290 JOURNAL OF FORESTRY 



no selfish or indirect object, but whose interest centers on this phase 

 of the problem to the comparative exclusion of the public duties and 

 policies of the Association. Chester Lyman has remained also as a 

 director, representing the International Paper Co., quiet, conservative 

 an excellent type of careful corporation director, but as with Quinc> 

 not fully awake to the public duty and responsibility of the Association 

 or also, of necessity, constrained by his business connections to consider 

 all acts of the Association in the light of their effect on his corporate 

 responsibilities. 



The organization (?f any association centers around the men who will 

 put the time and attention on its affairs, and through Mr. Quincy's 

 willingness to do this and his efforts to raise money, the meetings of 

 the directors came to be held in his office in New York, where Lyman, 

 Sterling, Chapman, and Pack constituted the working nucleus of atten- 

 dance at board meetings ; with Alfred Gaskill for a period covering his 

 directorship, and W. R. Brown of New Hampshire, occasionally in 

 attendance. The problem of running an association consists of getting 

 men so located and so constituted that they will and can attend board 

 meetings. Geographical representation gets nowhere. No director 

 has ever exercised a feather's weight of influence on this Association 

 unless he has attended these meetings. This means that the above- 

 mentioned directors slowly became the Association de facto and it 

 became increasingly difficult to "get new blood" on the board. The 

 Association, under its new Secretary, Ridsdale, was gaining ground 

 financially, its membership was increasing, and it didn't seem wise to 

 swap horses. A change was made in the by-laws by which instead of 

 all fifteen directors being up for election annually, only five would be 

 elected for three-year overlapping terms. When the five whose terms 

 expired would come up for re-election the Association usually put them 

 in again. The old constitutional form with its nominating committee 

 was retained until after J\Ir. Pack was elected as President in 1916. 

 Effort was made to improve the composition of the board from time to 

 time by dropping dead ones and trying out others. Mr. Greeley became 

 a member after the prejudice against having a Government officer on 

 the board was overcome. The theory was that the board should be 

 composed of foresters, lumbermen, and business men, so that it would 

 be well balanced and serve to further co-operation and progress, rep- 

 resenting the general public interests and not that of any class. This 

 sound basic plan broke down completely through the injection of ele- 

 ments not foreseen, which upset the balance of power and delivered the 

 Association root and branch into the hands of mercenary interests. 

 Had certain fundamental principles of healthy board government been 

 adhered to it should have worked out as a success, not merely from a 

 business standpoint, but from that of policy and public confidence as 

 well. For the immediate causes of this failure we must turn to the 

 financial policy. 



