324 UNITED STATES FOREST POLICY 



holders had by far the greatest fee acreage. Thus, 835 holders, own- 

 ing each 60,000,000 feet or more, had the fee to 43,230,000 acres in 

 the South, while the 702 similar holders in the Pacific Northwest 

 owned only slightly over one half as much land. In order of the aver- 

 age size of land holdings, the Lake states stood first, with an average 

 of 56,000 acres for all holders of 60,000,000 feet or more ; the south- 

 ern pine region came next with an average of 52,000 acres ; while in 

 the Pacific Northwest, despite the enormous size of some holdings 

 there, the average was not quite 33,000 acres. In connection with this, 

 it must of course be remembered that the average stand is much 

 greater in the latter region. 



In acreage of timber controlled by the larger timber owners, Florida 

 stood first, with 13,030,000 acres in the hands of owners of 60,000,- 

 000 feet or over. Louisiana came next with only slightly over half as 

 much — 7,307,000 acres ; and no other state has half as much as Flor- 

 ida. Oregon, Washington, Michigan, and California followed in order, 

 with 5,000,000 or 6,000,000 acres each. 



TIMBER OWNERSHIP OUTSIDE THE INVESTIGATION AREA 

 Although the Bureau of Corporations made no investigation out- 

 side of the regions described, there is every indication of a very high 

 degree of concentration in the ownership of timber outside the inves- 

 tigation area, especially in the Apjjalachian region from Maine to 

 northern Georgia, and in the southern Rockies. Many timber com- 

 panies owning within the investigation area also have large tracts in 

 various other regions ; and some of them have invested heavily in 

 Canadian and Mexican timber. 



The foregoing pages indicate a sufficiently interesting situation 

 with regard to the ownership and control of our timber lands, but it 

 will be necessary to point out several considerations which make the 

 power of these large holders even greater than mere figures as to 

 acreage and stumpage would indicate. 



FACTORS AUGMENTING THE POWER OF LARGE HOLDERS: LARGE 

 HOLDINGS PROPORTIONATELY MORE VALUABLE 



In the first place, a large holding is worth more in proportion to its 

 acreage or stumpage than a small holding. A 100,000 acre tract of 

 timber is worth much more than ten times as much as a 10,000 acre 



