1908 



THE GOVERNORS' CONFERENCE 



333 



in the whole forestry proposition, as i*- 

 will pay twice compound interest to 

 any one who will invest his money in 

 it. 



Mr. Whipple concluded with the 

 suggestion, which was received with 

 distinct appreciation, that every state 

 in the Union place on its statute books 

 a law exempting from taxation the 

 land dedicated to tree raising. 



Hon. John F. Fort, Governor of 

 New Jersey, followed Mr. Whipple 

 with a statement in regard to New 

 Jersey's forestry work. Governor 

 Fort said that New Jersey has pur- 

 chased within the last three or four 

 years 10,000 acres of land to be main- 

 tained as state forest reserves. The 

 New Jersey legislature this year ap- 

 propriated $25,000 for the work of 

 the Forestry Commission, and it is the 

 state's intention to purchase from 5,000 

 to 6,000 acres of land this year, to be 

 added to the previously acquired 

 reserves. 



An agreement between state and 

 townships has been made, whereby the 

 townships in which these acquired for- 

 est reserves are located, are paid two 

 cents an acre on their taxes from the 

 State Treasury for every acre of tax- 

 able land acquired by the state. 



Another thing that has been done 

 in New Jersey, Governor Fort said, is 

 the establishing of fire lines along all 

 the railways of the state. A line, ten 

 feet wide, 100 feet from either side of 

 the track is provided for, and it is also 

 provided that persons who will not 

 allow the State to establish such fire 

 lines through forest lands privately 

 owned, shall not have any action 

 against railroads for damages by fire. 

 Where permission is granted to estab- 

 lish fire lines, individuals have their 

 remedy, as now, in case fires occur. 



Governor Fort concluded by saying 

 that New Jersey proposes to go on in 

 the work of reforestation and forest 

 conservation, with the intention of 

 making the State Forests playgrounds, 

 as well as sources of profit, for the 

 people of New Jersey and of the 

 United States. 



Governor Woodruff, of Connecti- 

 cut, then introduced Dr. Arthur D. 

 Hadley, President of Yale University, 

 who spoke briefly on the work of the 

 Yale Forestry School. Dr. Hadley 

 said: 



"When we first started our forestry- 

 school at Yale, eight years ago, things 

 looked darker than they look now. It did 

 not seem as though there was any interest 

 in forestry at all. We worked with Mr. 

 Pinchot, here in Washington, and, acting 

 under his advice, developed a school which 

 should not only teach forest botany, but 

 which should teach forest economy, and 

 forest economy adapted to American con- 

 ditions. (Applause.) Our fear in the es- 

 tablishment of that school was that there 

 would not be demand enough for the grad- 

 uates. The numbers have increased until 

 now we are sending out each year from 

 thirty to forty men, trained in the actual 

 busmess conditions of American forestry, 

 besides giving instruction in summer to a 

 large number of practical forest men in 

 certam of the theoretical parts of the work. 



"The growth of demand for these men 

 has been so unexpectedly rapid that I feel 

 sure, if this assembly can manage to tide 

 over the dangerous time of the next twenty 

 years, that after that the thing will take 

 care of itself. The people will get such new 

 conceptions of forestry and the demand for 

 lumber, that, on mere business ground, for- 

 est preservation, in expert hands, will take 

 care of itself, as a matter of course. But 

 just now it is for an assembly like this to 

 make the demand, before we reach the dead 

 line, instead of waiting until that comes. 



"How can we do it? First, by working 

 in our own state in the way that the Gov- 

 ernors in their speeches, and the delegates 

 in their speeches, have shown, and still 

 more, I think, by putting pressure on the 

 National Government in favor of the exten- 

 sion of forest reservation in every possible 

 way. (Applause.) Powerful as we are in 

 our own states, an assembly like this, called 

 by the President, is yet more powerful in 

 carrying the public opinion of the country 

 with it ; and we stand here for the principle 

 that our Governm.ent should not be a Gov- 

 ernment for the partial interest of the coun- 

 try, not even a Government for the impor- 

 tant interests of the country, but a Gov- 

 ernment for the permanent interests of the 

 countjy. (Applause.) 



"Second; we have it in our power also, as 

 has been suggested, to make intelligent for- 

 estry by individuals more profitable than it 

 is to-day. (Applause.) Suggestions have 

 been made regarding possible tax laws. I 

 shall not try to repeat them. But by the 

 appointment of committees, by the exchange 

 of expert opinions, a body like this can 

 make a great many things that do not quite 



