516 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



land will be necessary. Having the necessary area of 

 land the next economic adjustments are those covering 

 carrying costs taxes, interest, protection, planting, ad- 

 ministration, etc., all of which must go on every year 

 until the crop of timber is harvested and must finally be 

 paid by those who consume or use that crop. Unless 

 they can pay those costs the crop will not be produced 

 because it will not pay. Herein lies the essential eco- 

 nomic diflference between virgin timber and grown tim- 

 ber which inevitably causes the latter to cost more and 

 to decrease in per capita consumption. 



Since these carrying costs will be paid by the ultimate 

 consumer, the important question is, who shall assume 

 them during the long-growing period? 



Since the future users of forest products will pay the 

 costs of growing the trees, in addition to the costs of 

 manufacturing and distributing the lumber or whatever 

 it is they need, there is no doubt that these costs will be 

 l)aid in the end. During the long growing period they 

 can be assumed by either private or public interests, or 

 by both. Knowing that they will ultimately be p^id, we 

 can assume that neither private or public interests will 

 lose on account of the carrying costs to provide forests 

 for the future. In other words, it will be done on'a 

 paying basis, or at a profit. 



Therefore it is not a matter of sentiment but a business 

 projjosition. Being a business proposition it must have 

 all the elements of successful business, and this must 

 apply to government as well as to private forestry. 



This means that, from the beginning, every item of 



cost necessary in the growing of timber must be taken 

 into consideration as accurately as possible. And it means 

 also that all the relationships and interests involved in 

 the distribution of these costs must be given their j>ropcr 

 place . 



The items of these carrying costs are: Reforestation, 

 either natural or by planting or seeding; protection, 

 administration, taxes and interest. It is apparent that the 

 tirst three will be the same to ])ublic or private interests, 

 since either the government or a private owner will have 

 to provide a stand of timber, if necessary, protect it from 

 fire and other loss or damage, and carry on the business 

 necessary to do these things. Administration includes 

 also such studies and experiments as must be carried on 

 to secure better methods of forest management and 

 closer utilization of products. As to these items there 

 will be only slight variations between public and private 

 forest management. They will differ in diflferent forest 

 regions, but will be about the same for all in any given 

 region, and will become standardized and quite reliable 

 with the passing of time, so that their bearing on profit- 

 able forestry will become less and less uncertain. 



The remaining two items, taxes and interest, have ele- 

 ments of uncertainty as to their amount and their inci- 

 dence as between private and public forestry practice. 



It is good business to understand these uncertainties 

 as much as possible and to establish conditions that are 

 essentially equitable among all interests and relation- 

 shi])s. Since taxes and interest cannot be extinguished 

 it follows that, if they can be avoided by one party by a 



A CALIFORNIA MOUNTAIN RANCH 



J lie continued prosperity and progress of a people depend very much on the use th^y make of the land." This California 

 mountain ranch has been cleared and will be used for farming, while the other cut-over land is reforesting and is used for tim- 

 ber growing. Originally this was a dense redwood forest. 



