Live Stock Breeder's' Association. 127 



My report of 1906, covering my investigations of Missouri's 

 resources, contains this recommendation which received the ap- 

 proval of the United States Forester: "To devise and direct a 

 permanent policy along the lines suggested, the establishment of 

 a regular course in forestry at the University of Missouri is recom- 

 mended. The instructor in charge of this department should be 

 a technically trained forester who, besides his regular duties of 

 instruction, should have charge of the forestry work of the State. 

 It should be his duty to assist land owners in establishing planta- 

 tions, to aid timber owners in the conservative management of 

 their lands, to lecture at farmers' institutes and other public meet- 

 ings, and to publish and distribute reports concerning State forest 

 problems and their solution. During the summer months he could 

 conduct field work, employing his forestry students as assistants. 

 This same plan is now being successfully carried out in making a 

 soil survey of the State. It is believed that better results can be 

 secured in this way at first and at less expense than by the estab- 

 lishment of a salaried forest commission." 



The two years which have elapsed since that report, have 

 served to more firmly convince me of the wisdom of that recom- 

 mendation. Since education in forestry is now most needed to 

 prepare the people of your State for an impending timber famine, 

 where better can the start be made than at your State University? 

 Thousands of students pass its portals to take their place in the 

 progress of the nation. Each will become in some degree a leader 

 in his community and play no small part in the molding and direc- 

 tion of public sentiment. How important it becomes that these 

 men and women, whether farmers or physicians, lawyers or teach- 

 ers, should carry with them an adequate knowledge of the prin- 

 ciples of forestry, to be able in the impending crisis to choose the 

 true from the false, the practicable from the visionary, the sensi- 

 ble from the sentimental. 



Let the instructor be chosen because of his ability and knowl- 

 edge of his profession, untainted by political patronage. Give 

 him time and means to organize his department, conduct experi- 

 ments on the college lands, extend his investigations to the entire 

 State, devote a large share of attention to the aid of farmers and 

 timber owners, and in a very few years he will have laid the sure 

 foundations for a practicable and sane forest policy for the State — 

 quietly, systematically, and economically. 



