872 A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY 



By such exchange 1,205,100 acres (gross) have been added to the 

 national forests. The amount might have been much larger had it 

 not been deemed inadvisable for the national-forest organization to 

 make exchanges of stumpage for land to the extent of materially 

 affecting the amount of national-forest timber-sale receipts that go 

 to the counties. 



Likewise there is a small Federal appropriation for purchase of 

 forest lands for additions to national forests. In the last 20 years 

 some 4,727,680 acres have been so purchased. The acreage of such 

 lands offered far exceeds the area that can be purchased, and it is 

 significant that the price at which sales are consummated is progres- 

 sively diminishing. In the East, millions of acres are available for 

 purchase at half the price of a few years back, making them very 

 favorable buys for public ownership. In recent years there has been 

 a gradual falling off in the price asked, which has latterly become 

 precipitous. In one western region well-stocked cut-over forest land 

 is being offered for sale in increasing quantities at 25 to 50 cents an 

 acre. In another western region tracts of 100,000 acres and more are 

 being offered at prices half of what they were held for a few years 

 back. 



In addition to the activities of the Federal Government in taking 

 private land by purchase or exchange, some of the States, notably 

 New York and Pennsylvania, have been active on a large scale in 

 acquiring private forest land for State forests. 



This willingness of owners to dispose of their forest land on a 

 "buyer's" or " distress" market, so to speak, is another very definite 

 evidence of the breakdown of private ownership. It is especially 

 significant because some of these lands are well stocked and have 

 genuine promise of being profitable properties under public owner- 

 ship. It is much in the interest of the public to have them protected 

 and kept productive for the many benefits they will give, even if the 

 owner sees no benefit to himself in retaining title. 



Mortgage foreclosure and bankruptcy are responsible for a consider- 

 able shifting of rural ownership, and a good deal of land has gone into 

 the possession of the Federal land banksand private banks in this 

 way. In the years 1926 to 1929, inclusive, in the whole United States 

 17 farms per thousand changed ownership through foreclosure of 

 mortgages, bankruptcy, etc. There was no tendency toward increase 

 in that period, but since then the depression has accounted for some 

 acceleration. No data are available on the foreclosure of forest land 

 per se, but in the forest regions a very material part of the mortgaged 

 farms are woodland. This large amount of mortgage foreclosure is 

 due principally to deflation of land values accompanied by inability 

 of the crop returns to pay fixed charges, but it is also a sympton of 

 the instability of land ownership and applies to forest as well as farm 

 property. 



EXTENT OF TAX REVERSION AND DELINQUENCY 



It is impossible to present complete statistics of the extent of tax- 

 delinquent or tax-reverted forest lands in the United States. To do 

 so would necessitate compiling the ever-changing delinquency lists 

 for thousands upon thousands of different taxing units. Furthermore, 

 in the few summaries that are available it is quite often impossible to 

 separate forest land from other classes of realty. 



