During the first half of the century the old conception of
_Forsthoheit_--superior right of the princes to supervise and interfere
with private property--changed into the more modern conception of the
police function of the state, and, by 1850, after the revolutionary
period, the seignorage of the princes had passed away. The issue of
forest ordinances (the last in 1840) was replaced by the enactment of
forest laws which, since the establishment of representative government,
has become a function of legislatures.
The tendency to restrict the exercise of private property rights had
been assailed by the theories of _Laissez faire_ and the teachings of
Adam Smith, and, as a consequence, all the restrictive mandates of the
older forest ordinances had been weakened and had more of less fallen
into disuse. Especially the attempts to influence prices and markets had
nearly if not entirely vanished during the first decade. Only for the
state forest, it was still thought desirable to predetermine wood
prices, or at least keep rates low, because wood was a necessary
material for the industries. This theory prevailed until, perhaps under
the lead of Hundeshagen (see above), the propriety of securing the
highest soil rent was recognized as the proper aim, when the practice of
selling wood at auction in order to secure the best prices became the
rule.
The regulations regarding export and import between the different
States, which had been enacted under the mercantilistic teachings of the
last century (see page 52), and the many tariffs which impeded a free
exchange of commodities, lasted for a long while into the 19th century,
and were not all abolished until 1865, when under the lead of Prussia,
the North German Federation instituted the _Zollverein_ (Tariff
alliance) which abolished not only all tariffs between the States of the
Federation, but also tariffs on wood products against the outside world.
Import duties were, however, again established in 1879, and the policy
of protecting the established organized forest management against
competition by importations from exploiting countries has been again and
again recognized as proper in the revision of tariff rates and railroad
freight rates on the government railroads.
During the first decades of the century, the supply question was
uppermost, and although such men as Pfeil (1816) laughed at the idea of
a wood famine, there was good reason, prior to the development of
railroads, of coal fields, of iron and steel manufactures, etc., for
discussing with apprehension the area and condition of supply and the
extent of the consumption. Nevertheless, the attitude of the state
toward private property was much more influenced by the economic
theories then prevalent, which taught the ideas of private liberty to
which the French Revolution had given such forcible expression.
With the change of municipal communities from mere associations with
common material interest into units or parts of political or state
machines, also independence in the management of their property was
secured, and many of the old restrictions which had circumscribed this
right fell away. Curiously enough, during the French domination under
Napoleon, the new masters, forgetting the spirit of the revolutionary
period, introduced the prescriptions of the old French ordinance of 1669
which restricted the use of communal property to the extent of excluding
the owners entirely from the management of their property, and placed it
under government officers. After the French withdrew, this method, of
course, collapsed, although it probably had an influence on the final
shaping of forest policies in these respects. Altogether, there was such
variety of historic development in the different parts of Germany that
it is not to be wondered at that one finds a great variety of policies
still prevailing not only in different States but in different
localities of the same State.
At the present time three different principles in the relations of the
state to the corporation forests may be recognized, namely, entire
freedom, excepting so far as general police laws apply, which is the
case with most of the corporation forests in Prussia (law of 1876);
special supervision of the technical management under approved officials
with proper education, which is the case in Saxony, most of Bavaria, the
Prussian provinces of Westphalia, Rhineland and Saxony, and in some of
the smaller states; or lastly, the absolute administration by the state,
which prevails in Baden, parts of Bavaria, provinces Hesse-Nassau, and
Hanover. The tendency, however, in modern times appears to be toward a
more strict interpretation of the obligation of the state to prevent
mismanagement of the communal property.
Private forest property, which during the preceding century had been
largely under restrictions, first under the application of the hunting
right, and then under the fear of a wood famine, became in the first
decades of the century under the influences already mentioned, almost
entirely free, all former policies being reversed; indeed Prussia, in
1811, issued an edict insuring absolutely unrestricted rights to forest
owners, permitting partition and conversion of forest properties, and
even denying in such cases the right of interference on the part of
possessors of rights of user.
This policy of freedom was also applied, although less radically, in
Bavaria, except as to smaller owners. The result was, to a large extent,
the increase of exploitation and forest devastation, creating wastes and
setting shifting sand and sanddunes in motion. The reaction, which set
in against this unrestricted use of forest property, resulted in Prussia
not in renewal of restrictive measures, but in the enactment of
promotive ones. The law of 1875 sought improvement by encouraging small
owners to unite their properties under one management; but the
expectations which were founded on this ameliorative policy seem so far
not to have been realized.
This promotive policy has especially since 1899 found expression in the
institution in many provinces of information bureaus, which give
technical advice, make working plans, secure plant material and give
other assistance to woodland owners.
A new relation, however, of a conservative character arose by the
establishment of the entail, i.e., a contract made by the head of the
family with the government under which the latter assumes the obligation
of forever preventing the heirs from disposing of, diminishing, or
mismanaging their property. As a result of this arrangement, many of the
larger private forest properties are forced to a conservative
management, not as a direct influence of the law, but as a matter of
agreement. The condition of state supervision of private and communal
forest property at present prevailing is expressed in the following
statement of divisions by property classes of forest areas of Germany,
which shows that at least 63.9% are under conservative management:
Total Forest 34,769,794 acres.
Crown forest 1.8%
State forest 31.9%
Corporation forest 16.1%
Institute forest 1.5%
Association forest 2.2%
Private forest (10.4% entail) 46.5%
Until the beginning of the present century, the protective function of
the forest had played no role in the arguments for state interference,
but just about the beginning of the century cries were heard from France
that, owing to the reckless devastation of the Vosges and Jura Alps by
cutting, by fires and over-grazing, brooks had become torrents, and the
valleys were inundated and covered by the debris and silt of the
torrents. A new aspect of the results of forest devastation began to be
recognized, which found excellent expression in a memoir by _Moreau de
Jonnès_ (Brussels, 1825), on the question “What changes does denudation
effect on the physical condition of the country.” This being translated
into German by Wiedenmann, was widely spread, being interestingly
written, although not well founded on facts of natural history and
physical laws. Nevertheless, sufficient experience as regards the effect
of denudation in mountainous countries had also accumulated in southwest
Germany and in the Austrian Alps, and the necessity of protective
legislation was recognized. This necessity first found practical
expression in the Bavarian law of 1852, in Prussia in 1875, and in
Württemberg in 1879. But a really proper basis for formulating a policy
or argument for protective legislation outside of the mountainous
country is still absent, although for a number of years attempts have
been made to secure such basis.