A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 763 



terial resources, but holding the despoiler in check and turning aside 

 the march of civilization in the interest of the nature lover and of 

 nature herself, or in the interest of sport and enjoyment of life in the 

 open. A form of organization based on the idea that this is what 

 conservation means has sometimes had an unfortunate effect upon 

 forestry work, by placing it in association with activities of a different 

 purpose and in charge of men whose background, interests, and train- 

 ing do not well fit them to understand the problems of forestry. 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF STATE FORESTS IN PENNSYLVANIA 



In Pennsylvania, as in New York, a policy of State acquisition and 

 administration of forest land has from the outset held the most im- 

 portant place in its forest activities. Through the persistent mis- 

 sionary work on behalf of forestry which Dr. J. T. Rothrock had for 

 many years been doing all over the State, an excellent groundwork of 

 intelligent public interest had been laid before the forest policy was 

 inaugurated. Heartily supported by each successive Governor, Dr. 

 Rothrock as the first Commissioner of Forestry was able to bring 

 about rapid progress in the building up of a system of State forests, 

 the extension of which is still going on. The acquisition policy was 

 entered upon in 1897, through authorization of the purchase by a 

 commission of wild lands desirable for reservation by the State, if they 

 could be had without bidding above the amount of taxes due. Some- 

 what less than 2 years thereafter the State had acquired not quite 

 20,000 acres. Four years later the amount exceeded 500,000 acres. 

 Including lands in process of acquisition, it is now more than 1,600,000 

 acres. 



From the outset the management of these lands under forestry 

 principles for timber production was one of the primary objectives. 

 Although the law has never required that the chief of the department 

 be a trained forester, and although not until 1920 was the incumbent 

 actually a trained forester, the department has had remarkable sta- 

 bility and continuity of policy. The incumbencies of Dr. Rothrock 

 and his immediate successor, Robert F. Conklin, who had been with 

 the department from the inauguration of its work, covered together 

 a period of 25 years. 



Nevertheless, it would be unsafe to say that the Pennsylvania 

 Forestry Department (now the Pennsylvania Forest Service of the 

 Department of Forests and Waters) has been wholly divorced from 

 political influences, or that its stability can be regarded as too well 

 established to make the danger of an overthrow or disintegration of 

 the enterprise wholly negligible. There is only one State in the entire 

 country in which the head of the forestry work is given by law the 

 protection of a civil service standing, and only six in which the lower 

 officers are given this protection. Pennsylvania provides neither. 

 The successful management of valuable public resources requires 

 competent direction, continuity, loyalty, and all the other require- 

 ments for the successful conduct of a private business. Until the 

 States which have considerable forest properties recognize this and 

 set up adequate safeguards against political pressure upon or use of the 

 organization engaged in managing the properties, the forestry enter- 

 prises are exposed to unfortunate and unnecessary risks. 



