704 



CONSERVATION 



position of such great influence as 

 this. In other words, it is my strong con- 

 viction that the Association should stand 

 upon its own feet and be independent of the 

 Forest Service in all respects. While I hope 

 strongly that the Forest Service will con- 

 tinue to contribute all it can to the cause which 

 (he American Forestry Association so well rep- 

 resents, I believe it unwise that the two insti- 

 tutions should continue to be merged to 

 the present extent b}' the officers of one act- 

 ing also as the officers of the other. 



This resignation must take effect upon the 

 date of this letter, and I beg you to call 

 a meeting of the Executive Committee, or to 

 correspond with its members, in order that 

 the committee may choose its own chairman 

 until the Board of Directors can take action. 

 Very sincerely yours, 



(Signed) Gifford Pinchot. 



Non-governmental members of the 

 Board, and the Secretary as well, urged 

 Mr. Pinchot not to press this resigna- 

 tion. He was absent for a number of 

 months, and action upon it was not 

 taken. 



At the meeting of the Board of Di- 

 rectors preceding the annual meeting 

 of the Association, January 28, 1908, 

 Mr. Pinchot again insisted that he must 

 retire ; this time, not only from the Ex- 

 ecutive Committee, but also from the 

 Board itself. The minutes of that meet- 

 ing contain the following: 



Mr. Pinchot made a statement setting forth 

 that, to avoid confusion in the public mind 

 between the American Forestry Association 

 and the Forest Service, he felt that he should 

 no longer continue as a member of the Board 

 of Directors of the Association. To this end 

 he requested that he be not renominated. 



At the same meeting. Secretary Wil- 

 son stated that, for the same reason, 

 he ought to retire from the presidency 

 of the Association. As, however, in 

 the case of Mr. Pinchot. other mem- 

 bers of the Board strongly demurred, 

 and Secretary Wilson's resignation was 

 deferred for practically one }'ear, at 

 which time it was reluctantly accepted. 



At the present time no representative 

 of the United States Government, 

 whether in or out of the Agricultural 

 Department, including the Forest Serv- 

 ice, is in any way connected with the 

 management of this organization. No 

 representative of the United States 

 Government has any voice whatever in 



controlling or suggesting the policy of 

 this Association or of its publications. 

 No Government representative saw, be- 

 fore publication, or knew in advance 

 the character of any matter that has 

 appeared in this publication since the 

 Ballinger-Pinchot controversy began. 



The Conservation magazine is free 

 to criticize Mr. Pinchot and all his 

 works if it sees cause to do so. 



That it has supported and still sup- 

 ports him in his conservation fight is 

 due not to his influence or control, di- 

 rect or indirect, but to the fact that this 

 publication recognizes that in this great 

 struggle he is on the people's side. 

 While he stands there. Conservation 

 will continue to support him. When he 

 fails to do so, this publication, with 

 whatever influence it may command, 

 will be arrayed against him. 



)^ &' «? 



Whither Are We Drifting 



AT THE meeting of the Colorado 

 Conservation Commission, Dr. John 

 Grass, of Trinidad, endeavored to in- 

 troduce an amendment to a resolution, 

 his amendment being : 



"We recognize the right of Govern- 

 ment control of the public domain, and 

 hold that the natural resources of the 

 country belong first of all to the whole 

 people." 



Ex-Senator Thoinas M. Patterson, 

 chairman of the committee on resolu- 

 tions, and one of the leading opponents 

 of our National Forest policy, opposed 

 this amendment ! 



Upon what grounds, is it asked, 

 could any sane, intelligent American 

 citizen oppose such a resolution? His 

 grounds, we are informed by the press, 

 were two-fold, namely, "that the first 

 clause was 'academic' and the second 

 'socialistic!' " 



Is it to this complexion that the for- 

 estry and conservation controversy has 

 broueht us? 



This magazine is not an exponent of 

 socialism ; it is, however, an exponent 

 of the principles of the conservation of 

 natural resources. 



As such, it stands emphatically, un- 

 eqiu'vocally. and everlastingly for the 



