60 



in 1949 got another yen for an official trip abroad 

 to view European forestry, so 1 ; propositioned&quot; 

 Chief Lyle Watts. He promptly assigned me to head 

 the U.3. delegation to the Third \Vorld forestry 

 Congress to &quot;be held in Helsinki, Finland, in the 

 summer of 1949. 



Our delegation comprised foresters and some 

 forestry-minded lumbermen. When the Congress was 

 organized, a. Russian and I v;ere named co-presidents, 

 and since alphabetically the USA preceded the U33?i, 

 I v/as in effect the first co-president. Our duties 

 were minuscule, Hino Saari of Finland, the President 

 of the Congress, doing all the presiding and doing 

 it well and graciously. 



During the Congress we planted a commemorative 

 birch tree at the University of Helsinki, where the 

 Congress was held. The Russian co-president shoveled 

 in the dirt on one side of the tree, I on the other. 

 Some months later an American forester who stayed on 

 to spend a year in Helsinki wrote me that 

 my side of the tree was thriving but the Russian side 

 had withered! I fear this tale was aprocryphal! 



Preceding the sessions there were field trips 



