REFLECTIONS OF A DIRECTOR 289 



On January 1, 1895, John Gifford brought out the first number of 

 the Forester, a bi-monthly, which on January 1, 1898, the Association 

 took as its official publication. Three years later H. M. Suter, by 

 arrangement with the Association took the . magazine, which he then 

 combined as the official organ of the Forestry and of the National Irri- 

 gation Associations, changing its name to Forestry and Irrigation. The 

 Irrigation Association pulled out of this arrangement in 1904, but the 

 name and arrangement continued until January, 1907, when the For- 

 estry Association took control of the magazine, with Thomas E. Will 

 as Secretary. In January, 1909, Edwin A. Start succeeded Mr. Will 

 as Secretary, a post which he held until August, 1911, when he resigned 

 and in October, 1911. Percival Sheldon Ridsdale was appointed by the 

 Board as Secretary, the position which he now holds. 



Under Mr. Will, the magazine again changed its name to Conserva- 

 tion, but in 1910 adopted the title American Forestry, and the Associa- 

 tion adopted the definite policy of sticking to forestry as its main issue. 

 The directors' report stated : "In the sudden development of the con- 

 servation movement, this Association was for a time involved in the 

 general haziness as to ultimate objects, and the extent and importance 

 of the work that brought it into being was temporarily lost sight of." 



During the period 1907 to 1910, inclusive, when the Association was 

 vacillating as to its policy and purposes, a serious loss of initiative 

 occurred, accompanied by financial difficulties which threatened to end 

 its activities once for all. The gross debt of the Association on January 

 1, 1911, was approximately $10,000, offset by $6,162 bonds (purchase 

 value). The Secretary seemed powerless to make headway against 

 this condition. A practically new Board of Directors was elected in 

 1911, through the activity of the nominating committee composed of 

 Philip Ayres, J. W. Toumey, and F. W. Rane. 



On this board elected at that time were the names of Governor Bass 

 of New Hampshire, H. H. Chapman, Curtis Guild, Austin Hawes, 

 Chester Lyman, Charles Lathrop Pack (first elected a director in 1910), 

 Charles F. Quincy of New York, and E. A. Sterling. 



The foresters, Hawes, Sterling, and Chapman, became immediately 

 active in encouraging Governor Guild to stay by the sinking ship. The 

 immediate problem was financial reorganization, without which, it 

 had been demonstrated, the Association could not continue. This 

 involved raising revenue to cancel indebtedness, extending membership, 

 and building up the circulation of the magazine to a point where the 

 income would meet the ordinary expenses of carrying the Association. 

 In this aspect, of making a financial and business success of the enter- 

 prise, Charles F. Quincy at once interested himself profoundly and 

 has from that time been heart and soul in the work, which has for him 



