ROBERT PERKINS BASS 



Governor/'elect of New Hampshire 



By PHILIP W, AYRES, 

 Forester of the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests 



ROBERT PERKINS BASS, who 

 has just been elected triumph- 

 antly Governor of New Hamp- 

 shire, deserves the honor. While serv- 

 ing two terms in the State legislature 

 as representative and one as senator, he 

 secured the passage of a number of 

 important bills, including the forestry 

 bill that has transformed the forest 

 service of the State. His most import- 

 ant legislative achievement is the pas- 

 sage of the new primary law, by which 

 the State has rid itself of political con- 

 ventions and of the domination, through 

 them, that corporate interests, particu- 

 larly the railroads, had obtained. Pop- 

 ular approval of the primary system 

 was clearly expressed in the primary 

 elections held a month ago, and the 

 final electiono on November 8 gave ^Ir. 

 Bass a larger support than has been 

 given to any governor in recent years. 

 He led the movement that abolished the 

 granting of free passes by the railroad 

 companies. He secured also a bill equal- 

 izing the taxes of the State, by which 

 the corporations paid last year an in- 

 creased tax of more than $300,000. 



Prior to these successful efiforts in 

 reform, Mr. Bass accomplished a heroic 

 task in changing the old forestry com- 

 mission, a political body, into one of the 

 most progressive and useful commis- 

 sions to be found in the country. It is 

 his work in the cause of forestry that 

 chiefly concers this article. 



Mr. Bass was born in Chicago, Sep- 

 tember I, 1873, and is a graduate of 

 Harvard College and Law School. His 

 family came to New Hampshire from 

 Chicago some years ago, as summer 

 residents, and acquired a large tiact of 

 718 



land near Peterboro. In managing his 

 cwn woodlands, thinning the old stands 

 and planting new ones, he soon became 

 a permanent resident. Mr. Gifford 

 Pinchot and Mr. Henry S. Graves, then 

 director of the Yale Forest School, are 

 his personal friends. Through their 

 suggestion a government experiment 

 station was established on his property, 

 by which thinnings of various kinds 

 were made and recorded on definite 

 areas for observation during a period 

 of years. 



It may be said that Mr. Edward N. 

 Pierson, secretary of State in New 

 Hampshire, discovered ^Ir. Bass in the 

 state, because it was he who invited Mr. 

 Bass to become a member of the State 

 Forestry Commission, which was Mr. 

 Bass' first public office. As a member 

 of this body, he was for a long time in 

 a hopeless minority, but wisely abided 

 his time. Later, with the appointment 

 of Mr. Robert E. Faulkner, of Keene, 

 upon the commission, the two were 

 able to secure control of the body. They 

 promptly brought a bill into the legis- 

 lature abolishing the old bi-partisan 

 board. A new commission was created 

 of which Mr. Bass was naturally ap- 

 pointed chairman. The same bill reor- 

 ganized the forest fire service of the 

 State and provided for a State Forester. 



The new forestry commission having 

 other able members and a trained man 

 as State Forester, has made a distinct 

 record in New Hampshire. Fire war- 

 dens have been appointed throughout 

 the State. Private contributions have 

 been secured by which thirteen stations 

 have been located on the tops of moun- 

 tains, connected by telephone with the 



