ARE THERE TOO MANY FOREST SCHOOLS? 



401 



energy in bringing the public to realize 

 what forestry was and how it could be 

 applied to advantage. This has been 

 the fundamental principle underlying 

 the whole movement. The American 

 people as a whole stand high in the 

 scale of civilization and they also are 

 intensely practical. As with the lum- 

 bermen, they, as a whole, only have to 

 be educated to the fact that the end 

 of our timber supply is in sight and 

 that by the proper management we can 

 hold off that evil day, as well as make 

 a good profit, and they will manage 

 the forest lands of the United States, 

 both public and private, accordingly. 



VAI.UI2 OF TRAINING 



I can conceive of no way of reaching 

 the people more quickly and more 

 thoroughly than by mixing in with 

 them a large body of trained foresters. 

 The point will probably be made that 

 there will be many of these men turned 

 out who will do much to give forestry 

 a black eye, because of impractical 

 recommendations. That there will be 

 these men there is no doubt, but do 

 people throw over the engineering sci- 

 ences because some engineers are im- 

 practical ? Would we close our church- 

 es because there are a few hypocritical 

 ministers? I believe that forestry, as 

 a profession, is at the present day able 

 to stand alone and that the time has 

 already passed when it is necessary for 

 the forest schools to weed out their 

 men for the sake of forestry. It may 

 be policy to weed out men for the sake 

 of the schools, but not for the sake of 

 forestry. If we are considering the ad- 

 vancement of forestry, let us turn out 

 all the men we can and through com- 

 petition, let the best man win. 



How many lawyers are there in the 

 country that know anything at all about 

 forestry? Probably not more than a 

 score. Have you ever stopped to think 

 what the future of forest law is to be, 

 the number of questions which will arise 

 from the destruction of timber or for- 

 est soil, the effects of forest cover on 

 the country, trespass suits, etc., which 

 the high price of timber is going to 

 cause exactness in and only those law- 

 yers who have had a forestry training 



will Ijc properly able to handle these 

 cases. 



Forest entomology and pathology are 

 two sciences which are only in their in- 

 fancy in the United States^ and for the 

 bringing out of the proper relations of 

 insects and disease to our forests, the 

 investigators along these lines must 

 have a broad forestry education. 



A training in forestry, no matter how 

 small, will be a decided advantage to 

 any man who intends to handle timber 

 land, even though he never intends to 

 practice forestry himself and more and 

 more business men will acquire a for- 

 estry education that they may be better 

 enabled to carry on their business, 

 where such a business is allied to tim- 

 ber or lumbering in any way. 



Many men will take the forestry 

 courses merely because of their broad- 

 ness. Is there any other profession of 

 the present day that requires as general 

 and broad a training as that of the for- 

 ester? I for one look forward to the 

 day when such men, men who do not 

 intend to follow forestry, will be turned 

 out by the thousand, these men later to 

 bob up in our courts, our city govern- 

 ments and our State or National Gov- 

 ernment, or even as the every-day sort 

 of citizen, who will be able to take 

 themselves, as well as to be able to in- 

 struct others to take an enlightened 

 view of forest conservation, as its prin- 

 ciples come before the people in the 

 form of legislation or practice. 



In short, I think forestry in the 

 United States will advance in direct 

 proportion to the number of men who 

 are annually turned out from the for- 

 est schools of the country. 



There is to be a place for all schools, 

 the post-graduate schools, the under- 

 graduate schools and the ranger 

 schools, all combined to turn out men 

 better equipped to advance the cause 

 of forestry and only when every uni- 

 versity and most engineering schools 

 and colleges give forestry courses, then 

 and only then will the profession of 

 forestry be on an equal footing with 

 other professions and then and only 

 then will the progress of forestry ob- 

 tain its maximum momentum. 



