beyond, and we must reckon not only on our own increase but
also upon immigration from, and export to, nations whose pressure
upon their production exceeds ours. It is certain that land now
considered too remote, rough and poor for agriculture will be put
to that use. We know that other countries do not to any considerable
extent devote land to forest that will grow food crops at all well.

ADJUSTMENT ONLY QUESTION OF TIME

Consequently it is safe to assume that within reasonable limits
the consumer will be glad to pay the cost of growing timber when he
is obliged to do so. It is also to be expected that the community
will desire to maintain a resource which employs labor, pays taxes,
and conserves stream flow. Therefore, the price of lumber will be
governed, as the price of every staple commodity is governed, by
a cost of production including reasonable profit by those engaged
in the several stages of the process. That it will include the
growing of new timber on a sound, profitable basis is proved by the
history of other countries which have undergone the same regulation.
This, after all, is the strongest argument with which to answer
the skeptic who, on premises and judgment of his own, doubts the
above conclusions. We need not claim greater prophetic ability, but
have only to make the undeniable assertion that hindsight is better
than foresight. Nothing demonstrates economic laws so irrefutably
as experience.

Less than 29 per cent of the land area of the United States is
occupied by forests today, including swamps, burns and much land
which will be devoted to agriculture. Germany, where great economy
of material is practiced, where wooden buildings are far fewer,
where, indeed, the per capita consumption is only a seventh of
ours, keeps _26 per cent_ of her land area under the most expensive
forest management _and finds the profit constantly increasing_. She
is increasing her production and importing heavily from countries
where lumber is cheap, like the United States, yet the net returns
per acre from the forests of Baden rose from $2.38 in 1880 to $5.08
in 1902. This was due hugely, of course, to improvement of management.
In France lands which only fifty years ago could not be sold for
$4 an acre now bring an annual revenue of $3. In 1903 the town
forest of Winterthur, Switzerland, brought net receipts of $11.69
an acre. These are fair examples in countries where the influence
tending toward less use of woo