THE TREE PLANTERS OF AMERICA 37 



PUBLIC OPINION 



Honorable George P. McLean, United States Senator from Con- 

 necticut, Chairman Committee on Forest Reservations 

 and the Protection of Game, Washington, D. C. 



I am in hearty sympathy with the purposes of the "Tree 

 Planters." The effort to renew our forests should be sustained 

 wherever possible. 



Honorable Robert L. Taylor, Member of Congress from Ten- 

 nessee, Washington, D. C. 



I am much taken with the proposal to organize the boys of 

 the country into "Tree Planters." It is a most fortunate thought 

 for there is nothing like a boy's enthusiasm when it is aroused, 

 and they will seize upon it and push it with avidity, and you will 

 have the basis of reforestation established almost before you know 

 it. I know something of this from some connection with boys' corn 

 clubs. It is remarkable with what enthusiasm and intelligence 

 they have seized upon this. 



I see but one difficulty, but there are ways to overcome that. 

 A boy likes to see things happen quickly, and a tree is a long time 

 coming, and so your plan must devise something that will interest 

 him as quickly as possible in its results. I suppose, however, that 

 note has been taken of all this. I most heartily commend it, and 

 expect to see it accomplish great good. 



Robert J. Thompson, American Consul at Hanover, Germany. 



I have read with interest the proposal of the League, looking 

 to the reforestation of the United States by organizing the boys 

 of the country in a national body or society to be known as the 

 "Tree Planters of America." 



I congratulate you on this timely movement, and especially 

 upon the practical plan outlined, and which includes, as a corollary 

 of the work of reforestation, the "Physical, moral and spiritual 

 uplifting of the American boy" and future generations. 



The trees of any land are a good insurance of its sound pros- 

 perity and of the solid character of its people. The moral influ- 

 ence of their presence is positive and unquestioned, while their 

 material value as the basic asset of a nation would be difficult to 

 overestimate. 



They certainly represent the least expensive crop insurance a 

 country may provide, as they retain in the earth the moisture of the 



