SOCIETY AFFAIRS 



To THE Members 



The great war is at an end and people all over the world have cele- 

 brated the old Teutonic festival of Christmas with added joy and inter- 

 est. The time of the shortest day, of long nights and darkness, is about 

 to give way to a period of the growing day, of more light and joy to all. 

 March storms are still ahead, but in the end spring and summer, with 

 flowers and harvest for all, will greet our race. 



Our foresters, like all other groups of good citizens, have earned for 

 themselves the thanks of the nation. 



They have not only proven, what was expected, that they were ready, 

 fearless, and capable physically and mentally, but they have repeated 

 the Old World experience, that foresters make the best of soldiers, fit 

 in mind and body, and fit by training and habit as well. Not only in 

 their own line of work, in the loth and 20th Engineers, but also in 

 regular engineering, in infantry, artillery, and in the Navy, they have 

 demonstrated that a forester's education and training make ready men 

 for many lines of work. 



The war has called for great sacrifice. Our small group of foresters, 

 too, had its share, and it is significant that the name of Augsburger 

 should head the roll, as published in American Forestry. 



But if the war has had its losses, it has also brought its gains. Of 

 great importance to forestry, several points seem to stand out con- 

 spicuously. 



Today wood is wood, as never before, and there is no longer any 

 question aljout it. With the experience of Great Britain,. her admission 

 that if France had neglected forestry as she has done, the war could 

 not have been fought to the end ; with her planting i)rogram of 60 

 million dollars, the importance of wood has come home to all people, in 

 Europe as well as here. That we in this country should add to this 

 experience and have to organize an army to exploit spruce and other 

 timber, in spite of the fact that our country cuts and uses over half 

 of all the saw timber cut and used in the world, this seemed inconceiv- 

 able. It is all fact now, and the sneer of the big politician who said 

 he was thankful that they had no forests in his State has prolxibly come 

 ofif for good. 



The second great lesson which came home to our people is that simple 

 fact, long known and well known, and yet never really believed nor 

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