EXPLOITABILITY FOE THE MUNICIPALITY. 55 



means of communication, it will ultimately retain only those Com- 

 munes which occupy the great mountain tracts, and which can scar- 

 cely sell and never purchase wood outside their own limits. Like 

 the State, and for the same reasons, such Communes must in their 

 own interests, try to obtain the largest quantity of produce, and that 

 too of the most useful descriptions according to the peculiar wants of 

 each. Cases of this kind are now, however, quite exceptional. 



The majority of Communes now sell $heir wood, at least the 

 timber portion of it, or make It over to the inhabitants by levying 

 a tax on them approximating to the value of the wood delivered. The 

 expenditure and wants of the Communes have increased since the 

 last century; hence income has already become, or tends to become 

 the chief object in the management of their forests. Thus the inter- 

 est of the Commune is to obtain the largest revenue possible. 



The only kind of Exploitability that can secure the object desir- 

 ed is that which seeks the good of the country at large ; for it is in 

 the forest itself, and not outside it by means of purchase or invest- 

 ments of money, that it is possible to increase the income of a Com- 

 mune. A Commune possesses only by accident any woodland 

 situated beyond its own limits, and besides this the purchase of a 

 forest by a Commune is a most rare phenomenon. Moveable property 

 belonging to Communes disappears rapidly ; thus forest property 

 constitutes for them an excellent investment, and as a rule the very 

 best of all. In the first place, it is perfectly secure, an indispensable 

 condition where the owner is imperishable ; in the second place, it 

 continually increases in value ; in the third place, it requires, so to 

 say, no care at all ; and fourthly and lastly, it can yield compound 

 interest accumulated during an indefinite period. What better 

 Saving's Bank could be conceived than this ? The apparent rate of 

 interest of course becomes low after 100 or 150 years ; but most cer- 

 tainly no banker could guarantee as much for so long aperiod. A 

 high foiest iu fact furnishes every 15 or 20 years the produce of 

 thinnings, while returning ultimately the original capital increased 

 fortyfold. 



Thus far only as appearances go; the reality goes much beyond 

 this. The value of money must continue to fall owing to the 

 abundance of the precious metals. A certain individual, for ex- 



