PUBLIC PARKS OP IOWA 35 



PRESERVE THE TREES 

 By John F. Lacey, Congressman. 



Now I only speak about this, my friends, because it is a kindred 

 question. It is one of the things that grows out of the agitation of 

 forestry. A man or woman who preserves a tree in a practical way 

 will preserve the things which that tree shelters and produces and 

 that are useful to man. Again, I wish you God-speed, and I hope 

 you will carry with you to every part of the United States the en- 

 thusiasm which you will generate here the enthusiasm which you 

 will convey to one another and that you will be a mighty band of 

 missionaries all the way from Portland, Maine, to Portland, Oregon. 

 "Lacey Memorial Volume," p. 97. 



The United States government tardily recognized the necessity of 

 preserving as public property some of the great wonders of nature. 

 The Yellowstone National Park was the first one of these reserva- 

 tions thus set apart as a national resort. Since then the public lands 

 around the Yosemite have been embraced in a national park. Efforts 

 are being made to save the big trees of California from the saw of 

 the lumberman. Mt. Ranier has become a park and its natural 

 scenery preserved from mutilation. "Lacey Memorial Volume," 

 p. 207. 



Forestry has found some difficulty in attracting attention, be- 

 cause of the assumption that the subject is purely one of sentiment. 

 It is true that sentiment does attach to the preservation of our 

 forests. But the subject is in the highest degree one of practical 

 utility. It is commonly true that there is an esthetic side to all prac- 

 tical and useful subjects. The poet and the painter may rejoice in 

 the contemplation of the woods. But the farmer, the miller, the 

 boatman, and the lumberman may now combine to preserve as well 

 as to enjoy the beneficial uses of this great element of our national 

 wealth. 



A vigorous and healthy forest is the height of nature's adorn- 

 ment. We have always been sensible to its beauty ; we are now 

 deeply concerned in its utility. The forests have always been mod- 

 est in their requirements. All they have asked for has been stand- 

 ing room. Give them but place and they will do their work pa- 

 tiently. Their long arms have reached out for ages and gathered 

 from the air the elements of growth, which they have added to the 

 soil. "Lacey Memorial Volume," p. 88. 



