264 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. II. Iso. 35. 



country predicate, the future of the resource 

 must be injured, its value deteriorated by 

 changing its composition and quality. 



Now comes the further danger of neglect 

 which arises from the fact that when the 

 marketable timber is gone the interest of 

 the individual in the forest is also gone. 

 The conflagrations which follow the waste- 

 ful exploitation with the accumulated debris 

 of timber operations left in the woods kill 

 and damage not only the remaining old tim- 

 ber, but all the J^oung growth of desirable 

 kinds. An additional vegetation of weeds, 

 tree weeds as well as others, adapt them- 

 selves to the new conditions and further pre- 

 vent the reestablishment of desirable kinds. 

 Often these fires burn out the soil itself, 

 which consists of the mould from the decay 

 of litter accumulated through centuries, and 

 thus not only the practicability but the pos- 

 sibility of restoration is prevented. . 



Thus by leaving this resource to the un- 

 restricted activity of private individual in- 

 terests it is quickly exhausted, its restora- 

 tion is made difficult and sometimes impos- 

 sible, its function as a material resource is 

 destroyed. 



It is possible to so exploit the forest that 

 the natural reproduction of the best kinds 

 in even superior quantity and quality is se- 

 cured ; the methods which must be em- 

 ployed to this end necessarily entail curtail- 

 ment of present revenus, and as the new 

 crop takes decades, nay, a century and more 

 to grow to maturity the incentive for the 

 short-lived individual, to curtail his present 

 income for the sake of 'an income in the 

 uncertain future is biit slight. Where, as 

 in older countries, the institution of family 

 estates had secured stability and perma- 

 nency of holdings, the interest in the future 

 was greater and staved off the evU day of 

 forest devastation, but even there the rapid- 

 ity of change of the modern world asserts 

 itself, and the safety of this resource in 

 private hands has become doubtful. 



The other functions of the forest, namely 

 that which it exercises as a soilcover by 

 preventing erosion of the soil, by regula- 

 ting waterflow, changing surface drainage 

 into subsoil di-ainage and thereby influenc- 

 ing the water-stages of rivers and its possible 

 relation to the local climate conditions, pre- 

 eminently renders it an object of govern- 

 ment consideration. 



The attempt to get the largest profit fi-om 

 his labor, which is the only incentive of 

 private enterprise, is bound to lead to un- 

 conservative management, especially where 

 the maintenance of favorable forest condi- 

 tions from protective considerations is 

 necessarjr, for here again the need of leav- 

 ing vahiable material for the time being, 

 the need of cui'tailing present revenue for 

 the sake of the future and for the sake of 

 other people's interests can hardly be ex- 

 pected to be appreciated by the private in- 

 dividual. 



Here the general principle of Roman law, 

 Utere tuo ne alterum noceas, prevention of the 

 obnoxious use of private property, estab- 

 lishes readily the propriety of state inter- 

 ference, and by alterum we are to under- 

 stand not only the other citizen of the pres- 

 ent, but of the future as well. 



We see, then, that the forest resource is 

 one that under the active competition of 

 private enterprise is apt to deteriorate and 

 in its deterioration to affect other conditions 

 of material existence unfavorably; that the 

 maintenance of continued supplies as well 

 as of favorable conditions is possible only 

 under the supervision of permanent institu- 

 tions, with whom present profit is not the 

 only motive. It calls preeminently for the 

 exercise of the providential functions of the 

 state to counteract the destructive tenden- 

 cies of private exploitation. In some cases 

 restriction of the latter may suffice; in 

 others ownership by the state or some 

 smaller part of the community, a perma- 

 nent associated institution is necessary. 



