LAND ECONOMICS 
125 
trees resulting in high prices for lumber. Other aspects of the 
forest land problem are mentioned elsewhere in this paper. 
Another case of over-expansion is afforded by the urban area, 
where we find an enormous amount of excessive subdivision 
resulting in loss both to individuals and to society. The 
individual loses by putting his money into an enterprise which 
may presently become bankrupt or through which he may suffer 
a loss, either total or partial, even though the enterprise itself does 
not fail. To what extent there is a social loss from the over- 
expansion of the urban area, which is really not called for by the 
urban demands, from taking land over from agricultural use, it is 
impossible to say. No one knows how great the unoccupied and 
uncalled for urban area may be. The most serious loss would 
be due to the large expenditures involved in laying out suburbs 
that are not needed. This is a very serious matter. We cannot, 
however, enter further into this matter for it would take us too 
far afield into urban land problems. 
Then there is the problem of maintaining a balance between 
present and future uses. A land policy should take account both 
of present needs in relation to population and of future needs 
in terms of carefully estimated increase of population. The 
unbalanced situation which results when production is over- 
stimulated is peculiarly disastrous in the case of land. Land is 
slow to respond to changes, particularly changes in price, and this 
is of great economic significance. Take the case of agricultural 
land, if prices should drop suddenly between planting and harvest, 
the farmer is helpless to act to meet the situation. He must har- 
vest the crop he has planted and take the consequences. Pro- 
duction on the land cannot be curtailed as easily as production 
in other industries. In some measure the present agricultural dis- 
tress in the United States is due to the cumulative effect of 
continuous stimulation of agricultural production, plus the con- 
centrated pressure brought to bear on agriculture during the war. 
Once brought into utilization, the land factor is more likely to 
remain in operation than the other factors of production, and this 
is true for all types of land utilization, whether agricultural or 
urban. We have here, then, an added reason for careful con- 
sideration of both present and future land needs from a national 
point, of view. 
The third problem of balance is between agriculture as a whole