SHADE TREES AND FORESTS 



501 



almost indefinitely the supply of timber needed. The great 

 difficulty in the past has been the wasteful and unscientific 

 methods used and the disregard for the future. Switzer- 

 land's forests have been properly cared for during the past 

 centuries so that they are more efficient and valuable now 

 than they were hundreds of years ago. We may attain the 

 same condition in this country if the government will acquire 

 a larger number of national forests and will regulate the 



FIG. 198. Conservative lumbering. Young growth saved, brush piled to 



prevent fire. 



cutting in private forests as well. This is a matter of such 

 concern to the general good as to require government super- 

 vision. The cutting of the forests does not concern merely 

 the men owning the forests, but it concerns the welfare of 

 the entire communities living near the streams which rise 

 in the sections where these forests are situated. The gov- 

 ernment should make and enforce regulations which will 

 stop the owners of these forests from treating their forests 

 in such a way as to injure other people. 



