STORY OF OUR NATIONAL FOREST 137 



of a growth rate which probably exceeds that of any 

 other forest type in the Temperate Zone, have be- 

 gun the planting of their cut-over land. Here and 

 there in the California Sierra and the Douglas Fir 

 belt of Oregon and Washington, lumbermen are be- 

 ginning to study the earning power of their land as 

 a business asset which they can afford no longer to 

 ignore. One of the striking signs of the times is the 

 extent to which timber-growing is creeping into the 

 management of private land. So far it represents, 

 to be sure, but a few small spots on an enormous 

 map, but it is progress." 



By calling a commercial forestry conference in 

 November, 1927, the United States Chamber of 

 Commerce gave recovery a great push forward. It 

 was held in Chicago. It showed lumbermen more 

 optimistic than scientific and government forests, 

 believing that a new fashion of cutting would ulti- 

 mately cure the situation. "Selective logging" plus 

 fire protection, plus tax on forest yield instead of 

 on forest land value, would, they held, bring about a 

 condition of sustained yield to guarantee the future. 



"Almost within five years," reported R. B. 

 Goodwin of Wisconsin, " there has developed a new 

 forest policy which is based upon the theory that, if 

 the individual timber is afforded a reasonable ad- 

 justment of tax burden, the growing of timber may 

 be made commercially attractive. Then private en- 

 terprise will have the necessary inducement to per- 

 petuate our forest resources," 



