288 _ FOREST LIFE AND SPORT IN INDIA 
when both capital and interest had been eaten up, 
the people again clamoured for further similar 
concessions. 
It is, I have heard, impossible to divide the wealth 
of individuals amongst a community so that each 
member thereof shall be independent of his surround- 
ings, and in the same way it is impracticable to dis- 
tribute the produce from 20,000 square miles of 
tropical forest among forty million persons, so that 
each individual may have his actual share. Such an 
attempt is bound to end in the destruction of the 
forest, and the loss to the public of what might 
remain a most valuable asset to the general 
prosperity. For instance, in the small area of 
1,200 square miles of State forest in Oudh no 
attempt is made to distribute its harvest amongst a 
population that is in places as dense as that of 
Belgium ; there the policy is adopted of permitting 
those in the vicinity of the forest to reap consider- 
able advantages in cheap or free produce, or in the 
offer of work in return for the responsibility imposed 
on them by law for its protection ; while the rest of 
the population must be content to profit by the 
supply of timber and other produce at a cheaper rate 
than would be possible were it not for the main- 
tenance of a State forest in the Province, and by 
such relaxation of taxation as the profits of its 
management may justify. That is to say, the vast 
majority can profit only indirectly by the presence 
of the forest, and wherever this axiom is ignored 
trouble is certain to continue. 
There can be no effective protection of forests in 
India until the people themselves afford it, and they 
