1300 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 



Of this total sum, the Federal acquisition program, as set forth in 

 table 17 would cost $347,800,000 in the East, andin the West $100,000,- 

 000 for stumpage, and $43,450,000 for land, a total of $491,250,000. 



The cost to the States, on the basis of division already outlined, is 

 thus approximately $250,000,000. 



A SUGGESTED IMMEDIATE FEDERAL AND STATE 



PROGRAM 



The recommended Federal program for purchase of forest and 

 abandoned agricultural land and stumpage may and should be spread 

 out over a period of years. 



The major urgent considerations justifying a large immediate 

 program are: 



1. Most of the areas which should eventually be acquired are 

 depreciating seriously now. Prompt purchase and administration are 

 needed to begin the often difficult process of rehabilitation. This is 

 true equally of watershed and timber-production areas. 



2. The stumpage to be purchased should be acquired in the near 

 future, or much of it is likely to go on an operating basis, and the 

 opportunity for stabilizing its utilization will be lost. 



3. Enormous areas of land and stumpage are obtainable at very 

 reasonable prices, and it is obviously in the public interest to take 

 advantage of these without delay. 



4. The prompt initiation of the purchase programs would release 

 frozen assets and put money into circulation, and with no question of 

 the worth whileness of the public expenditures. 



5. Once acquired by the public, the forests, particularly in the East, 

 would give a very desirable outlet for emergency employment of labor 

 on the large job of improvements that would be required to develop 

 and improve the forest property. 



6. Acquisition programs of the Federal Government and of many 

 States are already on a going-concern basis, and could readily be 

 expanded many times. A rapid expansion could be made without 

 loss of effectiveness or of economical purchase at fair prices. 



The total program should be carried out on a 20-year basis or an 

 average of 5 percent a year, for land acquisition, and a 10-year basis for 

 stumpage acquisition. A slower rate of progress would clearly 

 fail to meet both the urgent needs and the opportunities that exist. 

 A very much higher rate of speed would go beyond the present capac- 

 ity to expand effectively. In round figures, this would mean an 

 annual capital investment by the Federal Government of $30,000,000 

 for both land acquisition in the East and West, and stumpage acquisi- 

 tion in the West. Of this an average of $18,000 000 would be for 

 eastern and $12,000,000 for western purchase. 



At the same rate of increase the annual cost for the State forest 

 programs suggested would be 12.5 million dollars. Clearly this rate 

 is exceedingly desirable. The current financial situations of many 

 States, like that of the Federal Government, involves recognition of 

 sharp reductions in the income obtained from taxes, and this fact is 

 forcing a more or less comprehensive reappraisal of both State and 

 Federal projects, of the means of financing public undertakings, and 

 of the possibilities of reducing public expenditures in general. It 

 seems altogether probable that in Federal financial managment a 

 clear-cut distinction may be drawn between true current expense and 



