1212 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 



3. Provision should be made for operation of the merit system in 

 matters of employment and promotion, and responsibility for proper 

 discipline and control should be lodged with the State officer above 

 designated, subject to appeal to the commission. 



4. Salary ranges and other conditions of employment should be set 

 by the commission. 



5. In States where private owners are expected to pay a share of 

 protection costs, the law should make specific provision for and outline 

 broadly, subject to regulation by the commission, the terms under 

 which private cooperation is to be recognized. 



An analysis of existing State laws shows many failures to fulfill 

 these various requirements. Likewise performance in fire protection 

 shows weakness directly traceable to that failure. Continuing allot- 

 ments of Federal funds to States should be more and more firmly 

 conditioned on the adequacy and effectiveness of State laws and the 

 competency of organization under them. 



ESTABLISHMENT OF FARM WOODLANDS 



Provision for Federal aid in farm tree plantings was made in the 

 Clarke-McNary Act at the instance of those who believed that a 

 national program of forestry should include the establishment of wood- 

 lands and shelter belts on farms, both for wood production and for the 

 sake of other economic and social returns through shelter to livestock, 

 shade, and farm beautification. 



The farmer who owns submarginal farm acres that might better be 

 used for growing trees is generally in a better position to plant trees 

 than the owner of large areas of forest land, because he may be able 

 to do it in off seasons without extra expenditures for labor. For the 

 same reason, and because he can utilize his product more closely, he 

 is able to realize greater net returns for what he grows. However, the 

 total of resulting wood products that would find their way into the 

 market, or the savings in timber on other forest areas, is as yet of 

 much less consequence than the benefits from shade and shelter and 

 from growing on the farms a limited quantity of needed material 

 which otherwise would not be available for farmers' use. Whether 

 farm forest plantations will become a major factor in the Nation's 

 timber supply remains a question for the future to answer. 



Federal aid in the planting of farm woodlands amounts to a small 

 subsidy to State nurseries. Produced in large quantities under com- 

 petent management, trees suitable for farm planting can be raised at 

 prices greatly below those at which commercial nurserymen sell them. 

 State nurseries for growing such stock can be made largely self- 

 supporting through sales. Free distribution of stock has not gen- 

 erally been found as satisfactory as sale at prices approximating costs 

 of production, because when trees are free many people will ask for 

 them who have no plans or well-formed intention of properly planting 

 and protecting them. 



One of the arguments that has been offered against this project is 

 that it furnishes a form of Federal aid to a single class of citizens, and 

 that there is no more reason why farmers should be provided trees free 

 or at low cost for planting than other landowners. Much more de- 

 termined and forceful objections have come from some commercial 

 nurserymen, who have contended that through Federal encourage- 



