136 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 



which this rate is secured are considered, it would 

 be difficult to find any other business that under 

 similar non-speculative conditions and management 

 could make such a showing. 



It is the consensus of a large number of promi- 

 nent financiers in the United States, 1 that at the 

 present time an absolutely safe, satisfactory long 

 time investment in this country cannot net more 

 than 3 to 3^- per cent, with a tendency to decreasing 

 rates. 



A number of reasons can be adduced for the 

 claim that the forestry business is one of those 

 which is entitled to a low interest rate. It is well 

 known that the form of the capital varies the inter- 

 est rate, besides those more general modifiers of 

 the value of capital, such as the general safety, 

 prosperity, and credit of a country, and the supply 

 and demand for money. Among the features which 

 render capital invested in forestry business of such 

 a character as to satisfy a low interest rate, are the 

 following : 



Like all landed property, the safety of the invest- 

 ment is great ; moreover, since forest property un- 

 der forestry management does not, as we have seen, 

 lend itself to renting, but is usually managed on 

 own account, no allowance needs be made in the 

 interest-rate it must bring for the premium for 

 risk which loaned capital requires. As long as the 



1 " Letters of Prominent Financiers on Interest Rates," Equi- 

 table Life Assurance Society, 1899. 



