BIOGRAPHICAL 43 



the forests. In one of his addresses on the subject he 

 said: 



If there had been only the sentimental and poetic side of the 

 question, it would still have been worthy of our earnest consider- 

 ation. But in forestry there is beauty and utility combined. 

 The poet and the painter may rejoice in the contemplation of 

 the woods. The young may revel in the inspiration of its pro- 

 tecting shade. But the fanner, 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. 



He stoutly held that the forests are reserved for the 

 use of man and not reserved from his use. No doubt the 

 sentimental reasons for not cutting a tree have done much 

 to hurt the progress of forestry legislation. 



The cultivation of trees on a large scale and covering 

 long periods of time for which the life of an individual 

 would be inadequate, is what the Major had in mind when 

 he worked for the passage of laws looking towards the 

 establishment of forest reserves. In this service for the 

 government it has been well said by that great lover of 

 the out-of-doors, Theodore Roosevelt: 



I wish to say one word about your congressman, Mr. Lacey, at 

 whose request I stopped here. In public life generally we are 

 not apt to find the man whose interests go to the whole country, 

 as well as for those who have his fate in their hands, and I wish 

 to congratulate this district in having in the American congress 

 a man who spends his best efforts for the welfare of the whole 

 United States. Now, gentlemen, I never say before a man what 

 I would not say behind him, or vice versa, and I do not speak 

 hyperbolically. When there is a matter I feel is of real and 

 serious consequence to the nation as a whole, I can ask Mr. Lacey 

 to come to me, or I can go to him, with the absolute certainty that 

 he will approach it simply from the standpoint of public service. 

 He wishes to do well his duty by the public and in his eye the 

 fact that the work is worth doing, is a sufficient reward, and I re- 

 gard this as high praise for any man in public life. 



