INTRODUCTION xxix 



merchantable timber and young growth, and the injury to the soil 

 does not permit of accurate estimate. Experience in the National 

 Forests and elsewhere shows that when adequate precautionary 

 measures are taken a very large percentage of this annual loss is 

 preventable. 



7. GOVERNMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY 



The development of the human race is based upon community 

 interests. The structure of society demands that restrictions be 

 placed upon the individual. The fundamental conception of 

 modern society carries with it the idea that the interests of the 

 whole community are paramount and that those of the individual 

 are subordinate whenever the interests of the whole and those of 

 the individual are opposed. Through the machinery of govern- 

 ment, the individual is deprived under due process of law of prop- 

 erty, liberty, and even life, whenever the same is demanded for 

 the public good. The government, through its laws, prescribes 

 the limits within which full liberty for individual development 

 is given. These restrictions are removed whenever it is advanta- 

 geous to the community as a whole. But if the free action of the 

 individual runs counter to the interests of the whole, such action 

 is restricted. 



In general, that form of government is best which permits the 

 freest possible action on the part of the individual consistent with 

 social development. In all communities, however, there is much 

 of general or public concern which is better guarded- and which 

 will better serve the interests of all if kept under governmental 

 management and control. 



Present industrial development, if it be based upon exhaustion 

 of natural resources, means national retrogression instead of ad- 

 vancement. The conservation of these resources within reason- 

 able limits cannot be left wholly to the individual but is often 

 safest under governmental control. In all of these matters, there 

 is great difference of opinion in determining just where com- 

 munity control shall begin and end. On the one hand, the greatest 

 individual freedom should be permitted; while, on the other hand, 

 the interests of the community must be safeguarded. There is 

 no doubt that the conditions which arise by granting the indi- 

 vidual the fullest possible freedom consistent with the social and 

 economic development of the community are best because they 



