FOREST ECONOMICS 145 



CHAPTER X 

 FOREST ECONOMICS 



IN its scientific sense forest policy may be defined as the 

 representation of the economic position which forestry occu- 

 pies in the affairs of the State and the people. That which 

 is briefly discussed here, however, is simply the relationship 

 which exists between the State and forestry. State adminis- 

 tration consists, on the one hand, in the protection, care, and 

 management of the forest in the public interest ; and, on the 

 other hand, when the forest as a lasting source of supply is 

 endangered, administration may assume the form of restriction 

 of individual action for the benefit of the community at 

 large. 



State Ownership of Forests 



The attention given to forestry in a country depends very 

 largely on the nature and manner of treatment of the State 

 forests. Whenever one finds laxity of management or non- 

 conservative treatment of Government reserved forests, one 

 also finds the privately owned woods in an unsatisfactory 

 condition. Similarly in lands which do not possess any con- 

 siderable area of regulated national forest, the fact is there 

 reflected in the poor development of sylviculture. In short, 

 State woods teach through their example being of first 

 importance as an educative power. 



About the close of the seventeenth century, and the begin- 

 ning of the eighteenth, there arose a movement in France 

 and Germany in favour of the alienation from State owner- 

 ship of forest lands, it being held, in accordance with the 

 economic theories of the time, that the State should not be 

 directly interested in any particular industry. Owing to the 

 financial distress that prevailed, the agitation led to measures 



