84 An American Forest Administration. [268 



It is well known that agriculture is carried on in 

 the United States without system or regard to con- 

 tinued fertility in those parts of the country where a 

 thin population permits easy territorial expansion of 

 the individual; that is to say, the ground is worked 

 for what it will yield in the natural state and then 

 abandoned for new fields. But agricultural soils are 

 easily recuperated, while impairing the forest cover 

 on steep mountain sides, especially in such dry 

 regions as we have in the West, which are not read- 

 ily reforested by nature, imperils far-reaching inter- 

 ests forever, as Europeans have learned to their cost. 



Furthermore, timber lands have been and are being 

 disposed of to private individuals on the Pacific 

 Coast, and the consequences are as disastrous and 

 unsatisfactory as they have been elsewhere. 



It is also well known that in all parts of the coun- 

 try where timber land and noil- agricultural soil is 

 sold to individuals it relapses to the State for non- 

 payment of taxes; for with the valuable timber taken 

 from the tracts the interest of the individual is gone 

 in this kind of property. 



But the interest which the community has in the 

 forest cover, especially in mountain regions, is trans- 

 cendant, for the protection of the forest cover is of 

 importance to the continued welfare of the commu- 

 nity, and hence the State, which is not only the 

 representative of communal interests as against indi- 

 vidual interests, but also of future interests as against 

 present, can alone be trusted with the ownership of 

 such lands. 



The objection to government holding is good only 

 as long as the government does not take proper care 



