It continues now only relatively, however. Transportation must
always remain a great factor; the timber owner is still obliged
temporarily to meet his obligations by means determined under the
old basis. Nevertheless, the moment it became impossible to get
timber to manufacture without assuming the costs of producing,
such as fire protection, taxation and interest, began an era of
inevitable natural regulation. From that time on timber began to
assume a value which, although affected by transportation facilities,
must eventually be fixed chiefly by the cost of growing other timber
to compete with it.

TIMBER IS WORTH THE COST OF GROWING IT

In other words, the value of anything is what it costs to produce
it, whether it is a tree or a box of apples. That we found our
timber orchard growing when we came to this country does not change
this law. It was suspended temporarily while any individual could
profit by the growth produced without cost, but began to operate
again when he could no longer do so. We are now in a transition
period of adjustment. The important thing to remember is that this
will not continue until the entire output has actually borne the
full cost of production, for before then investments in standing
timber will have been regulated by the same influence.

It is true that at present the cost of lumber to the consumer is not
fixed absolutely even by the cost of manufacturing and selling it,
and that on the contrary it fluctuates greatly with the willingness
of the consumer to buy. But this, except within limits, is not a
sound working out of the law of supply and demand. It is an incident
to the unsound basis of production which still prevails. So long