34 THE AMES FORESTER 



part in the future than they do now. At the present time they 

 are of course much less important than their area would indi- 

 cate, because only part of the land is timbered, and the timber 

 included is of poor quality and inaccessible. The Forest Serv- 

 ice is handling the timber very conservatively, however, cutting 

 less than the annual growth, so that the amount of Govern- 

 ment timber is even increasing ; while the privately owned tim- 

 ber is being cut at a very rapid rate. Furthermore the Govern- 

 ment is slowly taking over tracts of denuded land under the 

 Weeks Law, and is again planting it with trees. Thus the 

 relative importance of the publicly owned timber is bound to 

 increase greatly in the future, and this will tend to prevent the 

 large private holders from too gross abuse of their power. 



In conclusion then, it appears that of the several remedies 

 suggested for our lumber and timber situation, the only one 

 worthy of unqualified approval is the last, the extension of 

 Government ownership and control. The scheme of breaking 

 up large timber holdings by means of a progressive tax has 

 been as unqualifiedly rejected. In regard to the two other 

 remedies considered, it has seemed wise to take no stand, but 

 merely to point out the various advantages and disadvantages 

 that might be claimed for each plan of procedure. It is hoped 

 that this caution and conservatism will not lay the writer open 

 to crimticism on the ground of having avoided or glossed over 

 vital issues. Much has been written about trusts and monopolies 

 in general, about the Standard Oil Company and the United 

 States Steel Corporation, and various other monopolistic com- 

 binations; but comparatively little is generally known about 

 the lumber industry. The report of the Commissioner of Cor- 

 porations contains a vast amount of valuable information ; but 

 this report is about the only ready source of information, it 

 has been given little general publicity, and it is not at all 

 concerned with the question of remedies. 



Thus the writer is exploring new fields, and abundant caution 

 would seem to be fully justified. If the above suggestions as 

 to remedies have any effect in arousing interest in the matter, 

 in stimulating others to follow up with fuller knowledge and 

 more careful analysis, their inclusion here will perhaps be jus- 

 tified. 



