FORESTS AND EMPLOYMENT IN GERMANY 49 



months. Part of the cost was covered by contributions from the State labor 

 office and the Reich relief fund. More work was given to regular workers by 

 increasing the cut from a normal of 19,000 cubic meters to 24,000 in 1933 and 

 29,000 in 1934, and by shortening hours during the winter to spread work. This 

 increase in cut was mostly inferior material, the removal of which improved the 

 forest. Work was confined mostly to fall, winter, and early spring, because 

 farm workers were needed in summer in that locality (1, 16: 628). 



7. Luneburg district, including eight State forests (Prussia). From February 

 to Julv 1934, planted 940 acres of waste and insect-devastated land, at a cost of 

 RM 88,000 (about $35,000). The Forest Service put up only RM 4,000; the 

 national office for emplovment and for unemplovment insurance contributed 

 RM 47,000, the Labor Service RM 9,000, and RM 28,000 was borrowed from 

 the Rentenbank Credit Institute. The project made 16,000 days' work for relief 

 workers, 5,000 days for Labor Service enrollees, and 2,000 for local forest workers 

 (1, 16: 1119-20). 



8. In Pomerania, the provincial farm organization (Landesbauernschaft) 

 appealed to landowners in 1934 to make work by afforesting land unsuitable for 

 agriculture. During the ensuing 3 months 200 owners of medium and large 

 tracts and 1,500 small farmers afforested approximately 7,500 acres, filled in 

 blanks on 620 acres additional, did cultural work on 620 acres, and stand im- 

 provement on 5,000 acres. The small farmers did the work themselves, using 

 plants provided free of cost by the organization, but the larger owners employed 

 some 5,000 persons from the relief rolls and 200 regular workers for about 13 

 weeks. The cost of 350,000 davs' work was contributed by the emplovment 

 office (1, 17: 206). 



During the preceding 22 months, 360 emergency projects and 127 supplementary 

 projects for work on private forests were approved. These called for employment 

 of 11,200 relief workers for an average of 26 weeks and 600 "free" workers, or for 

 twice as many persons for 13 weeks. The total emplovment was estimated at 

 1,772,000 man-days, and the cost about 7,138,000 marks ($1,700,000 at the rate 

 of exchange prevailing in 1932-33), of which the Reich was to contribute approxi- 

 mately three-fourths. The work projected included: Afforestation of 13,000 

 acres of waste land and moor, reforestation of 28,600 acres of land denuded by 

 fire, insects, etc., underplanting of 1,015 acres, cultural work on 1,910 acres, 

 release cutting (weeding) and pruning on 12,000 acres, land improvement on 

 1,120 acres, clearing of 215 acres, and insect control on 550 acres (1, 16: 743). 



9. The Betzdorf district (Prussia) has a dense industrial population and had 

 much unemployment. There are large areas of coppice forest, owned by com- 

 munes and associations, that need to be converted to timber forest. There is 

 also great need for increasing the agricultural area by clearing anj T land that is 

 suitable, and also an urgent need for better roads. Over 3,500 workers were 

 given employment; first, members of the Labor Service, and since 1933, persons 

 from relief rolls. The district (Kreis) and communal governments paid the social- 

 insurance fees, the salaries of technicians and foremen, and workers' wages in 

 excess of RM 2.50 per man-day (about SI) advanced by the Reich. Landowners 

 benefiting by the work furnished the necessary tools. In 10 months, 500 acres 

 of land was cleared for agriculture, 410 acres of coppice was converted by plant- 

 ing, cultural operations were performed on 635 acres of plantations, and 37.2 

 miles of road was built, of which 12.4 miles was surfaced (1, 17: 232). 



10. In the winter of 1934-35, some 2,000 persons in the toy-making district 

 of the Saxon Erzgebirge were employed in making 5,000,000 small hand-carved 

 wooden tags used in collecting funds for winter relief. In this way, these persons 

 who were unemployed because of the depression in the toy industry were enabled 

 to earn an average of RM 100 apiece. Unemployed wood carvers in Baden were 

 helped in a similar manner (1, 16: 1019, 1032). 



11. A group of 13 State forests in the Luneburg district (Prussia), with an 

 aggregate area of 190,000 acres, employed 600 emergency workers during the year 

 ended September 30, 1935, for a total of 37,530 days. The total cost was about 

 860,000, of which two-thirds was contributed by the labor office. The accom- 

 plishments included 28 miles of new road or surface on old roads, soil improve- 

 ment on 320 acres, cultural operations on 175 acres, cleaning 370 acres of planta- 

 tions, pruning of 960 acres, cleaning of 15.7 miles of ditch, building of 6.2 miles 

 of firebreaks and 11.7 miles of game fence, and 25 miles of boundary ditch (1, 

 18: 118). 



12. The 20 State forests comprising the Schneidemlihl district (Prussia), with 

 a wooded area of about 310,000 acres, provided 262,500 man-days of emergency 

 work during 15 months ending with December 1934. Accomplishments included: 



