EXPLOITABILITT FOE THE STATE. 53 



speculative enterprise, it is certain that it could invest its money at 

 a higher rate. But the authors of this objection are guilty of over- 

 looking the indirect receipts accruing to the Exchequer, and these 

 are affected in no doubtful manner by the cheapness of large timber. 

 Let these be never so inconsiderable, yet whea they are combined 

 with the direct receipts derived from the sale of the large timber 

 of the State Forests (and here we are concerned only with large tim- 

 ber) do not they suffice to double or treble this latter revenue and, 

 at the same time, the corresponding rate of interest I 



The necessity of the partial and limited intervention of the State 

 in the production of wood is a very remarkable eeunomical fact. It 

 is a result of the mixed character of forest property, wliich is at once 

 an instrument of production and a natural product, al'iiuiigh each of 

 these in a very different degree, according to the time necessary for 

 production.^ 



(1) The importance of the function of the State in its position as an owner of 

 forests varies greatly according to the State iu question. Let us consider in this 

 respect, the special case of France. 



The home production of this country in respect of wood is not equal to the 

 demand. Timber of large dimensions is obtained in such small quantity that 

 already we import more than we produce. This means of supply is an ei- 

 penaive one and the consequence is that the price of timber is so immoderately 

 high that consumption is kept below what it might be with a large production 

 at home. ■ But, more than this, we ha ve no guarantee that even the present 

 supply will not eventually fail. The demand for timber is increasing with rapid 

 strides not only in France but iu all other industrial countries, which run us 

 very close in the markets of the world. The timber resources abroad, will they 

 last long i Nothing, we answer, is less probable. 



Does France possess the necessary elements to assiu:e for herself a perma- 

 nent supply iu the future? No country is for this purpose better endowed by 

 nature than she is. She h.is cultivable lands in ample sufficiency ; other lands 

 distributed throughout her whole extent which are unfitted for agriculture but 

 peculiarly suited for forest growth. She has forests in the full sense of the 

 term covering several millions of acres ; numerous woods of smaller extent 

 growing on, which have not yet been destroyed, the precious remains of forests 

 belougiiig formerly to Religious Houses, now in the possession of Communes. 

 Lastly she has 2,500,000, acres more of woodland, her supreme resource, spared 

 hitherto to the State ; and with all these advantages, the most admirable variety 

 of climate, soil and species. 



But it would be vain to hide from ourselves the fact that our forest re- 

 sources have been rapidly declining since the last century. This decline is to 

 be traced not so ranch to the superficial extent of the forests as almost solely to 

 the factors of production as regards large timber. Holdings in mortmain, the 

 nature of which was so favorable from a forest point of view, have disappeared 

 with the exception of those portions which passed over into the possession of 

 ihe Commuues. The State woodlands have lost their most valuable portions, 

 thanks to repeated alienations carried out in spite nf the provisions of the 

 Constituent Assembly and the law uf 23rd August 179i.>, which declared these 

 forests to be inalienable. Lastlv woods and trees in full growth have been 

 ruthlessly destroyed to meet modern wants, such as the construction- of rail- 

 ways, &c.~ Thus the duty of the Slate to hold forests acquires now in France a 

 character of extreme urgency. 



