98 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



of the Forestry Commitee of the Na- 

 tional Federation of Women's Clubs. 

 Her address follows : 



Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen, I am 

 very glad that this organization agrees with 

 Mr. Choate in no longer regarding women 

 as a side-issue. 



I represent the Forestry Committee of the 

 General Federation of Women's Clubs, the 

 National Committee. I bring to you greet- 

 ings from my committee, in forty-six states. 

 While they are geographically far they are 

 spiritually near. I hope that when I finish 

 this slight report, because I could not in the 

 time which you would be able to grant me 

 give you any idea of the activity of this de- 

 partment of the General Federation of Wom- 

 en's Clubs, not to leave you in the state of 

 mind in which the old farmer was when the 

 forester said, "Are you not going to do 

 something with all your land for forestry?" 

 He said, "Well, I did think of it, but my 

 wife belonged to a woman's club and they 

 had a paper on forestry, and she said there 

 wan't nothing in it !" 



I have come here today to learn from you 

 and to exercise my purely feminine pre- 

 rogative of offering you service andto talk a 

 little. Our organization, I think, is so ar- 

 ranged that it can be most useful to you. 

 Some of our state foresters recognize this. 

 But I do not think you have used us as thor- 

 oughly as you might. You need an educated 

 public sentiment, and we need your help, we 

 need your lecturers, and we need, I think, 

 direction. In this system that we have, we 

 are almost like a great telephone or tele- 

 graphic system, the state standing committees 

 conforming to those of the General Federa- 

 tion. The Chairman of the National Com- 

 mittee sends word to her state chairman, of 

 which, as I told you, I have forty-six. The 

 state chairman takes the message to her 

 state convention, where it is given to the 

 individual club, and finally, through the in- 

 terest of the individual in what she learns 

 at her state convention, it is taken to her 

 home and wisely fed to the gentleman who 

 sits behind the roast, at the proper time, 

 and gradually, whether he has interest m 

 this subject or not, he sees it in the paper 

 and his attention is called to it, and gradu- 

 ally we do educate these men to certain 

 questions. 



Now, all of this is at your service. We 

 have worked like heroes for the Appalachian 

 bill. I have written over a hundred letters, 

 and I have sent a number of petitions signed 

 by President Hadley and Professor Graves, 

 and many of our fine Connecticut people and 

 organizations, and as I say I have written 

 over a hundred letters myself for the bill. 

 I am prepared to set the great machinery 

 of 800,000 women to work for you any time 

 you say the word. 



You can readily imagine from what I 

 describe to you, that it is really the one 

 woman's power of speech — and even that. 



you know, is not to be lightly regarded — 

 raised to its eight hundred thousandth di- 

 mension. 



Our women are doing splendid work. I 

 have not all my reports because we report 

 biennially, and our biennial comes in May. 

 But I have learned that in Nebraska, for 

 instance, the women of the Forestry Com- 

 mittee have bought a little piece of land 

 with trees, and are about to establish a 

 municipal forest, not only with the idea of 

 educating people to the value of municipal 

 forests, but also from the standpoint of 

 property-owners, to fight out this vexed 

 question of the annual tax on the timber. 

 That is a great point in doing this thing. 



In Montana one of the clubs of the state 

 federation has bought a forest reserve. They 

 have had that some years, a small one, and 

 they are administering it and doing for the 

 good of the people. 



It is rather significant to me that where 

 the great hostility to this great movement has 

 been so strong, the women-folk, "to a man," 

 are organized and fighting that hostility. 

 That is the case in Colorado. They are 

 strongly in favor, and always have been, of 

 forestry, and while I have no desire to intro- 

 duce any bombs into this convention, they 

 have a vote there, and they sent a representa- 

 tive to the legislature. This last term that 

 representative was pledged to the support 

 of forestry measures. I should like this to 

 be on record, because it has been otherwise 

 stated, that the Colorado Federation of Wom- 

 en's Clubs was the first to indorse the_ con- 

 servation measure of our last administra- 

 tion — I mean the first among women's or- 

 ganizations. They took this action on the 

 first of October, 1907. They sent lecturers 

 (and it is done all through the states) up 

 and down the state, talking forestry, telling 

 • the people of the laws, telling them of privi- 

 leges under the laws. Also they are trying 

 in many cases to have introduced some ele- 

 mentary forestry in the public schools. In 

 one state they have a very fine little pam- 

 phlet which gives the whole process of main- 

 taining a school garden. A very public-spir- 

 ited gentleman in Michigan has bought lots 

 and placed them at the disposal of the wom- 

 en's clubs, who administer them, and es- 

 tablish the school gardens for the children, 

 so that these children shall be raised as the 

 German children are, as foresters; so that 

 they will learn to be tree-planters; and learn 

 to know something of the tree frorn the very 

 beginning. We have the most explicit direc- 

 tions for the plan for the school garden in a 

 little pamphlet. 



What I wish especially to say in my mes- 

 sage to you today is that the Governors have 

 formed conservation commissions in most_ of 

 the states ; there is this great_ organization 

 of ours for molding public opinion ; and then 

 this association. In addition, there are in 

 many of the states, state foresters. Now. 

 why can we not unite on some one thing to 

 begin with? When I clean house I begin 

 on one thing. Now, why can we not, say. 



