10 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 



designed for the future, than to protect present 

 members against undesirable burdens. 



There are, then, enough precedents established 

 to show that, whatever the greed and selfishness of 

 the individual may dictate, society recognizes its 

 right to interfere with the individual in the use 

 of resources, not only for its present objects, but 

 even for considerations of the future. 



To recognize how far — to what degree and in 

 what manner — any of the resources must become 

 objects of national concern, it is necessary to under- 

 stand their relative significance for the present and 

 for the future development of society or of the par- 

 ticular aggregate of society called a nation. From 

 this point of view resources may be classified under 

 four heads, namely : — 



1. Resources inexhaustible. 



2. Resources exhaustible and non-restorable. 



3. Resources restorable, but liable to deteriora- 

 tion under private activity. 



4. Resources restorable, yielding increased re- 

 turns under increased activity. 



Of the first class, hardly any can be mentioned 

 that are usually denominated as resources ; land, 

 water, air, and the forces of nature would fall 

 under this class, but since it is not so much these 

 things themselves as the conditions in which they 

 are found that make them resources, and since 

 these conditions are alterable by human agency, 

 their inexhaustibility with reference to human re- 



