224 Forestry Quarterly. 



briefs on cubing timber on pp. 262-265, vol. II, of the Quarterly 

 should be re-read. 



Utopia is surely coming earlier than we had expected, if, be- 

 sides the North American Conservation Commission, the Inter- 

 national Conservation Commission should become a fact before 

 the display of Dreadnoughts may put a damper on the enthusi- 

 astic altruists who are engineering the movement. 



There is nothing in the declaration of principles issued by the 

 North American Conservation Commission to which a forester 

 will take exception, for, where forestry is practiced, these prin- 

 ciples have already been recognized and acted upon long ago. 



The one new and apparently practical proposition, namely, 

 the stocktaking of resources, if it is to be executed over the 

 whole world, strikes us as somewhat chimerical, and the diffi- 

 culties still for a long time insuperable. Even in such highly 

 civilized and organized countries as the United States and Can- 

 ada, this would be a tremendous undertaking, while in South 

 American Republics, Asia and Africa, it is hopeless. Moreover, 

 what would be the meaning of a statement of forest areas, even 

 if we were to approximate them more closely than we can with 

 present information? Even, if we could more closely state the 

 merchantable available supplies on hand, would we have grasped 

 what the resource itself means with reference to future supplies? 

 We do not want to discourage the undertaking but we do not re- 

 gard the proposition as easy, practicable, or likely to lead to 

 tangible results. 



The only value we see in the whole movement is that sluggish 

 democratic governments, which cannot be moved by reason, may 

 be moved by display of aroused popular interest to a realization 

 of their duty. 



It is interesting to note in the Principles the paternal note, the 

 absence of which once distinguished American policies from Ger- 

 man or French. 



Is true democracy, after all, going to be found in direct gov- 

 ernment activity for the good of the people? 



No doubt, at least the political difficulties have been recognized 

 by the Commission as may be learned from the wording of the 

 letter of the Canadian Commission accompanying a copy of the 

 Principles sent to people interested in the subject. 



