10 Government Forestry Abroad. [194 



area of 13,908,398 hectares, or 26 per cent, of the total 

 surface of the country. It is extremely significant, 

 in view of the popular talk about the ' inexhausti- 

 ble "forest resources of the United States, to note 

 that the latest available data put the percentage of 

 wooded land in our country also at 26 per cent. It 

 is true that the relative density of population in 

 the two countries is a factor which enters largely 

 into such a comparison, but it is equally true as 

 regards the relative economy in the use of wood, and 

 the fact that Germany is very far from supplying 

 her own demand for timber. Further, the contrast 

 between the permanent productive powers of the 

 German and American wood lands, as they stand at 

 present, adds another somber tint to the picture of 

 our condition. In Germany, the State either owns 

 or controls about two -thirds of the forest area, and 

 for these lands the point of lowest production has 

 been past. It is coming for us at a time when the 

 need of timber is at its highest. 



It is necessary when dealing with forest policy in 

 the German Empire to treat independently the differ- 

 ent States of which it is composed. Differences in 

 forest organization and management have arisen 

 through differences in politics and geography, even 

 a superficial examination of which would exceed 

 both the space and the scope of the present paper, 

 and it is fortunately the less needful to go into so 

 extended a discussion, because one common principle 

 lies at the root of forest policy in each of them, and 

 may be fully illustrated by reference to any one. 

 This principle, special to no country or form of gov- 

 ernment, holds that "the State is the guardian of all 

 public interests." It is in its interpretation that, for 



