30 BULLETIN 638, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



policy, which would enable them to really practice forestry. Every 

 effort should be made to bring about such a desirable result, since it 

 appears certain that for many years at least the bulk of forest lands 

 of the country will remain in private hands. 



If the adoption of a stable forest policy is to become at all gen- 

 eral among private owners, it will involve a radical change in the 

 character of much of the capital now invested in timberlands. The 

 business of growing timber under forestry principles will not attract 

 speculative capital. Timber stocks and bonds, however, if properly 

 secured by land and timber under forest management, may prove 

 a safe and profitable investment for saving banks, insurance com- 

 panies, and individuals who are looking for security rather than for 

 high returns. Any change necessary to make such investments avail- 

 able must necessarily involve the elimination of the speculative ele- 

 ment in timber holding. Probably this will take place gradually and 

 will be accompanied by more or less liquidation, according to market 

 conditions during the transition period. It has also been suggested 

 that some widespread organization among timber owners, under re- 

 strictions to safeguard the public interests, would go far toward 

 bringing about the desired stability. 



PUBLIC CONTROL AND OWNERSHIP. 



Increased public participation in the management of timberlands 

 will be another powerful factor in bringing about the practice of 

 forestry and in doing away with the evils that so far have accom- 

 panied uncontrolled private ownership. For one thing, it seems 

 probable that in time the United States will follow the lead of many 

 other countries in exercising public control over privately owned 

 " protection forests," that is, mountain forests which help to protect 

 the land from erosion and to insure uniform stream flow. This func- 

 tion of the forest is so important to the welfare of the entire com- 

 munity that the control of such areas has generally been looked upon 

 as a proper function of the Government. Control is usually exercised 

 by requiring absolute fire protection and by regulating the cutting of 

 the forest in such a way as to maintain the desired protection. 



Public control may, in the not very distant future, also extend to 

 many private forests which are managed primarily for timber pro- 

 duction and in which the protective feature is of little or no impor- 

 tance. This control may affect both the technical and the business 

 end of forest administration. If forest owners should be permitted 

 to organize on any considerable scale as a means of assisting them to 

 practice forestry, it is certain that the public would want a deciding 

 voice in matters affecting its own interests. It would, for example, 

 wish to supervise the financing, and particularly to exercise absolute 

 control over any steps looking toward arbitrary limitation of cut or 



