REFLECTIONS OF A LIFE DIRECTOR 343 



not have occurred which led him to sanction the proceedings of Feb- 

 ruary 2o. 



Had the directors chosen for Hfe reposed greater confidence in the 

 common sense and good judgment of the members of the Association, 

 they would not have felt justified in consenting to take its direction 

 out of their hands. 



Had Mr. Pack realized that the few individuals, not over 25 in 

 number, who protested his rulings and asked for a referendum to the 

 members on February 25, really and in truth represented these mem- 

 bers, he would not have enjoyed his personal triumph, nor the con- 

 gratulations of his supporters after the meeting, with so keen a relish. 



The American Forestry Association belongs to no one man or group 

 of men, but to the members and to the public, who I am confident will 

 liberally finance it if and when they are assured that it is above the 

 suspicion of insincerity and hypocrisy. Which is best? For the 16.000 

 members to resign, or for the present officers to retire and restore the 

 control of the Association to its members? As for the property and 

 the endowment, the contract has I understand been carried out, and the 

 price paid. The Association I believe now owns the house at 121-1 

 Sixteenth Street, worth $45,000.^ Other funds are promised. It may 

 even be that sufficient money will be forthcoming to employ the field 

 agent so long talked of and never materializing "because, what if after 

 we raised the money to employ this man, the Association should be 

 captured by a bunch of radicals, and the agent be used to promulgate 

 the doctrines of Gififord Pinchot?" 



"What doth it profit an Association to gain the zvhole li'orld and lose 

 its own soul?" 



Back of the entire question of business control of the American 

 Forestry Association lies the real but intangible desire or object of 

 controlling the means of expressing public opinion. 



It will be of interest to the readers of the Journal of Forestry to 

 know that President Pack has had for several years a project of secur- 

 ing the printing of the Journal, by the American Forestry Association, 

 and of aiding liberally in its finances. After the meeting last January 

 this project, in the words of Mr. Pack, was postponed, "as the time 

 was not ripe." 



^ Later information is to the effect that this property is held presumably by 

 the Secretary and has not yet been donated to the Association. 



