TWENTY-EIGHTH ANNUAL MEETING 



157 



ored, however, to present a well-balanced 

 list of officers, who may be expected to give 

 devoted and efficient service. 

 Respectfully submitted, 



Edwin A. Start, 

 Chairman, for the Committee. 



Supplementing the report of the 

 Nominating Gommittee, Mr. Start said : 



I wish to add to the report a personal word 

 in regard to the candidate for president. 

 For ten years this office has been distin- 

 guished by the great Secretary of Agricul- 

 ture, whose farewell message we listened to 

 yesterday morning. To name his successor 

 was no light responsibility. We must have 

 a man known to the people of the country 

 and respected by them, a man of tried abil- 

 ity in high places ; and one deeply, person- 

 ally, and intelligently interested in forestry 

 and conservation work. 



Of ex-Governor Guild's ability, integrity, 

 and patriotism I do not need to speak, al- 

 though I may say that, as Governor of 

 Massachusetts, he has made a record worthy 

 to be placed with those of a long line of 

 great predecessors. What I do wish, to say 

 is that we have not named him for president 

 of the American Forestry Association be- 

 cause he has been a successful politician, a 

 good soldier, a brilliant campaigner, and a 

 statesmanlike governor. We have chosen 

 him because he is committed, heart and 

 soul, to the cause of forestry and conserva- 

 tion, and because he is a doer of deeds and 

 not a merely negative supporter. I have 

 known more than any one else, perhaps, of 

 the growth and strength of his interest in 

 this cause. When he became governor three 

 years ago he knew very little about it, but 

 he has that quick grasp of such questions 

 that enables a man to measure their import- 

 ance ; and he took it up not only willingly 

 as a part of his duty as governor, but 

 eagerly as a far-seeing American who 

 caught the significance of the forestry gospel. 

 During his term forestry as a state policy 

 has made wonderful advance in Massachu- 

 setts, and our State Forester, Mr. Rane, will 

 bear me out in saying that the sympathetic 

 support of Governor Guild has been one of 



the chief factors in this progress. Our state 

 forestry association has found in him a most 

 cordial friend. Wliat he has done for the 

 Appalachian National Forests cause is known 

 in part to the public, but its full importance 

 is only known to one or two of us who have 

 been in closest touch with him and through 

 whom he has worked. Three years ago he 

 enlisted in this cause, and he has never Al- 

 tered in its support. This year, for the first 

 time, the hearing by the House committee 

 was given at a time when his duties as gov- 

 ernor would permit his personal attendance, 

 and you all know how well he bore himself 

 as our leader. But in other years the splen- 

 did representation that Massachusetts has 

 sent to speak for her has been due in a large 

 measure to the personal efforts of her gov- 

 ernor. 



In this connection, let me recall the fact 

 that at the hearing last month the Governor 

 of South Carolina was beside the Governor 

 of Massachusetts. When sounding some of 

 the Association's prominent members as to 

 the way in which the name of Governor 

 Guild would be received, this letter came to 

 me from another representative South Caro- 

 linian, Hon. Asbury F. Lever : 



' ' I am in receipt of your letter of recent 

 date, and in reply thereto permit me to say 

 that I regard Governor Guild as preeminently 

 the man for the presidency of the Forestry 

 Association. I, for one, shall be very glad 

 to support him. I see no reason why there 

 should be any opposition to him from any 

 source, for I am sure that he has been a 

 most helpful influence in arousing and di- 

 recting sentiment in favor of forest reserves 

 in the Appalachian and White Mountains." 



This testimony from South Carolina is pe- 

 culiarly grateful to us of Massachusetts, and 

 shows how much our forestry cause is doing 

 to aid in binding the Nation together and 

 make all sections one. 



Now Mr. Guild is for a while a private 

 citizen, free to give his virile energy and 

 wide patriotism to this good cause which he 

 has come to understand and to believe in, 

 and we therefore feel confident that we 

 made no mistake in presenting him for the 

 presidency of this Association. 



