1598 A NATIONAL PLAN FOK AMERICAN FORESTRY 



It is difficult to gauge just how much borrowed capital will be 

 needed, but it is certain that the amount will be so large and the 

 requirements as to favorable terms and rates so out of the ordinary 

 as to raise serious doubts as to the possibility of obtaining it from the 

 usual sources of commercial credit. The development of the business 

 of growing continuous crops of timber expected under such a program 

 as is set out here will in time create sources of borrowed money at 

 favorable terms, but until such a basis is established it appears that 

 Federal aid in organizing forest credit facilities will be necessary. 

 The section referred to suggests a thorough study of a plan to meet 

 this need by the establishment of organized institutions to provide 

 forest credit under the Farm Loan Board. 



With the various forms of public aid proposed, and with acceptance 

 of the genuine opportunities on the better private land, private 

 owners should be able to carry the timber growing program that is 

 left to them. 



THE PART OF QUASI-PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS IN 

 FORESTRY 



Occupying a position in the field of forestry which may not prop- 

 erly be classified as either private or public are a number of agencies 

 represented in part by the privately endowed universities and scien- 

 tific institutions engaged, usually as only a part of their activities, 

 in forestry education or research in forestry and related subjects. 

 These institutions, although independent of governmental control 

 and of legislative financial support, have certain public aspects which 

 distinguish them from private endeavor in the usual conception of the 

 term. They are more public than private in the sense that they are 

 not operated for profit and that the services which they render are 

 directed at the advancement of the public welfare and are generally 

 available to everyone. Such institutions are in a position to render 

 a distinctive service in the national forestry program, especially in 

 working for the solution of basic technical and economic problems in 

 which action should be unhampered by pressure for either profit or 

 immediate results. The forest research activities of the principal 

 educational and research institutions which come under this heading 

 have been discussed in the section "Privately Supported and Quasi- 

 Public Forest Research. " 



The principal responsibility of the forest schools and other depart- 

 ments of colleges and universities referred to in this section is, of 

 course, education first, the professional training of men to carry on 

 the national forestry program and second, general education related 

 to forestry which will broaden public understanding and appreciation 

 of the significance of forestry in -the national economy. These edu- 

 cational institutions have a further responsibility which is inherent 

 in their opportunity to assist in the molding of public sentiment toward 

 forestry and in the framing of public forest policies. In this as well 

 as in their strictly educational functions, these agencies can make a 

 very substantial contribution through the development and man- 

 agement of demonstration forests, such as those maintained by 

 Harvard, Yale, and Duke Universities. Because of their neutral 

 position, free from the profit motive on the one hand and from politi- 

 cal incentives on the other, these endowed educational institutions 



