No. 4.] FORESTRY IN MASSACHUSETTS. 51 



terest could be relied upon to do so. So far as self-interest 

 goes in the same direction as communal interest, so far self- 

 rule should be relied upon ; so tar as the interest of the town 

 is clearly visible, so far the town should be left to manage 

 its own artairs ; but there are matters and interests which 

 are not easily' discernible ; there are matters in which the 

 interest of the individual diverm'S from those of the com- 

 munity, or the apparent interests of the smaller aggregation, 

 the town, diverges from those of the Commonwealth ; or else 

 there are matters and interests so large that the individual or 

 the smaller comuuuiity cannot afford to take care of them, 

 when it becomes the duty of the larger aggregation, the 

 State, to step in. 



The foremost reason for the divergence of interest lies in 

 the time element which circumscribes these interests. The 

 individual lives but a short span of time, hence wants to 

 secure for himself satisfaction for that short time ; he is 

 necessarily selfish and ready to neglect the interests of his 

 neighbor, and still more the interests of the future citizen. 



The town is longer lived, and must be presumed to have 

 a regard for a longer future ; yet even here we will find a 

 tendenc}^ to live in the present, and also, if there are diver- 

 gent interests between two widely separated or even adjoining 

 towns, local interest will naturally carry the day. 



The broader interests of the State at large, the differences 

 of present interests, and especially the interests of the future, 

 can be efficiently cared for only by the State at large. 



Now, forestry interests are peculiarly of the type which, 

 according as they are viewed from individual, town or State 

 aspects, diverge. The individual lives first of all for gain, 

 hence the forest must give up its stores to fill his pockets ; 

 and, since it takes not less than twenty years to secure 

 another, inferior, and not less than sixty to eighty years to 

 grow another lumber crop, his interest in the culled or cut 

 forest is like that in a squeezed lemon, — naturally small. 



Do not let yourself be persuaded that financially forestry 

 is anything but curtailing present revenue or making present 

 expenditure for the sake of a future revenue, and hence only 

 he who has a future in view can find forest planting or even 



