FOREST POLICIES OF FOREIGN NATIONS. 275 



protective value of the forest cover, and the recog- 

 nition that private interest cannot be expected or 

 is insufficient to secure proper regard to this feature 

 in its treatment of forest areas. 



It cannot be said, however, that a finally settled 

 policy exists in any of the states, not even in 

 Germany, but only that it is in a highly advanced 

 stage of formation, with the tendency of increasing 

 governmental interference. 



All the various methods of giving expression to 

 state interest are employed ; the educational func- 

 tion, the police function, and finally state owner- 

 ship, being brought into use. 



State ownership of forest areas, which in the be- 

 ginning of the century began to decrease under the 

 influence and misapplication of Adam Smith's teach- 

 ing and the doctrine of individual rights, urged to 

 its extreme consequences after the French Rev- 

 olution, is now on the increase. Thus Fj^ance, 

 during and after the Revolution taking the lead in 

 this dismemberment of the forest property, which 

 the monarchy had maintained (then nearly 12 mill- 

 ion acres), sold during the years 1791 to 1795 nearly 

 one-half of the state forests, and continued to reduce 

 the area until there remained in 1874 but one-fifth 

 of the original holdings. Since then a reversal of 

 the poUcy has been in practice, the area of state 

 holdings is being increased, besides financial as- 

 sistance in reforesting on a large scale being given 

 to private owners and communities. 



