EDITORIAL COMMENT 317 



the leaders of the organization remain true friends of forestry and are 

 imbued with the old spirit of public service. We are willing even that 

 there should be no professional foresters among the directors of the 

 board, but we must insist that those who assume to speak for the 

 Association in the name of the public and of the cause of forestry in 

 this country, no matter whether they are lumbermen, presidents of 

 universities, or plain business men, should be unselfish people of whose 

 devotion to forestry there can be no doubt. 



Editors. 



After the Meeting of the A. F. A. — Ruminations of a Forester 



In a quiet spot amid the forests a famous forester lies buried. His 

 graveyard is marked out by oak trees. With due reverence this spot 

 has been visited during the past century by those who have chosen a 

 life of unselfish service. The desire for wealth has been set aside for 

 the joy of studying nature and protecting her treasures for the use of 

 present and future generations. 



What would the shades of these foresters of the past have felt 

 had they witnessed in the flesh the debacle of February 25, when the 

 steam roller of gathered "members" outvoted a few faithful supporters 

 of National Forestry. The confidence of the minority was only in- 

 creased by the completeness of their defeat. What a spectacle to see 

 men with a quarter century of public service outvoted by mere slips 

 of girls impatient to be gone to their work or pleasure. How many of 

 them knew the meaning of American forestry? Had they ever seen 

 a commercial forest? They had been asked to vote and they voted — 

 perhaps a little wearied of hearing discussions of life directorships — 

 but committed to the faithful support of that great patron of generosity 

 and of publicity— CHARLES LATHROP PACK! whose name is 

 certain to go down in forest history. "What do foresters know of the 

 art of publicity," he said after sternly shouting a tribute to his Secretary 

 paid at the rate of a cabinet minister from the cofifers of the American 

 Forestry Association. What would the sixteen thousand members 

 have decided had they not been denied a referendum vote? We shall 

 never know. 



In the American Forestry Association the spirit of Fernow and 

 Pinchot has died. The true force of that Association, dormant for a 

 decade, has died. From now on it will be like a battery firing blank 



