THE PI.ANT WORIvD 9 



ment such as ours, it is out of the question to impose a policy like this 

 from without. The policy, as a permanent policy, can come only from 

 the intelligent conviction of the people themselves that it is wise and use- 

 ful, nay, indispensable. We shall decide, in the long run, whether or 

 not we are to preserve or destroy the forests of the Rocky Mountains 

 accordingly as we are or are not able to make the people of the mountain 

 States hearty believers in the policy of forest preservation. 



That is the only way in which this policy can be made a permanent 

 success. You must convince the people of the truth — and it is the 

 truth — that the success of home makers depends in the long run upon 

 the wisdom with which the nation takes care of its forests. That seems 

 a strong statement, but it is none too strong. 



You yourselves have got to keep this practical object before your 

 mind ; to remember that a forest which contributes nothing to the 

 wealth, progress, or safet}^ of the country is of no interest to the Govern- 

 ment, and should be of little interest to the forester. Your attention 

 must be directed to the preservation of the forests, not as an end in 

 itself, but as a means for preserving and increasing the prosperity of the 

 nation. 



"Forestry is the preservation of forests by wise use," to quote a 

 phrase I used in my first message to Congress. Keep before your minds 

 that definition . Forestry does not mean abbreviating that use ; it means 

 making the forest useful not only to the settler, the rancher, the miner, 

 the man who lives in the neighborhood, but, indirectly, to the man who 

 may live hundreds of miles off down the course of some great river, 

 which has had its rise among the forest-bearing mountains. 



The forest problem is in many ways the most vital internal problem 

 in the United States. The more closely this statement is examined the 

 more evident its truth becomes. In the arid region of the West, agri- 

 culture depends first of all upon the available water supply. In such a 

 region forest protection alone can maintain the stream flow necessary for 

 irrigation, and can prevent the great and destructive floods so ruinous to 

 communities farther down the same streams that head in the arid regions. 



The relation between the forests and the whole mineral industry is an 

 extremely intimate one ; for, as every man who has had experience in 

 the West knows, mines can not be developed without timber, usually not 

 without timber close at hand. In many regions throughout the arid 

 country ore is more abundant than wood, and this means that if the ore 

 is of low grade, the transportation of timber from any distance being out 

 of the question, the use of the mine is limited by the amount of timber 

 available close at hand. 



The very existence of lumbering, of course, — and lumbering is the 

 fourth great industry of the United States, — depends upon the success of 



