to the workmen, for transportation of the finished product is usually 

 much cheaper than that of the raw material. There is also the 

 decided gain in surroundings for the workmen. 



Aside from this, every city should have and maintain a city park 

 or forest, just as it maintains the fire department or the water supply 

 for the community. The value to the community cannot be estimated 

 in dollars and cents. Forests, besides the pleasure they bring to the 

 city bred, are well known as purifiers of the air. They absorb the 

 poisonous CO2 and give ofif Oxygen. There is no better place to 

 recover or to recuperate from an illness than in the woods. Any 

 doctor will agree to this statement, and many prescribe it regularly 

 to a great number of their patients, particularly in cases of nervous 

 disorders. It is in line with the general movement away from drugs 

 and medicines, and towards giving nature a chance under the most 

 favorable conditions. Thousands can testify, from personal ex- 

 perience, the actual physical benefit derived from a sojourn in the 

 woods. 



All sentiment aside, without our forests we would cease to have 

 fresh-water fish with a value for food of over 21 million dollars, and 

 game and fur-bearing animals valued at about the same figvtre. The 

 value of the forests of Maine, from this standpoint alone — that is, in 

 providing a resort and camping ground for the tourist and sports- 

 man — is known to be something over 11 million dollars annually. 

 In the face of these facts, can we presume to calculate the actual 

 financial value of forests for the whole of the country? 



But, besides all these coin-cold figures and statistics, what joy 

 would be lost to the fisherman and hunter if this, his chief source 

 of pltisure and enjoyment, were to be cut ofif ! And even for those 

 who do not fish or hunt, the aesthetic pleasure derived from merely 

 living in the forest cannot be duplicated or even paralleled. Every 

 sight, sound, and odor bring their message to pleasurable sensations 

 which cannot be found in any other surroundings. It is the home 

 and refuge for birds and wild life in general, and here we must 

 come if we wish to study and to know them. But then there are 

 many other movements on behalf of conservation with which those 

 promoting the conservation of our forests and the conservation of 

 our water powers must necessarily sympathize. 



Last, but by no means least, consider the value of the influence of 

 the forest and forest surroundings on the character and moral fiber 

 of the people. 



Men born and bred in the mountains— the forest regions from 

 antiquity — have always been healthy, brave and self-confident. From 

 the earliest times, it was the mountaineer who usually conquered, 

 largely because he was trained and accustomed to conquering— con- 

 quering nature, in the world-old and every-day battle with the ele- 



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