood for which it appears indispensable today, 

 there are many other uses for which substitutes not just as good, but 

 better, have been found. 



Statistics indicate that the annual cut of lumber, enormous though 

 it be, is not at present increasing, the highest figure having been reached 



