IMPROVEMENT OF OUR HERITAGE 



* 



BY 



Gifford Pinchot, Forester of the U. S. Department of Agriculture 



Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gj^n- 



TLKMEN : 



I WANT to talk to you for just a few 

 moments this morning about a 

 movement which arose from the forest 

 movement naturally and inevitably, 

 and which now envelops the forest 

 movement and makes it part of a far 

 larg-er and more important piece of 

 work than any of us anticipated at the 

 beginning. The central idea of for- 

 estry, I need not tell you, is the intelli- 

 gent and foresighted use of a great 

 natural resource. It has often been 

 said that the forest policy of the Na- 

 tional Government is the longest look 

 ahead that the United States has ever 

 taken in any direction. And I think 

 this is true. Foresight is the key of 

 the forest movement. And once the 

 Nation had begun to look forward 

 vigorously and intelligently at the use 



was 



of a single natural resource, it 

 naturally only a question of time until 

 the same point of view should be 

 taken in considering all other natural 

 resources. The result was inevitable 

 and has just now come about. During 

 the_ past year the President of the 

 United States has launched a move- 

 ment for the conservation of all nat- 

 ural resources, which he himself 

 speaks of as the most important prob- 

 lem now before the people of the 

 United States, and which is going to 

 have consequences and results in our 

 economic and financial and sociologi- 

 cal conditions which perhaps none of 

 us are now able fully to realize. 



I mean to speak to you for just a 

 moment about the present condition 

 of our natural resources, and to fore- 

 cast a little what the results are likely 

 to be. Those of us who now have 

 charge of the area of the United 



*Aclclress before the Annual Meeting of 

 Washington, January 29, igoS. 



States ( and I mean by that all the peo- 

 ple of the United States) are exactl} 

 in the situation of a young man who 

 has just come into his inheritance. He 

 has one of two things to do. He may 

 ascertain the business condition of the 

 property, its physical nature, and seek 

 out and apply the best policy for the 

 handling of its resources under the 

 circumstances ; or he may do as many 

 young men do, have his fling, have a 

 good time out of it while it lasts and 

 let the future take care of itself. 



Now, in private life we have come 

 really to understand that that second 

 course is unwise, but private morality 

 and private intelligence are always a 

 long way ahead, in the best examples, 

 of national morality and national in- 

 telligence. And the result is that a 

 course which we would deprecate and 

 condemn in the case of any man who 

 was our friend, we are as a nation fol- 

 lowing step by step. In other words, 

 we have not adopted the point of view 

 that this is a valuable property which 

 ought to be conserved and which 

 ought to be transmitted unimpaired to 

 our children. But we have said in 

 substance, we have said through care- 

 lessness and thoughtlessness, much 

 more than by intention : I will do what 

 I like with my own ; after me the 

 deluge. 



What was the condition which we 

 found when we came to this conti- 

 nent? Three million square miles of 

 the richest, most diversified, most fer- 

 tile and usable country that ever the 

 sun shone on. Not alike all over, not 

 all usable, but so combined and con- 

 structed as to make the best field that 

 has ever been ofifered for the develop- 

 ment of a great civilization. Every 

 nation that has found itself in anv- 



the American Forestry Association. 



