8 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS: TENURE OF LANDS. 



lands, as they exist in our country, and compare them- with the condi- 

 tions that prevail in other countries. We shall find that in Europe, 

 and especially upon the continent, there are extensive tracts of land 

 belonging to the general government or to local municipalities, or to 

 institutions, and that over these a system of management has grown 

 up, under difiFerent circumstances, and that at present, although there is 

 a great diversity in the details, they all agree in this, that the manage- 

 ment should be conducted without needless waste, and for the best in- 

 terest of the owners. In many cases this system includes rights of en- 

 joyment among the inhabitants of the commune, by which the land is 

 owned; and not infrequently these rights, originating in customs of 

 great antiquity, and, perhaps, in the beginning, of doubtful authority, 

 have proved a serious obstacle to management under an enlightened 

 code, by allowing practices that tend to ruinous results. In a subse- 

 quent part of this report some of these systems will be presented some- 

 what in detail ; but they will prove with us of historical value, rather 

 than of practical interest, because our circumstances are so different that 

 they present few precedents for our guidance. 



The tenure of lands within the United States is almost everywhere 

 allodial ; and, excepting as it is still held by the general or State gov- 

 ernments for specific public uses or for future grant or sale, the land 

 consists of freehold estates, the absolute property of the owners, with- 

 out being subject to quit-rents, service, or acknowledgment to any 

 superior. Excepting as he may pledge his estate for the security of a 

 debt, the owner has no other obligation to others, further than to bear 

 his just share of the expenses of government for the general protection 

 of property and the maintenance of good order. The government still, 

 however, reserves a right of eminent domain, under which private prop- 

 erty may be taken, upon payment of its value, when needed for the 

 public good; and under this right a qualifletl power is vested in the 

 government for restraining from the use of private property where it 

 may affect the rights of others. 



Neither our national, State, nor local governments are the owners of 

 land upon which timber can at present be planted and cared for until 

 maturity at the public cost, with the least prospect of success. Where 

 a government is administered by officers elected by the people, and 

 •where any citizen may be chosen to any office, and especially where these 

 offices have a patronage that makes them especially desirable, they be- 

 come at once olyects of political ambition. Special qualifications for 

 particular stations in public life afford no promise of employment, nor 

 of continuance if employed, and hence we have no inducements to offer 

 a young man who might aspire to a position for which he might have 

 great native ability, and for which he would be willing to undertake the 

 most thorough special education if he felt assured that employment 

 would depend alone upon the most thoroughly approved preparation, or 

 the most rigid examination. Hence it cannot, at least at present, be ex- 

 pected that our governments can undertake the practical management of 

 forests, as is done in Europe, by officials specially trained for this pursuit, 

 with the view of deriving a benefit from the cultivation. They can 

 scarcely do more than prevent depredations upon the timber already 

 growing, if, indeed, they succeed in this, where the property to be pro- 

 tected is not immediately under the care of a resident agent, who truly 

 feels the responsibility of his trust, and is able to discharge its duties. 



The experiences of pioneer life, as regards the timber, present little 

 that can be commended and much that can be blamed. It has been 

 observed in all countries and at all periods, that trees furnishing products 



