SHpLTLD THE COMMITTEE REPORT BE APPROVED? 

 By Wiluam L. Hali, 





Frankly, I like neither the procedure that has been followed nor the 

 plan proposed. I shall vote "No" on the plan for the following reasons : 



That the situation now presented to tlie Society is large with oppor- 

 tunity is probably understood by every member. If the Society meets 

 the issue it must propose a program that will win public approval both 

 as to its aims and its methods. Its object must be clearly set out and 

 disengaged so far as possible from complicating features. Its methods 

 must accord with the country's best experience and precedents. 



The Committee, it seems to me, has not met these requirements. It 

 has not singled out and put in the center of the stage, with the limelight 

 full upon it, the important problem of keeping timber lands productive. 

 It has brought in the labor problem and the problem of public control 

 of the lumber industry and linked them all up together. The solution 

 of the forestry problem can only be retarded by the combination. Like- 

 wise in ihe methods proposed the Committee has not followed the line 

 of our most successful experience. Should the Society approve the 

 Committee's report it would become sponsor for a program that I be- 

 lieve has fatal weaknesses and that cannot stand the critical considera- 

 tion of the public and Congress. Let us examine particularly some of 

 the more important proposals. 



V/HERE THE PLAN FALLS DOWN 



In Proposing a Program of Antagonism. — The Committee proposes 

 to force a National solution for a problem inherently local and State. 

 The forestry problem, so far as it relates to private lands, is a local and 

 State problem just as truly as is the school problem or the road problem. 

 How unwise it would be to try to force either into Federal hands ! It 

 is just as unwise to try to force a Federal solution of the forestry 

 problem. Has not the Committee in reality proposed a program of 

 Federal and State antagonism? All the successful precedents are in 

 the direction of employing the authority of the States with the Federal 

 Government a powerful, stimulating, co-ordinating, and co-operating 

 agency. Consider public education, agricultural extension, control of 



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