228 FORESTS AND MANKIND 



attractive financial venture, we shall not reasonably expect 

 private capital to be used for growing trees. 



Nevertheless it is of supreme importance to the welfare of 

 our country that some degree of forest culture and protection 

 be practiced on these privately owned timberlands, for they 

 represent two-thirds of the forest lands of our nation and pro- 

 duce about 97 per cent of our lumber and forest products. 

 Moreover these private holdings are usually the more valuable, 

 highly productive forest lands, for the areas in Government 

 and State ownership are the mountainous, more rugged, and 

 generally less productive tracts. Forests in private ownership 

 constitute a tremendous domain. They represent an investment 

 of about ten billions of dollars and provide employment for 

 over a million people. They contribute directly to the support 

 of ten millions more. So what happens to these forests this 

 source of a gigantic industry, is a matter of national concern. 

 In a very real sense the future of forestry in America lies today 

 in the hands of these private individuals, who, as business men, 

 are interested in paying ventures, whether it be forestry or 

 shipping, or manufacturing. The immediate problem, then, is 

 one of learning whether or not forestry under present condi- 

 tions pays and, if not, how to change these conditions until it 

 can be made to pay. 



In the long run whether or not forestry pays depends largely 

 on the value of the finished product lumber, paper pulp, 

 charcoal, or whatever it may be. While our wild forests existed 

 in large quantities, the price of lumber was largely dictated by 

 the cost of logging and transportation. Timber on the stump 

 sold for next to nothing. During those days it would have been 

 out of the question to raise a man-made forest that might 



