26 PRACTICAL FORESTRY IN 



Timber Is Worth the Cost of Growing It 



In other words, the value of anything is what it costs to 

 produce it, whether it is a tree or a box of apples. That we 

 found our timber orchard growing when we came to this coun- 

 try does not change this law. It was suspended temporarily 

 while any individual could profit by the growth produced 

 without cost, but began to operate again when he could no 

 longer do so. We are now in a transition period of adjust- 

 ment. The important thing to remember is that this will 

 not continue until the entire output has actually borne the 

 full cost of production, for before then investments in stand- 

 ing timber will have been regulated by the same influence. 



It is true that at present the cost of lumber to the consumer 

 is not fixed absolutely even by the cost of manufacturing and 

 selling it, and that on the contrary it fluctuates greatly with 

 the willingness of the consumer to buy. But this, except with- 

 in limits, is not a sound working out of the law of supply 

 and demand. It is an incident to the unsound basis of pro- 

 duction which still prevails. So long as a very large por- 

 tion of our standing timber has not cost the owner much in 

 either price, protection, taxes and interest, some of it will be 

 put on the market at a low price in order to carry a milling 

 business through a depressed period, to" realize money, or for 

 other exigency reasons. So may a wheat grower lose money 

 on one or two years' crops. But if in the long run the world 

 refuses to pay for wheat what it costs to grow it, wheat will 

 not be grown. The real question is whether or not the world 

 needs forests enough to pay for them. 



Demand Will Continue 



It is evident, from the history of older countries, that it 

 does. While consumption per capita will undoubtedly de- 

 crease, population is growing. Substitution will be necessary, 

 but will not supplant wood for a multitude of purposes. Much 

 has been said about the use of steel, concrete and like ma- 



