FOREWORD ix 



power be developed on the farms of the United States than 

 that we harness Niagara. 



"Unfortunately, the tendency of the present laws is to 

 encourage the acquisition of these resources on easy terms, 

 or on their own terms, by the first applicants, and the 

 power of the streams is rapidly being acquired under condi- 

 tions that lead to the concentration of ownership in the hands 

 of the monopolies. This constitutes a real and immediate 

 danger, not to the country-life interests alone, but to the 

 entire nation, and it is time that the whole people become 

 aroused to it. 



"The forests have been exploited for private gain not 

 only until the timber has been seriously reduced, but until 

 streams have been ruined for navigation, power, irrigation, 

 and common water supplies, and whole regions have been 

 exposed to floods and disastrous soil erosion. Probably 

 there has never occurred a more reckless destruction of 

 property that of right should belong to all the people. 



"The wood-lot property of the country needs to be saved 

 and increased. Wood-lot yield is one of the most important 

 crops of the farms, and is of great value to the public in 

 controlling streams, saving the run-off, checking winds, and 

 adding to the attractiveness of the region. [Taken up in a 

 special chapter of this book.] 



"In many regions where poor and hilly lands prevail, the 

 town or county could well afford to purchase forest land, 

 expecting thereby to add to the value of the property and 

 to make the forests a source of revenue. Such communal 

 forests in Europe yield revenue to the cities and towns by 

 which they are owned and managed." 



These revenues would furnish good roads even in the 

 poorest and most sparsely settled districts. 



