A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY 37 



SOLUTION AN IMPORTANT SOURCE FOR EMPLOYMENT OF LABOR 



The development of labor-saving machinery is making means for 

 the profitable employment of labor a critical national necessity. 



In 1929 forest work, including logging and wood manufacture, 

 afforded full-time employment or its equivalent to 1,500,000 people. 

 Fully productive forests, at the rate of 1 employee to 250 acres, a 

 conservative estimate in the light of both European and American 

 experience, could employ 2 million people. This does not include 

 the merchandising of forest products and services to forest-products 

 industries. Neither does it include industries dependent upon forest 

 water, forest ranges, forest wild life and recreation, and minor prod- 

 ucts and services. For all of these a large additional number could 

 be added. 



On the public forests alone there is undoubtedly the opportunity 

 for the emergency employment of a very large number of men. Pri- 

 vate forests could probably accommodate several tunes as many. 



In fully managed forests, which we cannot have for many years, 

 the opportunity for depression employment would be lessened. The 

 manufacturers of forest products suffer during depressions along with 

 other industries, but the possibility of woods employment might serve 

 to absorb any surplus and prevent the aggravation of unemployment. 



SOLUTION OFFERS ONE IMPORTANT AID IN PUBLIC FINANCE 



Productive forests widen the tax base. This includes privately 

 owned forests, sawmill, pulp and paper, and other manufacturing 

 plants, the property of industries using other forest products, the 

 property of service industries, and the homes and other property of 

 people engaged in all these industries. The pulp and paper plants in 

 Wisconsin are valued at around $100,000,000 and could be supplied 

 in perpetuity by 2 million acres of well-managed forests. 



An enlarged tax base reduces the per dollar of tax base cost of 

 public functions such as local governments, schools, highways, etc. 

 It makes it possible to raise the standards of these functions. It 

 lessens the need for State aid. Almost every county in the cut-over 

 region of Michigan now receives, for example, more money than it 

 pays in taxes. 



Even public forests pay a direct financial revenue to local govern- 

 ment, which supplements a wider tax base for other property. The 

 national forests return to State and local governments 25 percent of 

 gross receipts. The States pay varying amounts usually on a per 

 acre per annum basis. 



The Federal Government itself obtains revenue from the forest 

 and related industries through the income tax. 



SOLUTION ONE IMPORTANT MEANS FOR MAINTAINING A BALANCED 

 RURAL ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL STRUCTURE 



The solution of the major forest problems offers a means for the 

 utilization of the land for forests which cannot be used for any other 

 purpose, including agriculture. Such utilization should therefore 

 serve as the basis for stable permanent local industries dependent 

 upon the products of both forest and agricultural land. 



