FAEMEES' STATE CONGEESS. 407 



profits. But wlien shafts of light begau to appear between the trunks of 

 the trees he stood face to face with hard reality and saw that he had not 

 stopped to thinli about that, unless he' could build up where he had torn 

 down, he would soon be at the end of his course. Then he began to look 

 into forestrj'. 



To most of us the profession of forestry suggests something new. 

 But, be it known, it is not new in any sense of the term of discovery, 

 although within the last ten years only has it come before the all-seeing 

 American eye and held it. Restrict the statement to this country and 

 come nearer the mark by calling it a newly-recognized profession, whose 

 future economic conditions now seem to be assured. It is a significant 

 fact that the first settlers on the Atlantic coast were the first foresters of 

 this country. One of the primordial laws w^hich they enacte4 as they 

 stood on that white strip of sand and rocks between the ocean and a con- 

 tinent, black and heavy with endless forests, restricted the size of the 

 timber to be cut for cordwood and preserved the long, tapering pines 

 suitable for masts. They were emigrants from a country whose policy, 

 even then, was forest protection; they knew the value of a stand of 

 timber; they saw in the young saplings the gigantic trees. In the span of 

 years which followed, the crusade of pioneei's kept fighting away from 

 the Atlantic, and this westward movement, especially in the latter part 

 of the nineteenth century, brought about a period of stupendous railway 

 building which has never been equaled. The old protective attitude 

 toward the forest merged into a mercenary one, mainly because of a 

 greater love for the almighty dollar and because the timber supply 

 seemed to be inexhaustible. Since then there has been an appalling 

 depletion and despoliation of our forests, the culmination of which has 

 given rise to a crying necessity of forestry and forest protection. 



A New and Significant Idea. — To the majority of Americans for- 

 estry is a new thing. It is safe to say that one-third or the population 

 has never heard of forestry, and one-half of those who are acquainted 

 with the term have vague, misconceived ideas or no ideas at all. They 

 do not dream tliat it bears directly upon them, that it affects he cities 

 as well as the woodlands. President Roosevelt declares that the primary 

 object of our forest policy is the making of prosperous homes, not only 

 starting them prosperously, but Iceeping them prosperous. He. has termed 

 the forest problem in many ways the most vital of the United States. 

 In discussing it he gave utterance as follows: "Public opinion through- 

 out the United States has moved steadily toward a just appreciation of 

 the value of forests, whether planted or of natural growth. The great 

 part played by them in the creation and maintenance of the national 

 wealth is now more fully realized than ever before. 



"Wise forest protection does not mean the withdrawal of forest re- 

 sources, whether of wood, water or grass, from contributing their share 

 to the welfare of the people, but, on the contrary, gives the assurance of 



