38 CIRCULAR 4 71, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



tractors and purchasers of forest products. Some 32,000 foresters 

 and other officials are employed practically all the time in connection 

 with the administration and use of the forests. Dieterich estimates 

 that the aggregate employment in producing, harvesting, and trans- 

 porting forest products and in managing the forests amounts to 

 nearly 2,000,000 different persons, equivalent to 300,000 to 350,000 

 on a full-time basis. This is equivalent to about 1 percent of the 

 gainfully employed persons in Germany in 1925. 



According to the 1925 census of industries, the wood-using indus- 

 tries, including pulp and paper, gave employment to 37 persons for 

 every 1,000 acres of forest land in Germany. This was probably not 

 full-time employment for all of them, and it also includes industries 

 using imported wood. The figures ranged from about 26 persons in 

 Bavaria and about 31 in Prussia to 49 in Wurttemberg, 53 in Thur- 

 ingia, and over 150 in Saxony, which normally imports much timber 

 from Czechoslovakia. 



If allowance is made for imported wood, the industries using home- 

 grown timber employed at least 20 persons for every 1,000 acres of 

 forest land, or approximately twice as many as were employed in 

 forestry, logging, and timber hauling. Altogether, the forests directly 

 and indirectly gave employment equivalent to virtually full-time work 

 for more than 30 persons for every 1,000 acres. 



EFFECT OF ECONOMIC DEPRESSION ON FOREST EMPLOYMENT 



Falling timber prices and reduced cutting after 1928 meant less 

 work for the wood cutters and other laborers in the forests. Not only 

 was the quantity of work greatly reduced in most forests, but the 

 rates of pay also were reduced. This brought considerable hardship 

 to the small farmers and village workers who depended on wages 

 earned in the forests to carry them over the winter. 



The KonradsdorfT Forest district of Hesse is one example of the 

 many communities that were hard hit by the decrease in forest em- 

 ployment (23). In 1933 this district had a population of 8,377, in 

 17 communes. Of the 1,788 households, 1,443 were farm units; 680 

 of them had less than 5 acres of land, 701 had 5 to 25 acres, and only 

 11 had more than 50 acres. The State forest employed 205 regular 

 workers, most of whom owned less than 12.5 acres of land and needed 

 the extra work. Seventy percent of the workers (144) were married 

 and had 258 children. The average employment in 1933 was only 

 33 days and the average earning RM150 (about $36). Out of this they 

 had to pay RM20 for social insurance, EM 12 for rent of land, RM40 

 for wood, RM13 for tax, and RM15 for clothing, leaving RM50 to 

 spend for other things. Some firewood, grass, and litter was given 

 away free in return for work. In the fall of 1933 many of these 

 workers were on the relief rolls. 



In most parts of Germany the attempt was made to spread employ- 

 ment and to take care of those in greatest need. For example, official 

 orders of the Prussian Forest Service in 1933 provided for shortening 

 the work-week to not more than 40 hours in 5 or 5.5 days; five 6-hour 

 days were recommended for the winter months, and five 8-bour days 

 for summer, with 7-hour days in early spring and late fall (20). This 

 would permit employment of 20 percent more persons. Women were 

 to be used on sowing, planting, and nursery work, but not on other 



