EDITORIAL 



A NEW OPPORTUNITY 



eLSEWHERE in these pages a suggestion is made of an opportunity now 

 open to forest land owners in the Appalachian region to do a great public 

 service by the gift of lands to the United States for the new eastern 

 national forests. We may enlarge upon this by calling attention to the new 

 and broad field for public benefaction the development of forestry in this coun- 

 try offers. We are living just now in an age of liberal giving for the public 

 good. Schools and colleges, hospitals, scientific research, the promotion of the 

 public health, the advancement of the peace of the world — all these are receiv- 

 ing assistance from our men and women of wealth to an extent unparalleled in 

 the history of the world. As yet, notwithstanding the growing popular 

 interest, forestry has not come into general recognition by those who are 

 looking for ways and means to promote the welfare of society. Yet here is a 

 field which as it comes to be better understood must be recognized as having 

 a strong claim upon our generous givers. 



A few have already seen the need and the opportunity. The late James 

 W. Pinchot, and his distinguished son, Gifford Pinchot, were naturally aniong 

 the first, for they had both the knowledge and the means. The late E. H. 

 Harriman, through his gifts to New York, Mrs. Harriman and Mrs. Sage, 

 through their gifts to the Yale Forest School, the group who provided Harvard 

 University with the forest in Massachusetts for the work of the forestry depart- 

 ment, and some others in lesser degree, have set the example; but the oppor- 

 tunity is big enough for much wider recognition. 



There are the schools of forestry, many of which are doing admirable 

 work, that could be greatly strengthened by the providing of larger funds 

 and demonstration forests. Then there is the practical work of the national 

 government and of the states, all of which is the people's work. We have 

 suggested how the national government may be aided at the present time. In 

 a similar way the work of the states can be advanced by financial aid on a 

 generous scale. To be sure this, like all of our government work, must be 

 sustained chiefly by the taxes contributed by all of the people; but forestry is 

 peculiar in its needs and opportunities and at the present time these outrun 

 the means or inclination of most of the states to meet them and there is no 

 reason why endowments of forest lands and permanent funds for fire protection 

 and other work in connection with their maintenance should not be bestowed 

 upon the states, as endowments are bestowed upon so many semi-public institu- 

 tions for all sorts of useful purposes. The time will ultimately come when 

 forest work in this country will be self-supporting, but owing to the great area 

 of the country and to the present undeveloped conditions of our forest 

 resources, this point has not been reached and the interim can be bridged and 

 the practicability of forestry can be better shown if given private assistance. 



Finally, there are the forestry associations — the American Forestry Asso- 

 ciation, and those of many of the states which are doing a broad and useful 

 popular educational work, most of them with insufficient funds which are eked 

 out by the sacrifices of many unselfish workers. Endowments sufficient to 



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