INTRODUCTORY. 19 



connection with this problem, it must become a 

 matter of state interest, by a rational management 

 of existing forests and by reforestation at the head 

 waters of rivers and on the plains, to secure the 

 conditions which make a rational utilization of the 

 waters possible. For without forest management, 

 no satisfactory water management is possible for 

 any length of time, no stable basis for continued 

 productive agriculture, industries, and commerce ! 



It is the object of this volume to elucidate in 

 greater detail the significance and character of the 

 forest resource, to show its relationship to the con- 

 ditions of social life, to point out the various 

 aspects from which it can be viewed, with the final 

 object of determining the position which the state 

 should take with reference to it, based upon the 

 conception of state functions as outlined in this 

 chapter. 



We shall recognize that to the individual it is the 

 timber, the accumulated growth of centuries, which 

 is of interest, and which he exploits for the purpose 

 of making a profit on his labor and outlay without 

 any interest in the future of the exploited area. 

 The relation of the forest to other conditions, 

 direct or indirect, immediate or future, hardly 

 ever enters into his calculations. 



On the other hand, the function of the forest, 

 which it exercises as a soil cover by preventing ero- 

 sion of the soil, by regulating water flow, changing 

 surface drainage into subsoil drainage, and thereby 



