310 Forestry Quarterly. 



''Concerning the attempt to utilize the results of this conference in 

 support of certain measures in Congress, nothing need be said here. Such 

 arguments were fair enough, to the extent of their real bearing, but they 

 could not be conclusive as to questions involving grave considerations 

 of constitutional power or political wisdom. It is not enough, under our 

 institutions, to prove that a thing is a good thing and ought to be done, in 

 order to establish the proposition that it should be done in a hurry, or in 

 a certain way, or by doubtful means. * * * 



"Much of recent eloquence concerning the conservation of resources is 

 merely the revival of what engineers have been saying for a generation, 

 and their experience qualifies them to measure actual conditions and point 

 out actual perils with special authority. * * * 



"Another illustration is furnished by timber conservation. Until within 

 a few years the practice of forestry in our Eastern States by owners of 

 small tracts and limited capital was impossible, because timber-land which 

 was not within, say, five years of being ready for the axe would not 

 command a greater price than cleared land. * * Legislation would not 

 have altered the situation ; but something else has altered it — namely, 

 the gradual increase in the market-value of the timber, and the corres- 

 ponding perception of its value when only half-grown. Before long a tree- 

 planted area in this country will advance year by year in cash value, in 

 proportion to the money that has been spent upon it, and the condition 

 of its growing crop. This will make forestry possible, and we shall 

 have no more cause to fear the exhaustion of lumber than of corn. 

 Meanwhile, with regard to our forest resources, even more than as to 

 our mineral resources, it is waste rather than use that needs to be pre- 

 vented ; and the simple, adequate remedies are the pressure of economic 

 conditions and the diffusion of knowledge. * * * 



"In my judgment, the progressive education of the people and the steady 

 pressure of economic conditions will effect this result, as a general rule, 

 better than any legislation can do it." 



In pointing out the dangers of legislative conservation the 

 speaker does so under six heads, namely, Hasty Legislation ; De- 

 struction of Individual Responsibility and Initiative ; Tend- 

 ency of Governmental Agencies to Seek Additional Power; Ex- 

 pense of Governmental Agencies and Regulations ; Interference of 

 Governmental Agencies with Private Occupations ; Half-way 

 Adoption of European Methods. The results of hasty legislation 

 are most fully exemplified. Although the story is quite familiar to 

 our readers, we may yet repeat it in the words of Dr. Raymond — 

 the story of misguided forestry legislation in the State of New 

 York. 



"The first peril to be named is that of hasty and ill-considered action, 

 taken under the influence of an ignorant though well-meaning public senti- 

 ment, roused or guided, in too many instances, by selfish interests. 



"The history of forestry in the State of New York furnishes a striking 

 case in point. Sentimentalists who had gone no further in the knowledge 

 of the subject than 'Woodman, spare that tree!' and conceived of no more 

 effective reform than a universal observation by the public schools of 

 'Arbor-Day,' were persuaded in the name of 'Conservation' to carry into 

 our new Constitution, with a rush and whoop of victorious virtue, a pro- 

 vision absolutely prohibiting all cutting of timber — that is, any exercise 



