738 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



of responsibility. Nevertheless, the 

 showing of the national forests in the 

 way of fire protection has been good, 

 all things considered, and the national 

 Forest Service led the way and showed 

 the method for state and private pro- 

 tective work which has since been un- 

 dertaken. If the latter has bettered 

 the teaching, it is because obstructive 

 legislation has held the national service 

 back. Never forget that fact when 

 stones are being thrown at the Forest 

 Service. No better testimony to the 

 leadership of the national service can 

 be given than that of E. T. Allen, for- 

 ester of the strongest private protective 

 association in the country, the Western 

 Forestry and Conservation Association. 

 His article in the November number 

 may be profitably read in this connec- 

 tion. 



Therefore we think the American 

 Lumberman put the case too strongly 

 when it said : "Instead of leading, the 

 government is trailing;" but we sub- 

 scribe cordially to what follows : "The 

 Forest Service has done good work 

 within the limitations set upon it by a 

 Congress which was compelled to trim 

 its appropriations at some point and 

 found the Forest Service a convenient 

 victim." And further: "The principal 

 lesson from the experience of 1910 de- 

 monstrates the advisability, the absolute 

 necessity of equipping the Forest Ser- 

 vice to protect that great portion of the 

 public wealth which is entrusted to its 

 charge." Our contemporary even goes 

 so far as to hold that if over-estimates 

 will help to arouse public .sentiment and 

 loosen the purse strings of Congress 

 "they will serve a useful purpose." 



^ S)i ^ 



A Haunted Editorial Office 



THE Roosevelt specter has made the 

 Nezv York Times reactionary on 

 questions in regard to which it has here- 

 tofore been sound and sane. A recent 

 editorial charged up the forest fires 

 to the "new nationalism" on the ground 

 that Mr. Pinchot and Mr. Roosevelt had 

 been largely responsible for creating 

 the national forests and that they did 

 not make their "efficient machine" pro- 



vide a system of fire protection. 



The argument of the Times over- 

 shoots its mark and returns upon its 

 author. .In the first place the fire pro- 

 tection record is far better in the na- 

 tional forests than anywhere else in the 

 country, except in certain limited sec- 

 tions where the lumbermen have band- 

 ed together and adopted Forest Service 

 methods. In the second place, it has 

 been the failure of the legislative branch 

 of the government, owing to the ob- 

 structive tactics of representatives and 

 senators to the national forest policy, 

 that has limited the efficiency of the 

 national protection work by refusing to 

 satisfy manifest needs of the forest 

 service. It pleases Mr. Roosevelt's 

 enemies to represent him as a dictator, 

 but he wasn't by any means. We hold 

 no brief for any person or political 

 theory, having larger work to do, and 

 we suggest that if the Times will also 

 clear away political and personal preju- 

 dice from its discussions of this subject 

 it will do better. 



«« «« )^ 



The Reward of Good Citizenship 



npHE election of Robert Perkins Bass 

 ■*■ to the governorship of New Hamp- 

 shire is a matter of much interest to the 

 country, and especially to readers of 

 this magazine. Mr. Bass came to the 

 front in New Hampshire through his 

 work in behalf of forestry in the state, 

 demonstrating his unselfish citizenship 

 and his thorough efficiency in the reor- 

 ganization of the State Forestry Com- 

 mission, of which he became chairman. 

 Last January he was made a director of 

 the American Forestry Association. 



Mr. Bass is a young man to have gone 

 so far. He still has long years of use- 

 fulness before him, a fact upon which 

 his state and the nation may be con- 

 gratulated, for he belongs to the type 

 of quiet, efficient, democratic citizens 

 who are needed at the front now and 

 always, men who without self-seeking 

 give of their opportunity to the service 

 of the state. Our readers will be in- 

 terested in the brief sketch of the pub- 

 lic service of Mr. Bass in New Hamp- 

 shire given on another page by Philip 

 W. Ay res. 



