FORESTS AND EMPLOYMENT IN GERMANY 41 



THE AFFORESTATION PROGRAMS 



Afforestation of waste land has played a major part in the relief 

 program. This fits the specifications for such projects, in that it 

 would not ordinarily be done with regular funds, and that it will be 

 economically worthwhile in the long run but will return little or no 

 income for many years. It can also be done by good-sized crews, and 

 is work that can be learned quickly by most workers. In addition to 

 providing work now, it also assures future employment in tending, 

 harvesting, and utilizing the timber crops. According to one esti- 

 mate (1, v. 15, pp. 357-359), 5 or 6 million acres could be afforested 

 during the next 5 to 10 years, and this would require 20 million man- 

 days' work a year, including ground preparation, planting, and other 

 cultural work. 



In 1934, approximately 100,000 acres of waste land was afforested 

 under the so-called Reinhardt program. This included not only land 

 in the State forests and land bought by the State for the purpose, but 

 also land in other public forests and private land. Private owners 

 unable to buy planting stock were given plants through the Reichs- 

 nahrstand, with the proviso that they plant at their own expense a 

 certain number of walnut trees. 19 It is also the policy to require that 

 all plantations made under this program include, if possible, a mixture 

 of species. Especial emphasis is laid on the introduction of the less 

 common species, such as maple, ash, elm, hornbeam, chestnut, 

 alder, birch, linden, poplar, and locust, all of which are needed by 

 German industries. Firebreaks of broadleaf species are required in 

 conifer plantations. 



The Darre program (named after the Minister of Agriculture), 

 which was inaugurated in 1934, followed about the same lines as the 

 Reinhardt program (1, v. 17, pp. 852-854; %U 28; 30). It was 

 specified that State aid would be given only for the afforestation of 

 land not suited for agriculture, including idle land, worn-out cropland, 

 unproductive oak coppice areas (Schalwald), and forest land devas- 

 tated by natural agencies such as fire, wind, or insect calamities, in 

 cases where the owner lacked the necessary funds for reforestation. 

 Funds were provided in four ways: (1) Contributions -from the emer- 

 gency employment funds of the national office for employment and for 

 unemployment insurance (Reichsanstalt fur Arbeitsvermittlung und 

 Arbeitslosenversicherung) ; (2) work by the Labor Service (Arbeits- 

 dienst); (3) loans by the Rentenbank Credit Institute (Deutsche 

 Rentenbank-Kreditanstalt); (4) direct grants (verlorene Zuschusse) 

 from the national treasury. States could get aid from the first two 

 sources, and communes and other public or quasi-public agencies from 

 the first three. The first three agencies assisted private owners, 

 provided a public agency acted as sponsor for the project. 20 Private 

 owners could also get direct grants in lieu of the other lands of help, 

 provided they could not do the job with their own funds. Con- 

 tributions from the employment funds might be as much as KM 3 

 for each man-day of employment; men were not to be worked more 

 than 40 hours a week and were to be paid regular wages; not more than 

 10 percent of them could be regular employees, and 90 percent had to 



« This is a striking example of long-range economic and military planning. The object is to furnish a 

 domestic supply of high-grade wood for furniture, etc., and for future military needs (gunstocks), although 

 obviously walnuts planted now will hardly yield such material for 60 to 100 years. 



'° Private owners could not get loans if they also got help from either of the first two sources. 



