HARDWOOD RECORD 



31 



A luncheon at 1 o'clock on the first day of the 

 convention was another very enjoyable feature 

 of the meeting. A number of traffic men, lum- 

 bermen of national prominence and ex-presidents 

 of the Baltimore Lumber Exchange were pres- 

 ent. The luncheon was served at the Rennert. 



Attendants 



Harvey il. Dickson, the Dickson Lumber Com- 

 pany. Norfolk. Va. 



Fred Arm, .7. j\L Card Lumber Company, 

 Chattanooga. Tenn. 



Edward Uarber. Illingworth, Ingham & Co., 

 Ltd.. Cincinnati. Ohio. 



Richard W. I'rice, Price & Heald, Baltimore. 



John M. D. Heald. Price & Heald, Baltimore. 



.lohn L. Alcock, John L. Alcock & Co., Balti- 

 more. 



Chester F. Korn. the Farrin-Korn Lumber Com- 

 pany, Cincinnati, Ohio. 



W. H. Russc, Russe & Burgess, Inc., Memphis, 

 Tenn. 



George D. Burgess, Russe & Burgess, Inc., 

 Memphis, Tenn. 



George M. Spiegle, George M. Spiegle & Co. 

 Philadelphia, Pa. 



K. E. Wood, R. E. Wood Lumber Company 

 Baltimore. 



G. L. Wood, R. E. Wood Lumber Company 

 Baltimore. 



H. L. Bowman, R. E. Wood Lumber Company 

 Baltimore. 



M. S. Baer, Richard P. Baer & Co.. Baltimore 



Frank A. Parker, Mann & Parker, Baltimore 



W. O. Price. Baltimore. 



Holger A. Koppell, Baltimore. 



S. Menzies, James Kennedy & Co., Ltd., Cin 

 cinnati, Ohio. 



H. D. Billmeyer. BlUmeyer Lumber Company 

 Cumberland. Md. 



W. J. Eckman. JI. B. Farrin Lumber Company, 

 Cincinnati, Ohio. 



E. E. Goodlander, Goodlander-Robertson Lum 

 ber Company, Memphis, Tenn. 



F. F. Fee. Fee-Crayton Hardwood Lumber Com 

 pany, Little Rock, Ark. 



Maurice J. Dukes, R. A. & J. J. Williams Com 

 pany, Philadelphia, Pa. 



E. M. Terry, secretary. Baltimore. 



L. E. Palmer, assistant secretary of the N. L 

 E. A., New Orlean.s. 



The Dismissal of Vinchot 



Inasmuch as the following article from the 

 Philauelphia Xorth American so fully con- 

 curs with the previously expressed opinion of 

 the Eecord in regard to the loss which this 

 country has sustained through the ousting of 

 Gifford Pinchot from the position of head of 

 the United States Forestry Service, it is 

 I riuted in full: 



A man named Gifford Pinchot, a one-idead 

 fanatic, a lank, lean, long-legged American, 

 who happened to be born the heir of several 

 millions of dollars vsithout tendencies toward 

 the purchase of chorus girls and vintage 

 wines; who happened to be born with ideals 

 and a tendency toward concentration of his 

 abilities; who happened to be a big man, a 

 fanatical fighter at the crucial moment when 

 a nation, in its awkward age, needed 

 "scrappy" scions, has just been kicked out 

 cf his chance to do the work that he chose as 

 bis day 's work because it was the work that 

 he loved best. 



We have waited almost a full week to talk 

 about Gifford Pinchot and Taft. And the 

 reason of that delay has been because we 

 think that we know Pinchot and our Presi- 

 dent. 



Let us confess. Our comment has been 

 hesitant. Our conclusion is that neither the 

 President nor the chief forester could have 

 done otherwise than both have done, in view 

 of the happenings of the preceding months. 



We do no more than express the sentiment 

 of most of the miUions of the 80,000,000 of 

 Americans when we say that the enforced re- 

 tirement of Gifford Pinchot from the nation's 

 service means the infliction of a loss to this 

 country that would .be irreparable if we did 

 not know that the official retirement of Pin- 

 chot meant only that he had "just begun to 

 fight. ' ' 



Pinchot is not a personage nor a politician. 

 He is just an economic issue personified. He 

 has been "fired" from office — and properly 

 so. But he is the first man in America's 

 political historj- who has forced himself to 

 be "fired" from office in order to strengthen 

 a cause. Therefore, Mr. Pinchot, private cit- 

 izen, presents today an interesting study of 



citizenship as contrasted with other citizens 

 of officially higher rank. 



We are ready and willing to face with facts 

 and figures any citizen who would dare deny 

 that in the enforced retirement of Pinchot 

 from the public .service the country has sus- 

 tained a loss well-nigh irreparable. 



No one citizen of America, from Washing- 

 ton to Eoosevelt, fathered, fostered and dis- 

 seminated an idea fertile with such future 

 possibilities and fallow with such far-reach- 

 ing value to this nation as did Pinchot when 

 he preached and teached and nagged Roose- 

 velt into setting up as the highest, whitest 

 monument of the public life of Eoosevelt the 

 conservation of the national resources. 



Viewing things broadly, real Americans can 

 well afford to look into each other's eyes 

 and exchange "straight-flung words and 

 few," and, knowing that the wrong passes 

 but the right persists, talk to each other as 

 ' ' neither children nor gods, but men in a 

 world of men. ' ' 



Fools may think that Aldrich and Cannon 

 and Ballinger and Hitchcock are winners be- 

 cause Gifford Pinchot has been "fired." 

 Other near-sighted folk may wonder why the 

 North American does not promptly denounce 

 President Taft as a tool of the copper Gug- 

 genheims and Tom Lawson, because they are 

 the only ones who have indorsed unequivocally 

 the inchoate Taft trust program as outlined 

 in a tentative message. 



Here is our talk to those who regard Gif- 

 ford Pinchot as discredited: 



Daniel Boone and Simon Kenton, and Lewis 

 and Clarke, and Crockett and Bowie and 

 Houston were regarded as crazy, trouble- 

 stirring fanatics when they started out in 

 their empire-winning work for this nation. 

 They gave their lives to win. But they won. 

 They got no gain. But their country stands 

 strong among the world powers today because 

 of them. 



Aaron Burr was a cabinet officer in his 

 day. He never went into the wilderness. He 

 sailed smoothly down the Ohio and landed 

 at Blennerhasset 's island. He had imperial 

 dreams, too — an empire of privilege and an 



aristocracy of money. And his name today 

 is one that by right once was higher than 

 that of any Aldrieh or Ballinger, but today 

 is synonymous with that of "traitor" and 

 "dog"— a thing for every honest American 

 to spit upon, as when Arnold is mentioned. 



It is just a question of time in this coun- 

 try when the pioneers are properly honored 

 and the would-be betrayers properly con- 

 demned. Gift'ord Pinchot can well afford to 

 bide his time. And the time of the Ballingers 

 will come. 



It is the country that cannot afford to wait 

 too long. 



President Taft could have done nothing else 

 except dismiss Pinchot from his position as 

 chief forester. It was rank and deliberate 

 insurbordination when Mr. Pinchot wrote his 

 letter to Senator DoUiver, to be read in the 

 Senate, in direct disobedience of executive 

 instructions. It forced the hand of President 

 Taft. Pinchot knew what he was doing. And 

 President Taft knew what he was bound to do 

 in self-respieet and consonance with his official 

 dignity. 



And the fine thing for patriotic Americans 

 to consider is the way that Pinchot and Taft 

 have faced each other and fenced and fin- 

 ished, with politeness and respect for each 

 other's motives preserved, while respect for 

 each other's judgment long ago had disap- 

 peared. 



During the congressional investigation of 

 Mr. Ballinger we shall have many occasions 

 to explain the meaning and the causes there- 

 of, and just why the attempted monopoliza- 

 tion of Alaska by the Hill-Morgan-Harriman- 

 CTUggenheim-Standard Oil holders of illegal 

 claims afl'ects every citizen of New England, 

 Pennsylvania and the gulf states as person- 

 ally as it does the taxpayer of Seattle or Los 

 Angeles. 



For present understanding of the situation 

 ill Washington, it is enough to say that Pres- 

 ident Taft could not have done otherwise 

 than dismiss from the government service Mr. 

 Pinchot when he did, and that Mr. Pinchot 

 could not sanely have done other than what 

 he did, in view of his devotion to the cause 

 of conservation, of which he is the creator and 

 to which he has devoted his life and private 

 fortune. 



Pinchot simply has focused a fight and pre- 

 vented a diversion. The planned whitewash 

 of Ballinger and his allies conducted by com- 

 mittees packed by Cannon's caucus and Sher- 

 'man and Aldrich would have been made easy 

 by shifting all investigation toward discred- 

 iting Pinchot and the Forestry Department. 

 Pinchot forces his own disappearance. The 

 investigation henceforth must be full, fair 

 and clear or there will be an outcry from the 

 countrv'. 



Pinchot deliberately became insubordinate 

 toward the President, whose honorable intent 

 he still respects, but whom he believes de- 

 luded and misguided, simply because Pinchot 

 believes the cause to which he has devoted his 

 life of more importance to the nation than 



