REMARKS ON STATE F0R1-;ST POLICY 171 



public association than by the State forester's office. The State forester 

 should be closely affiliated with the State forestry association and 

 should co-operate cordially with it. But it is better for many reasons 

 if he does not take too prominent a part in its activities. The forestry 

 association or its equivalent — and there are in the different States many 

 organizations that often make unnecessary a definite forestry associa- 

 tion — is in a better position than any other agency to exert a beneficial 

 influence on forestry legislation and to help to press or to retard bills 

 that are favored or opposed, as the case may be, by the State forester's 

 office. In certain phases of publicity or information service work the 

 forestry association, too, can exert a powerful influence and often reach 

 persons whom the State forester cannot. Further, in some States, the 

 forestry association can sometimes undertake definite lines of forest or 

 kindred work that need to be done, but which from lack of funds or 

 for other reasons do not fall within the scope of the State forester's 

 activities. The time when general propaganda was a necessity has 

 passed in certain regions of this country; elsewhere it still seems nec- 

 essary to continue to impart elementary truths. But it will be a long 

 while yet before the need ceases for a better understanding by the 

 general public of what forestry really seeks to accomplish and of how 

 forestry and conservation measures can best be promoted. This is 

 essentially the field of the State forestry association. Rightly carried 

 on, such an organization can do yeoman service in holding up the hands 

 of the workers in the profession. 



I do not need here to enter into that other phase of the question — 

 the moral support that a properly run State forestry association can 

 give to a State forester who is hampered in his work by self-seeking 

 political opposition. One has only to recall the cases in recent years 

 of two New England States, where in the one instance the situation 

 was saved because of the help of the forestry association ; in the other 

 where it was lost, because although public opinion throughout the State 

 was probably in the State forester's favor it was not properly organized 

 and hence was ineffective. 



The whole point in this relation between the forester and the forestry 

 association in a State is that to obtain the best results for all concerned, 

 and with especial regard to the ultimate best interests of all the people, 

 it is highly desirable that the co-operation between the forester and the 

 association be close and cordial. A good approach is complete mutual 

 understanding. On the part of the forester, how can this be better 

 accomplished than through a clear and comprehensive statement of 

 policy ? 



