272 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 



measure, or, with much better reason, for the pur- 

 pose of equalizing forest supplies and also for 

 educational reasons, may be extended to supply 

 forests, but probably these objects can be attained 

 by the ownership of protection forests alone. 



In the case of protection forests the degree and 

 extent of their influence must determine the qual- 

 ity of state control. The police function, either in 

 its restricted sense or else extended in its meaning 

 to assume a providential character, lies at the base 

 of such control. Interference in or control of 

 private forest management may suffice in cases 

 where merely individual interests must be protected. 

 Financial assistance and partial assumption of 

 costs may be the proper policy where internal im- 

 provement is sought, where unavoidable disasters 

 are to be remedied, or where the interests of the 

 community must be protected and the owners are 

 not able to comply with the requirements. Where 

 far-reaching communal interests require the main- 

 tenance of a forest cover and its conservative 

 management, especially on poor mountain soil, 

 sand-dunes, etc., the ownership by the community, 

 the state, or smaller subdivision becomes unavoid- 

 able, since they can afford to forego revenue on 

 the investment and manage with the single view 

 to the general welfare. 



The freedom of private forest ownership has in 

 Germany, and especially in Prussia, led not only to 

 forest dismemberment and forest devastation, but 



