THE ESSENCE OF SUCCESS 173 



But how are we to set about it? Although we 

 are making some headway with the creation of new 

 forests through the wood-lot proposition, through 

 the town forest idea, and through the efforts of the 

 lumber and paper producers, the progress in these 

 directions is still slow. If I pay three to four dol- 

 lars an acre for suitable land (much of it could be 

 obtained for less), spend fifteen dollars more per 

 acre for planting and supervision, and add four per 

 cent, compound interest to the total, the cost, with- 

 out any allowance for the payment of taxes, will 

 amount in seventy-five years to about two hundred 

 dollars per acre, or fifteen dollars for every 

 thousand feet of lumber grown. On the basis of 

 present prices such a proposition would hardly pay, 

 and there is the rub. But today's basis is not the 

 deciding factor. During the last seventy-five years 

 the price of practically all grades of lumber has 

 nearly trebled. What will happen in the next 

 seventy-five years when the great timber resources 

 of the west as well as the south, are well-nigh ex- 

 hausted or operated under some plan of conserva- 

 tive cutting which entails greater expense? Many 

 substitutes will doubtless gain a hold strong enough 

 to considerably decrease the per capita wood con- 

 sumption, but new uses for wood are being contin- 

 ually found, the population is increasing, and a 



