ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 75 



tions, is the greatest step in the right direction that has 

 thus far been taken. 



We must give up some part of our country to nature in 

 order to keep the remainder for ourselves. The policy 

 of most of the old states in regard to timber has been 

 well summed up in six words: "To get rid of the tim- 

 ber." 



With wood used for nearly every purpose from tooth- 

 picks and matches up to great grain elevators and ship 

 masts, the proper and reasonable requirements for man's 

 necessities and luxuries involve great and constant en- 

 croachment upon our forests. The old back-log of our 

 forefathers has given place to the terra cotta gas-log of 

 a new generation. 



With barbed wire for fencing, and the decrease of 

 wooden houses in the larger towns and cities, the over- 

 worked forests ought to have some rest. But the in- 

 crease in population and the wear and tear upon old 

 buildings make such calls for timber that, of necessity, 

 a great drain upon the old forests continues. 



Our fathers cut down beautiful black walnut trees for 

 rails, and our own generation has pulled up the old 

 stumps of the same trees for furniture making. 



The peasants of France during the Revolution, it is 

 said, would cut down two trees to make a pair of wooden 

 shoes. Mark Twain, a few years ago while in Paris, 

 promised to send as a wedding present to a friend the 

 rarest and most expensive thing he could obtain in that 

 city, and selected two small logs of firewood for that pur- 

 pose, and, tying them together with red, white, and blue 

 ribbon, laid them among the bric-a-brac at the wedding 

 reception. 



We ask ourselves what remedy we should adopt in 

 America. This is more easily asked than answered. To 

 call the attention of the people to the mistakes of the past 



