262 North American Forests and Forestry 



cheerful omen. That Democracy can repulse for- 

 eign aggression and even aggressively exert its 

 masterfulness, we know. That it is able to cope 

 with problems which arouse the depths of all men's 

 emotions and bring to white heat the fire of patriotic 

 and moral fervor, the solving of the slavery ques- 

 tion has taught us. But this question of forestry 

 cannot be solved by sudden bursts of enthusiasm, 

 and does not appeal to man's emotional nature. It 

 must be solved by seventy millions of men and 

 women, each of whom has his own particular in- 

 terests to make him indifferent to what concerns 

 him little individually. This must be done by sim- 

 ple, cold-blooded, calculating reason, in the face of 

 all the opposition which can be generated by habits 

 contracted during seven generations, conflicting in- 

 terests of private parties, and the dead-weight of 

 unreasoning conservatism. If Democracy is able 

 to perform such a feat as this, it need not shrink 

 from the more exciting tasks which the future may 

 have in store for it. 



It looks as if American Democracy were going 

 to perform the feat. Let every lover of his country 

 do his part in the work. 



