DIVISION OF FORESTRY. 167 



that tlie farmers will pursue the most conservative policy in regard 

 to this kind of property, which will shortly increase m value as never 

 before, and will therefore offer great inducements to part with it pre- 

 maturely. 



DIFFICULTIES TO BE OVERCOME. 



The difficulties in the way of a change of forest policy are the same 

 which have produced the unsatisfactory state of affairs now existing 

 over a large part of the United States. They are greater and of a 

 different nature from those which European nations had to encounter, 

 and therefore call for different methods of treatment. 



In the first place, the peculiar and unique conditions under which 

 the country has been settled have brought within reach of the mar- 

 ket distant forest areas, where, in order to make lumbering profitable, 

 in the absence of a near-by demand for inferior material and leav- 

 ings, wasteful and destru'ctive methods of utilization had to be em- 

 ployed. The phenomenally rapid development of our railway system, 

 while it has aided more than any other enterprise in building uiJ and 

 settling this vast country, has also in many cases done irremediable 

 damage to its future by inducing forest destruction. 



Other conditions which have TDroduced a tendency to wastefulness 

 in regard to timber resources tave been the necessity of clearing 

 wood lands for agricultural purposes without a market for the tim- 

 ber; instability of -ownership in real estate, together with a spirit of 

 speculation, and therefore decreased interest in the future conditions 

 and welfare of a particular locality, besides the prevailing ignorance 

 of the importance of the forest interests and of forest management 

 and the seeming inexhaustibility of existing natural supplies. 



To this add that the enormous profits made by those to whom the 

 Government sold her fair timber domain at nominal prices have in- 

 cited such competition in the lumbering industry, that while the price 

 of stumpage has been kept at profitable rates, the prices for lumber 

 have been so reduced that many mills can be made profitable only 

 when driven to their utmost capacity of production; and therefore 

 little or nothing can be expected from the lumber industry in the way 

 of voluntary restriction or in assuming additional expense for proper 

 forest management. 



The difficulty of protecting large forest areas in thinly settled re- 

 gions against depredation and fire makes this class of property^ pre- 

 carious to own, and holds out an inducement to dispose of it as quickly 

 as possible. 



The prices at present prevailing, due to the conditions just stated, 

 do not represent the true cost of production of the raw material, and 

 tend to make forestry for lumbering jDuri^oses 'appear unprofitable. 

 While small groves comprising timbers of certain kinds and sizes in 

 the prairie States, and woods of spontaneous growth in New England 

 or near large cities may yield profitable returns, we must not blind 

 ourselves to the fact that, upon the basis of present prices for lumber, 

 forestry for the production of building timber cannot be considered 

 profitable in all localities. A considerable change in prices, how- 

 ever, may be confidently expected at an early period, and will no doubt 

 place large forestry operations, begun at the present time, among the 

 most remunerative enterprises for the future, provided that the objec- 

 tions arising from the present insecurity of such property are removed. 

 The necessity for husbanding supplies and for a proper division and 



