Practicability of an American Forest Administration. 



BY B. E. FERNOW, 



Chief of Forestry Division, Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 



The title of the paper assigned to me should have 

 been made, by preference, to read: "The difficulties 

 attending the introduction of forest management in 

 the United States," for the negative elements in the 

 problem are still so numerous as to make a positive 

 result, at first sight, at least, doubtful. 



If we can understand the reasons for the absence 

 of forest management in the United States, we shall 

 at once understand some of the difficulties retarding 

 its introduction and be able to weigh the possibilities 

 of overcoming them. 



In Europe, thanks to a certain feudal conservative 

 system, large forest areas were preserved, more or 

 less intact, in strong, controlling hands, until the 

 territory was gradually covered by a dense, stable 

 population, which necessitated conservative utiliza- 

 tion of all resources and careful adjustment of pri- 

 vate and communal interests. 



In this country, on the other hand, a small but 

 energetic and progressive population took possession 

 of and spread itself over an immense territory, 

 boundless in resources, with no check, borne by his- 

 torical and economic development, which would 



