386 Presidential Addresses 



of this State stand alone in the world. There are 

 none others like them anywhere. There are no 

 other trees anywhere like the giant Sequoias; no 

 where else is there a more beautiful forest than that 

 which clothes the western slope of the Sierra. Very 

 early your forests attracted lumbermen from other 

 States, and by the course of timber land investments 

 some of the best o>f the big tree groves were threat 

 ened with destruction. Destruction came upon some 

 of them, but the women of California rose to the 

 emergency through the California Club, and later the 

 Sempervirens Club took vigorous action. But the 

 Calaveras grove is not yet safe, and there should be 

 no rest until that safety is secured, by the action of 

 private individuals, by the action of the State, by the 

 action of the Nation. The interest of California 

 in forest protection was shown even more effectively 

 by the purchase of the Big Basin Redwood Park, a 

 superb forest property the possession of which should 

 be a source of just pride to all citizens jealous of 

 California's good name. 



I appeal to you, as I say, to protect these mighty 

 trees, these wonderful monuments of beauty. I ap 

 peal to you to- protect them for the sake of their 

 beauty, but I also make the appeal just as strongly 

 on economic grounds; as I am well aware that in 

 dealing with such questions a farsighted economic 

 policy must be that to which alone in the long run 

 one can safely appeal. The interests of California 

 in forests depend directly of course upon the hand 

 ling of her wood and water supplies and the supply 



