For September, I'>23 



227 



crops, instead of giving" mni>tiire they in turn take the 

 moisture somewhere else. 



So I feel that the protection of forests and the replac- 

 ing" of forests on the denuded lands of this state or of 

 any other state is of intense interest to you because of the 

 water moisture supply which those forests will guarantee 

 not onl\' to the inin"iediate work in which you are inter- 

 ested, but very largely to the insurance of a constant 

 moisture supply for those who come after you. 



I need not mention to you from the economic stand- 

 point of timber supply the value of forests. It affects 

 you not only as gardeners but as individual citizens of 

 these United States, and if you haven't considered this 

 proposition as to where and how you are tied up to the 

 forests because of your demand for wood, I only ask you 

 to read any of the bulletins which you can get upon re- 

 quest bearing uixin the subject, and many of them are 

 brief. Get in touch with ytiur rnvn state forester and see 

 what the situation is in your own state. 



Just let me give you briefly the situation in Pennsyl- 

 vania. There is not enough timber cut and harvested in 

 the. State of Pennsylvania, all over this state, made up of 

 twenty-eight million acres or more, to supply the lumber 

 needs of Pittsburgh and its immediate surroundings, and 

 some time ago in connection with a meeting which we had 

 in Harrisburg of timber users and others, the proposi- 

 tion was worked out so that ex-Governor Sproul mig"ht 

 make an eiifective appeal to the timber users to get their 

 support for the protection of forests, and this is the amaz- 

 ing fact that we found and e.x-Governor Sproul was able 

 to make this expression : 



"There is not enough timber raised in the State of 

 Pennsylvania — I mean cut and harvested in the State of 

 Pennsylvania, to furnish rough boxes for the people that 

 die in this state annually.'" 



Now that very same condition of affairs exists m some 

 of the states and practically all of the states from which 

 you come, and it is not simply a situation in these ea.stern 

 states and in the central western states and in the south- 

 ern states, it is getting to be a condition even in the west- 



ern states where practically the majoritv of our timber 

 supply now is. 



Now just l)riefly from the standpoint of forest protec- 

 tion. First, there are a great many people who can't see 

 the economic value in beautiful things, and that seems to 

 be the thing that the people on the other side of tne pond 

 throw at the American people quite frequently, ttiat we 

 are a bunch of money grabbers and we can't see the 

 a?sthetic side of things. Thank God we are getting past 

 that stage in .\merica, and it is your association and asso- 

 ciations like yours that are helping the .\merican people 

 to see something more than simply dollars and cents. 

 ^^'e are looking out into the open and seeing the beautiful 

 things of life, and we are willing to spend our life and our 

 ettort in making the scenery and the country surrounding 

 our homes and our particular work more beautiful. 



Why' For the fellow who happens to own the land? 

 So? Outside of a little home that I own in Harrisburg 

 I don't own a foot of land in Pennsylvania, but there 

 isn't a man in Pennsylvania who gets more pleasure out 

 of the beautiful things that other people have than I do 

 and 1 don't envy them a bit; and that is so with you as 

 gardeners, and you are working not simply for the man 

 who has the land and money to pay you, but you are 

 working for the pleasure of everybodv who comes in 

 contact with the beautiful things that you are doing. 



And so from the standpoint of forest protection, I ask 

 you if you want, to go into God's outdoors to recuperate, 

 for recreation, to recreate your physical body and your 

 mental body and your spiritual soul. You would not in 

 (iod's country pick out a burned over forest area because 

 it is not beautiful, and so you don't want anybody else to 

 go into that kind of country and you don't want to see 

 that kind of country. Neither do L But this Spring in 

 the State of Pennsylvania there were almost three hun- 

 dred thousand acres of forest land made desolate by 

 forest fires, three hundred thousand acres ! In some of 

 >'our states that area has been increased, I mean, there 

 were more acres than that burned over. In certain areas 

 nf certain states there were less than that. 

 {C'~iiitinitcd oil t^ii^^c 2-K) ) 



L>on. >e\»i<kle\. !'a.. iluiinii llie liiiu- ol it^ i iiiiveiillon. lieltl in Pilt-lturgh. AufiU.-t 14-17. 



