286 JOURNAL OF rORF.STRY 



endeavor to use its influence toward enactment and enforcement of 

 better laws." 



In 1900 Edwin A. Bowers, then its Secretary, said, "The present 

 National reservation system (National Forests) is the work of this 

 Association." 



In H))!, largely through its President, Curtis Guild, and its activities, 

 the final passage of the Weeks law for land purchases by the National 

 Government was achieved. 



On January 18, 1915, Henry S. Drinker, then President of the Asso- 

 ciation, in a public lecture delivered before the Engineering Section 

 of the student body of the University of Illinois, in his role as President 

 of the American Forestry Association, said : 



"And let us give recognition to the thought that conservation may 

 be overdone by the undue and unwise stimulation of such popular 

 demand for drastic control that we may dwarf the business develop- 

 ment of our present and coming generations by conserving resources 

 now urgently needed, only to set them aside for the needs of an indif- 

 ferent future when other agencies may have been found to take their 

 place. Do not be blinded or misled by the fears of the uninformed, or 

 by what is equally dangerous, the narrow view of the partially in- 

 formed, who fear industrial dangers they have never actually faced, 

 and preach a crusade against evils that are so theoretical that practical 

 men know them to be imaginary. 



"Today there is a serious difiference of opinion as above noted, in 

 these matters between the East and the West, or rather between those 

 particularly in sympathy with or supporting the National control of 

 reserved lands in the West on the one hand, and governing authorities 

 and citizens on the other hand, of some of the Western States. Our 

 western brethren urge that their several States should have as States 

 the same control o^^er their woods, mines, and waters as the Eastern 

 States enjoy. 



"// is not the part of the American Forestry Association to take part 

 in this contention. It is the duty of this body to teach and to urge the 

 economic use and conservation of our natural resources whether they 

 are located in Government, State, or private holdings, and not to become 

 involved as partisans in any position of antayonisjn in political dis- 

 cussions of this nature." 



On February 10, Dr. Drinker addressed a formal communication 

 to the Board of Directors of the American Forestry Association stating: 



"Government ownership of land in the Western States raises a very 

 serious cjuestion of policy and finance, and it is idle to say or argue 

 that the opposition to it throughout the West is negligible or futile. 



