RELATIONS OF GOVERNMENTS TO FORESTS. 25 



ing of those lands, as it is not looking upon the forest 

 products as a source of immediate profit, but upon the 

 important economic effects which well cared for forests 

 of this kind contribute to the general weal and pros- 

 perity of our country. Moreover, there is no doubt that 

 the State, by introducing a systematic cultivation and 

 exploitation, will be enabled to cover without prejudice 

 to the sustained growth of the w T oods the actual ex- 

 penses incurred in the difficult operation of reforesting 

 the denuded areas of the high mountains. 



In this connection it may be proper to call the atten- 

 tion of the reader to the difference between net proceeds 

 obtained in a business which is conducted by a private 

 party, and that which is managed by the commonwealth. 

 The general economy of a people, it is true, consists of 

 the total of the households of the single individuals, but 

 this fact does not justify the conclusion that the highest 

 success with the former is attained when the net proceeds 

 (or rents of the soil) in the management of the private 

 households have reached the highest point. For the 

 determination of what are considered expenses incurred 

 by the production is different in the two kinds of manage- 

 ment. While the private person puts every expenditure 

 for the production to the debit account of his business, 

 the management of public property considers only such 

 disbursements as real expenses (i. e., as diminution of its 

 income) as do not afford an immediate benefit to the 

 people. For instance, if a private person possesses a mine 

 which cost every year $100,000, in order to obtain its 

 yearly output, valued at $100,000, there is no net profit, 

 and the owner of the mine would hardlv be inclined to 



and ten cents per acre, with easy terms of payment at that. Both houses 

 of the last Legislature passed a bill empowering, with certain restric- 

 tions, the Forest Commissioners to buy up wood-lands situated in the 

 Forest Preserve at figures not exceeding $1.50 per acre. This bill has 

 now become a law. 



