FOREST MANAGEMENT. 329 



ally paid " ad valorem " and increasing at a compound ratio, form a 

 countercharge against the slowly increasing value of the second growth 

 difficult to countenance. 



Considering these various points, the financier cannot be called unwise 

 when he prefers investments in first growth forest to those possible .in 

 second growth. 



Many a man in the United States and in Canada has made a fortune by 

 clever investments in first growth, whilst no one, practically, has had a 

 chance to shew dividends obtained from second growth forest (excep- 

 tions: farm wood lots; second growth pine in Virginia). 



Under what conditions, it may be asked, can or does conservative 

 lumbering pay in primeval woods? 



The conditions are those under which any business proves to be 

 remunerative, — be it a livery business or a hotel, a railroad or a music 

 store: that business alone can be remunerative in which the parts com- 

 posing the business investments are at hand in proper proportions; that 

 business alone can be remunerative which is established in an economically 

 proper site; that business alone can be remunerative, which is safe from 

 over-taxation and — by insurance or otherwise — safe from accidental 

 destruction of its assets. 



Let us take the livery business for an illustration: The investment 

 consists of several components, viz.: horses, carriages, harness, saddles, 

 buildings, feed. These components must be at hand in proper proportion. 

 It would be preposterous, for a livery, to have invested, e. g., 



in horses Si, 000 



in carriages 25,000 



in harness 100 



in saddles 50 



in buildings 350 



in feed 15, 000 



Again, the proper economic site for a livery business is in the city, 

 the village — not in the back woods of Maine; not in the wild swamps of 

 Minnesota; not indeed in Chicago ioo years ago; which shows the depend- 

 ence of economic sites on economic development. Finally, a livery busi- 



