LAND FOR THE LANDLESS 211 



sibilities of impregnable monopolistic conditions 

 whose far-reaching consequences to society it is 

 now difficult to anticipate fully or to overesti- 

 mate." ^ 



So closely interrelated are these colossal holdings 

 that of aljout SO per cent, of the privately owned 

 timber of the country three holders have 14 per 

 cent., 90 persons have two-fifths, and 195 have nearly 

 one-half. In other words, at least one-half of the 

 standing timber in the United States is owned by 

 less than 200 holders; and these 200 again are 

 either interlocked corporations or individuals act- 

 ing in all essentials as a unit. They fix and con- 

 trol the output and the prices of timber and lumber 

 and in so doing the price of furniture, building ma- 

 terials, and all the thousands of industries that are 

 dependent upon timber and timber products. 



Here is another economic phenomenon for the 

 most part overlooked by the government, by econ- 

 omists, and by agencies which are urging considera- 

 tion of the food problem. Here are hundreds of 

 millions of acres of land arbitrarily held out of use 

 by their owners, lands, too, obtained in large part 

 by fraud and collusion, which are now being used 

 not for the production of wealth but to exclude 

 hungry humanity from the land. That these lands 

 would be tilled if men had an opportunity to till them 

 is indicated by the eager rush of settlers whenever 



1 Idem, "The Lumber Industry," part I, pp. xxii and xxiii. 



