HOW LUMBERMEN HAVE SERVED THE PUBLIC 289 



My purpose in this paper, whatever its effect may be, lias ndt 

 been destructive. I have, for one thing, for the economic forces in the 

 field claimed general soundness and utility. Second, I have advocated 

 opportunist, catch-as-catch-can forestry in the main as that which 

 seems to fit our circumstances and people, and the kind that, frankly 

 pursued, will yield most in the long run. I have also and especially 

 spoken for recognition and cultivation of the country's lumbermen 

 in the forestry movement — this in the first place because in the future 

 as in the past the interests of these men will oftentimes run parallel 

 with those of the people at large, a fact which should be understood 

 and utilized ; in the second because as that element among our people 

 most familiar with the problems to be met, as the men whose interests 

 are nearest and oftenest touched, and as containing among them a 

 due proportion of high-minded and trustworthy citizens, their support 

 and cooperation should be very serviceable for working out the 

 problems of the future. Let me in conclusion mention a few things 

 lumbermen have done that are, in fact, indicative of a cooperative 

 attitude and fruitful thinking. 



In May, 1907, the National Lumber Manufacturers-' Association 

 resolved in favor of a census of the timber resources of the country. 



In 1910 Mr. James D. Lacy, at a meeting of the same association, 

 suggested a world congress to consider the disposition of the world's 

 resources in timber. 



Lumber journals for the most part have strongly supported the 

 National Forest system. Mr. Leonard Bronson, editor of the Ameri- 

 can Lumberman, told me some months before he died how, at. the 

 critical time, with his owners absent, he risked his job by committing 

 that paper to the support of the system. 



Last year, Mr. E. H. Cox, of California, came out with strong 

 endorsement of the idea of extension of the National Forests through 

 exchange of timber for cut-over land. 



Tonight we have on our program a thoughtful and suggestive 

 paper by Mr. Goodman of Wisconsin, sweeping over the whole field 

 indicated by its title, "How to Make Our Forests Inexhaustible." 



Further than that, I say with entire confidence that while many 

 will be indifferent and some will watch merely to profit for them- 

 selves, still hundreds of right-minded, clear-thinking, trustworthy 

 men connected with the industry will be ready with their influence, 

 and their judgment too, to cooperate with measures that appeal to 

 them as sound, timely, and well-planned. 



