94 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



to second-class mail matter has raised an 

 issue which the Association must meet. Our 

 present plan of publication does not comply 

 with the law as interpreted by the Depart- 

 ment. A circulation made up of members 

 of an association who pay dues and receive 

 the magazine without extra payment is not 

 accepted by the Department as a bona fide 

 subscription list. Whether this is just or 

 not in its application to our Association 

 does not enter into the case. It is the 

 decision of the Department and seems to 

 be warranted by the law. The officials ad- 

 mit that the Department has been lax in the 

 past in the administration of the law, and 

 they are using reasonable consideration in 

 regard to contracts and agreements already 

 entered into, but the provisions of the law 

 are to be strictly enforced in the future. 



Two alternatives are open to us. We may 

 separate our membership from the subscrip- 

 tion to the magazine and continue to publish 

 as we are now doing. That is, we may 

 charge our members dues of one dallar, or 

 such other amount as the Association may 

 determine in its By-Laws, and may then 

 charge those who wish to subscribe for the 

 magazine two dollars, or such other amount 

 as we may determine upon for a subscrip- 

 tion price. By following this course we may 

 keep the magazine under the general Act 

 of 1879. 



It is also open to us to make entry under 

 the Act of July 16, 1894, which relates to 

 publications of benevolent or fraternal so- 

 cieties or orders, and of professional, liter- 

 ary, historical or scientific societies, but under 

 this act, as now interpreted by the Depart- 

 ment, we cannot carry any advertising. The 

 advertising business of American Forestry 

 is not large, but it nets the sum of from 

 $i,200 to $1,500 a year on its present basis, 

 and this will be increased with the increase 

 of circulation. As our income is limited, 

 and no margin of profit is provided in our 

 publication work, the loss of this sum woubl 

 mean a decrease in the quality of the maga- 

 zine. As we hope to make the advertising- 

 more profitable, the prospective loss is greater 

 than the figures here given. 



The other solution wliich we are informed 

 by the Department will fully meet the re- 

 quirements of law, would work out in this 

 way: Make the ordinary annual member- 

 ship fee one dollar. All those persons who 

 are sufficiently interested in the work of the 

 Association and wish to contribute to it and 

 to promote its welfare, pay this fee and be- 

 come members of the Association with such 

 rights and privileges as go with that member- 

 ship. Then it would be open to them, as to 

 others not members, to subscribe for the 

 magazine at regular subscription price. 



Some advantages would come from the 

 latter plan. We should be able to separate, 

 as we cannot now, those persons who are 

 really desirous of promoting the work of the 

 Association and those who simply wish to 

 obtain the magazine. No one who now re- 

 ceives the magazine for two dollars a year 



would have to pay any more for it, and 

 there would, therefore, be no reason for 

 dropping any subscriptions. Presumably, 

 therefore, the income of the Association 

 would not sufifer, but might be increased by 

 the adoption of this plan. It is, therefore, 

 recommended that the annual membership 

 fee be made one dollar, and that it shall not 

 include the subscription to the magazine. 



In connection with the adjustment of an- 

 nual dues to meet the new requirements of 

 the Post Office Department with reference 

 to our publication, the directors recommend 

 that the By-Laws be amended by making the 

 annual dues one dollar, and that a class of 

 contributing members paying ten dollars an- 

 nually be established, to occupy the wide gap 

 between annual and sustaining memberships. 

 Specifically, this recommendation is that the 

 words, "Contributing Members," be inserted 

 in Art. Ill, Sec. 2, af:er the words, "Sus- 

 taining Members," and that the following be 

 inserted in Art. Ill, Sec. 3, after the sentence 

 relating to Sustaining Members and before 

 that relating to Annual Members: "Con- 

 tributing Members are those who pay annual 

 dues of ten dollars ($10)." 



In 1908 The American Forestry Association 

 was the onh^ National organization which 

 seemed to be so made up as to push the new 

 conservation movement, and there was at one 

 time some danger of the Association being 

 absorbed, so far as its most vital interests 

 were concerned, in this varied and Nation- 

 wide movement. The organization last year 

 of the National Conservation Association 

 complicated the situation for a time and the 

 function and the future of the organization 

 seemed to be seriously involved. Conference 

 between officers of the two associations and 

 a careful study of their functions and pur- 

 poses cleared the situation and made it pos- 

 sible for us to direct the work of The Amer- 

 ican Forestry Association along lines in har- 

 mony with its early history and also with 

 present tendencies. At present there is every 

 promise that the two organizations will work 

 in harmony, cooperating at many points, and 

 that conflict of interests and duplication of 

 effort will be avoided. Such an outcome is 

 much to be desired, for any injurious com- 

 petition that would affect the work of any 

 organization that stands for great National 

 principles like ours would be a public ca- 

 lamity. As it is, the American Forestry 

 Association will go forward, pursuing the 

 course marked out by its work of nearly 

 thirty years, increasing — we hope — its mem- 

 bership and power, publishing a magazine 

 that will be made a great educational force 

 and a reliable authority in its field, striving 

 for legislation that will promote the preser- 

 vation and cultivation and wise utilization 

 of our forests, together with all allied work 

 for the conservation of natural resources, so 

 much of which so far as soils and waters are 

 concerned, comes back to the forest ulti- 

 mately. 



We hope to do more in the future than in 

 the past in the promotion of state and pri- 



