PURPOSES IN FORESTRY 231 



The waste that now confronts us is due less to incorrectness of 

 present general policies than to our haphazard prosecution of them. 

 The public will support the right measures if they are not beclouded 

 by secondary issues. The need of fire protection, for example, is 

 spectacular enough to draw to itself the necessary support without 

 recourse to side issues of educational value for forestry generally, 

 which, it is hoped, will awaken interest in fire protection — after the 

 snow has put the fires out. The way to stop fires is to urge fire pro- 

 tection, not something else. Furthermore, public support will not be 

 endangered by the exercise of more scruple in the expenditure of 

 public funds in many kinds of projects, such as control of insect and 

 fungus attacks. The projects should be worth while and the costs 

 commensurate with the value of the results. 



There is plenty to be done, if we can agree on details. 



