202 ANNUAL EEPORT 



not obtain in this country, because of the economic anomaly existing 

 here of a scarcity of timber at a low price and a plethora of iron at a 

 high price. Does it not behoove the lovers of trees, and those who 

 are considerate of posterity, to do what they can to destroy such an 

 economic anomoly? 



England mines her coal from narrow seams deep in the bowels of 

 the earth; is compelled to import more ore than she mines, to enable 

 her to make the kind of iron and steel the world wants, and is 

 selling ties to Holland, Switzerland and Mexico, while the United 

 States goes on remorselessly devastating her forests, because the price 

 of her iron is too high to be substituted for wood! Instead of the 

 highest, we should have the lowest priced iron in the world. Then we 

 could not only have railroad ties of iron, but bridges, culverts, tele- 

 graph poles, cars and depots of the same material. We could have 

 iron wagon bridges and culverts; our homes might be shingled with 

 iron; our corn cribs and granaries built of iron; and these great 

 buildings which we see going up around us every day of massive brick 

 and stone walls, but great lumber yards for interiors, would be more 

 cheaply built, and infinitely more permanent and safe if iron were 

 used instead of wood. We should be living in a golden age of iron, 

 dominating and controlling the world's markets, instead of blindly ig- 

 noring the great wealth at our feet, and constantly looking up to es- 

 timate the market value of every noble tree our eyes light upon. 



Now, ladies and gentlemen of the Minnesota Horticultural Society, 

 let me say in conclusion, that this question is one that must not be 

 looked at from the standpoint of partisan prejudice, nor of past or 

 present predilections. It is a new question; it has a significance now 

 it did not have when forests were believed to be inexhaustible. The 

 relation of forests to mines has become so close that one cannot 

 be intelligently discussed or treated without considering the other. 

 As our duty to God and our children is above every other duty, so is 

 this question above party creed or party allegiance. 



I have presented these facts to you because you are the conservators 

 of the forestry interests of your section of country. My object is to 

 point you towards a means of protecting and preserving your ward, 

 which possibly may not have occurred to you. I trust you will see it 

 as I do; I hope you will not ignore the points I have made simply be- 

 cause they may seem Eutopian at the first glance, or impossible of 

 realization. I desire you to first ask yourselves if the points are right, 

 if they are reasonable; and if you decide them to be so, and do what 

 you can to so mold legislation that the desired end will be attained, 



