RISKS 215 



fire. But the risk of destruction from this source has in the 

 past been so great as to constitute a prohibitive hazard. De- 

 struction of young timber is a total loss, for there is no salvage. 

 The dead trees are quite worthless, and even constitute an 

 additional expense (136). The period over which the invest- 

 ment is exposed to risk is correspondingly longer for young 

 timber than for mature trees, which can be removed at the 

 owner's convenience. 



As long as the public and the land owners themselves remained 

 completely indifferent to young growth, and regarded fires on cut- 

 over lands as of no consequence, the risk incurred in the business 

 of forest production was prohibitive. One could as well expect to 

 succeed in a mercantile business when thieves, incendiaries and 

 dishonest debtors abounded, and there existed no effective law 

 or public sentiment to check their operations. The first step in 

 establishing the social conditions which are now making forest 

 production possible was the creation of a new public conscience 

 and understanding on the subject of forest property and forest 

 fires. The elimination of theft of national and state timber, the 

 tremendous progress in fire protection in northern states, and 

 the large sums spent in eastern states for suppression of forest 

 insects and diseases indicate that this constructive work is 

 succeeding. Under proper social conditions, such as have been 

 secured in France and Germany, the element of risk in forest 

 production becomes less than that incurred in almost any other 

 form of enterprise. The employment of a high rate of interest 

 in forestry is merely the expression of this undeveloped state 

 of civilization as touching forest property, and should not be 

 confused with the returns or earning power of forest invest- 

 ments. 



