230 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 



removed from its cause and unable to protect 

 themselves. The private individual can hardly be 

 expected to appreciate these distant interests of 

 his own motion in the management of his forest 

 property, hence the state must guard them. 



To insure a conservative treatment and conti- 

 nuity of the resource, — a sustained yield manage- 

 ment, — it is necessary to curtail present revenue 

 or to make present expenditures for the sake of a 

 distant future, since the crop takes many decades 

 to mature. This time element is the peculiar 

 feature in forest management which renders the 

 use of the soil for such production undesirable for 

 private enterprise concerned in immediate results. 

 The fact that the capital invested in the soil and in 

 the gradually accumulating wood growth must be 

 tied up for many decades, and exposed to many 

 dangers, before the harvest returns interest, and 

 that hence finance calculations and financial trans- 

 actions with such kind of property become com- 

 plicated, renders the safety of this resource in 

 private hands doubtful, and points to the desira- 

 bility of permanent, stable, long-lived ownership. 



The desire to get the largest present profit from 

 his labor, which is the only incentive of private 

 enterprise, will be also a constant incentive to cur- 

 tail the wood capital necessary for a sustained 

 yield management, and to let the future take care 

 of itself. 



The interest in the future lies with the state ; the 



