71 



what is desirable in practice, and also, of finding out what are the needs of 

 the private owner, and what the state should do to further his interests. 



A more direct and far-reaching influence upon private activity, still of 

 an educational character, is properly exercised by the state in securing and 

 publishing statistical information. 



In the well ordered state the soils most fit for agriculture should be 

 devoted to systematic tooa production, Dut just so snoulu tiie non-agricul- 

 tural soils, me aosolute lorest soils, be devoted to the systematic production 

 01 wood-crops ; moreover, as we nave seen, tne lorest in certain situations, 

 exercises a potent influence on cultural conditions. Hence the knowledge 

 01 tne extent 01 lorest area 01 a country is Dy itsen meaningless ; tne cnar- 

 acter 01 tne son me lorest occupies, us topograpmcal location, and its rela- 

 tion to tne Hydrography 01 tlie country, must oe Known to permit an esti- 

 mate 01 cultural conditions, to prognosticate iiKeiy cnange in area and tne 

 desirability 01 mterierence m its use. 



To get an idea 01 the amount and value, present and prospective, 01' 

 the existing resource, mere must DC known tne composition, i.e., relative 

 occurrence or merchantable kinds and conditions as to density, age, and 

 character ot growth, damage by nre, etc., and, most dirncult of all to ascer- 

 tain, conditions and stages of development ot the young crop. 



in addition to these educational methods which incite private activity 

 in the right direction by indirect means, namely, by increase of knowledge, 

 mere are more direct ameliorative or promotive measures to be found in 

 bounties which are given to aid private endeavor in the pursuit of private 

 industry. 



These may take the form of assisting by money gifts, by furnishing 

 plant material, by giving land as in our timber claim planting, by making 

 working plans or otherwise specifically assisting in private forest manage- 

 ment beyond the gift of general information, and finally by tax release and 

 tariff duties. 



Within the last few years the Federal Government of the United 

 States has inaugurated through the Forestry Bureau of the Department of 

 Agriculture another method of encouragement which is also practised in 

 the old countries, namely, to give to private owners specific advice as to the 

 management of forest properties, the government bearing the larger share 

 of the expense of securing the data for these so-called working plans. But 

 for the educational feature involved, this would be a violation of our prin- 

 ciple that the state should not do for the private citizen what he could do 

 for himself. If, however, the benefit to be expected for the community at 

 large is thereby secured, expediency would lend countenance to such a 

 method. The probability, however, is that in the absence of an obligation 

 to follow the working plan, and in the absence of technical supervision in 

 its execution, the results will be hardly commensurate. 



