REFLECTIONS 475 



practice at the same time, yet stuck to the line that was habitual and 

 familiar. True enough, though, as time has passed, I have gone part 

 way in that direction, for about 12 years ago I began to buy growing 

 timber lands in my own State with my savings ; I have kept on with it, 

 and expect to go further in that region or some other. In its manage- 

 ment I use as good forestry as circumstances will allow ; also I am 

 satisfied with it as property. 



I repeat the question : Why shouldn't the forestry profession have 

 done this sort of thing on a far larger scale than it has, putting into 

 effect forcsighted, and at the same time, sensible and paying methods 

 of management, such as some men without special training are actually 

 employing? Why should not Mr. Pinchot with his great wealth have 

 shown the country how to do this ? Why should not our forest schools 

 have turned out hundreds of men equipped and full of relish for such 

 business ? There have been ample fields for it in the country and are 

 to-day. A very promising one, unless I am mistaken, is the naval 

 stores producing region in and around south Georgia. Mr. Olmsted 

 was down there years before I was. Why didn't he see it, and act, or 

 promote action, accordingly? 



Absorption in this other line is one evident reason; also, as it often 

 seems to me, the strong slant which the profession early got from 

 Europe. But how about this other thing, too, full confidence in our 

 own grasp of facts, and ability to act on them after the ready methods 

 of ordinary business? 



Business — I like the term myself, for what it means by derivation 

 and for many associations I have with actual business. I have noted 

 this, too, that it has been handled rather freely in the report which 

 forms the subject of consideration this evening. 



Knowledge that one is willing to bank on, nerve to go ahead on the 

 basis of that knowledge, sturdy fiber that enables a man to take the 

 knocks that come, settle the questions that arise, and stay in his place 

 till the enterprise is finished — that is my own conception of what busi- 

 ness means fundamentally, and for one, if I have little of them myself, 

 I thank God for those qualities in men that enable them to do business. 

 In some ways it is a lot easier to regulate other people's business than 

 to carry on your own. The former class of activity may indeed be 

 largely necessary in our country as time passes, but I am inclined to 

 think that it will be carried on best not by men who make a profession 

 of it, but by those who have themselves been through the mill of 

 business. 



