266 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 



chant, the mechanic, the laborer, the professional 

 man, are either directly or indirectly interested in 

 the success of the agriculturist, and hence what- 

 ever disturbs the peaceful prosecution of the busi- 

 ness of the latter is a matter that affects everybody 

 and calls for public concern. He who is in safety 

 is as sure to feel the losses as he who is directly 

 in the path of the flood. Hence we should con- 

 sider the protection of our watersheds as much a 

 national problem as the improvement of our water- 

 ways, and even more so. 



No new functions are called into play, simply 

 the primary function of all government, the police 

 function, only extended according to our presenf 

 knowledge of the relations of things. 



Logically, to be sure, if it is once admitted that 

 the state is justified in preventing the mismanage- 

 ment of a property, when by such mismanagement 

 damage is inflicted upon neighbors, the further 

 suggestion lies near, that it may enforce the plac- 

 ing in proper condition of a property which in its 

 improper condition is a menace to other interests. 

 Here, however, the innocence of the owner in the 

 creation of these unfavorable conditions may mod- 

 ify the aspect of things, and we must appeal from 

 the police function to the wider socialistic function 

 which imposes upon the state the duty, not only 

 to maintain social existence, but to assist social 

 progress by cooperation, or, as Lester F. Ward 

 puts it, "to render harmless those forces which 



