368 



II li T 1 (J U L T U B E 



April 19, 1919 



MASSACHUSETTS FORESTRY 

 ASSOCIATION 



The Massachusetts Forestry Associ- 

 ation is in hearty accord with the edi- 

 toral which appeared in the March 

 number of "American Forestry" the 

 official magazine of the American For- 

 estry Association. We believe that the 

 facts and arguments contained in this 

 editoral should be brought before the 

 people of the State in order that for- 

 estry in Massachusetts may not be re- 

 tarded through unwise legislation. 

 The Editorial follows: 



Reorganization in Massachusetts 



Forestry in Massachusetts is facing 

 the problem of reorganization. The 

 Constitution provides that all of the 

 State's activities, now numbering 

 some 110 departments, must be re- 

 organized into not more than 20. The 

 wisdom of such a provision is not a 

 subject of debate since the matter is 

 settled. It remains to determine what 

 will become of State forestry in the 

 scramble. 



The answer depends upon the at- 



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CHARLES H. TOTTY 



CHRYSANTHEMUMS 

 MADISON, IM. J. 



titude which the people of Massachu- 

 setts take toward State forestry and 

 their estimate of its relative impor- 

 tance in the general scheme of things. 

 First, is forestry of sufficient impor- 

 tance in the economic welfare of the 

 State to merit a separate organiza- 

 tion as one of twenty departments? 

 Second, if not, what combination will 

 give the best results for forestry and 

 for the public? 



The handicap under which forestry 

 as a public policy has suffered in this 

 country is a surprising lack of fore- 

 sight and comprehension of what it 

 means in the economic life of the aver- 

 age man. Prices of wood products go 

 up at a rate faster than that of other 

 commodities, and the public grumbles 

 and seeks for evidence of a lumber 

 trust, when the cause lies in the de- 

 nuded hills at their own doors and the 

 freight bills on Oregon fir. Hindsight 

 may be better than foresight. Many a 

 bankrupt can understand the causes 

 tor his failure after it happens. We 

 are steadily bankrupting our forest in- 

 dustries and riotously expending the 

 inheritance of nature, which we did 

 not produce Meanwhile there ap- 

 pears in our press such articles as 

 "Timber's Horn of Plenty," in the 

 Literary Digest, which lulls our senses 

 to sleep by remarkable perversions of 

 facts regarding the abundance of our 

 timber supplies. 



Three-fifths of the State's area un- 

 suited for agriculture, but capable of 

 producing 2,000,000,000 feet of timber 

 annually, and with manufacturing in- 

 dustries dependent for their continu- 

 ance on home-grown timber and a lum- 

 ber industry capable of employing per- 

 manently 30,000 men; with streams 

 furnishing water power of tremendous 

 value to her chief industries, and de- 

 pendent absolutely on stream regula- 

 tion through maintenance of forest 

 cover; with the scourge of the gypsy 

 and brown-tail moths and the white 

 pine blister rust calling for the united 

 efforts of all organized forces to pre- 

 vent the complete destruction of both 

 forest and shade trees, the State of 

 Massachusetts still hesitates whether 

 to put State forestry as one of her 20 

 departments. Yet this department is 

 now nineteenth in point of appropria- 

 tion and number of employees among 

 the 110 branches of the present govern- 

 ment. 



Perhaps it is because the work of 

 this department has scarcely begun, 

 and for lack of actual demonstration 

 of results, that the department is 

 looked upon as a minor branch of the 



State's activities. In other words, 

 foresight is to be eliminated in this 

 reorganization of Massachusetts State 

 Forestry, and the departments are to 

 be crystallized ill their present form. 



That is just the reason above all 

 others which demands a separate 

 organization for State forestry. It is 

 NOT established — the tremendous 

 need for rapid expansion is clear to all 

 who have true foresight. How is the 

 average citizen ever to be brought to 

 realize his need and to support the 

 economic program of reforestation, 

 fire protection and regulated timber 

 cutting unless the State Department 

 of Forestry is free to expand this edu- 

 cational work and its demonstrations 

 of practical results? And if one thing 

 has been clearly demonstrated in our 

 State governments, it is the fact that 

 when forestry departments are subor- 

 dinated as a minor branch of a large 

 organization, the scope of the forestry 

 work becomes limited to the ideas, not 

 of the forester, who comprehends the 

 situation, but to some game warden, 

 agricultural commissioner, or high- 

 way engineer, who provides first for 

 what he does comprehend and permits 

 forestry to gather the crumbs which 

 fall from his table. 



The future of State forestry in Mass- 

 achusetts is in the balance. Pennsyl- 

 vania's wonderful progress in forestry 

 followed a reorganization which cre- 

 ated the Department of Forestry as a 

 separate organization in 1901. Massa- 

 chusetts cannot afford to overlook the 

 task ahead, for there will come a time 

 when camouflage and evasion of eco- 

 nomic facts will no longer be accepted 

 by the citizens of the Commonwealth, 

 and they will ask, "Why are not these 

 things done, and what has the State 

 Forestry Department been doing to en- 

 lighten us and to protect our welfare?" 

 The answer will be: "In 1919 the citi- 

 zens of Massachusetts did not consider 

 the State Forestry Department of suffi- 

 cient importance to stand alone and 

 bear its own responsibility for success 

 or failure. You placed us under another 

 department, and we have been power- 

 less to grow to the measure of our 

 responsibilities. The fault rests on 

 your shoulders." 



These are the questions to be met 

 in the next few weeks by the great 

 and general court of Massachusetts, 

 which is trying to reach a wise solu- 

 tion of her problem. May we hope that 

 they will have foresight and place the 

 responsibility of the forestry program 

 squarely on the shoulders of a sepa- 

 rate Forestry Department. 



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