6 



Canadian Forestry Journal, January 1913. 



of the United States Forest Service 

 on the need of trained men in for- 

 est conservation. The conclusion of 

 the first paper was that for many- 

 reasons the federal government was 

 better fitted to do forest work than 

 the states, and this was also indirect- 

 ly the conclusion of the second 

 paper. It was pointed out that a 

 forest was of such slow growth that 

 working plans must be made look- 

 ing for almost a century ahead. 

 These plans had to take in the whole 

 country, and in many cases they 

 would result in the spending of mil- 

 lions of dollars spread over a long 

 period of years before the cash re- 

 turns from a particular tract began 

 to come in. The federal government 

 with its large revenues and its pow- 

 er to employ the best men in the na- 

 tion was much better fitted to sys- 

 tematically manage the forests than 

 a state legislature which was often 

 in such desperate need of funds that 

 instead of allowing a forest to grow 

 till fit to be harvested, would be 

 constantly pressed to sacrifice this 

 asset for whatever it would bring in 

 the immediate present. It was im- 

 possible that twenty struggling 

 states could secure and hold twenty 

 staffs of forest engineers for the 

 general direction of the work who 

 would be anything like as compet- 

 ent as the staff which could be se- 

 cured by the national government 

 to do this same work for the whole 

 nation. 



Interesting the Politicians. 



In the evening there was a 

 * smoker' at a leading restaurant 

 given by the local members of the 

 American Forestry Association to 

 which the delegates and their 

 friends were invited. The advant- 

 ages possessed by such a non-govern- 

 mental and non-partizan organiza- 

 tion such as the American Forestry 

 Association (or the Canadian For- 

 estry Association) were shown in 

 the fact that administrators, lum- 

 bermen, foresters and representa- 



tives of both political parties met 

 here on common ground and deliv- 

 ered their views. Among those who 

 spoke were Mr. Henry S. Graves, 

 United States forester; Mr. Chas. 

 Lathrop Pack, President of the Na- 

 tional Conservation Congress; sen- 

 ators and congressmen both Repub- 

 lican and Democrat. Mr. E. A. 

 Sterling, forest engineer of Philadel- 

 phia, well known in Canada, was 

 the chairman of the evening. While 

 all the views expressed were not en- 

 thusiastically in line with the aims 

 of the American Forestry Associa- 

 tion, yet a surprisingly large major- 

 ity were, and the minority speakers 

 represented points of view which 

 conservationists must take into con- 

 sideration in making up their pro- 

 gram. 



Three Active Organizations. 



One matter of importance brought 

 out at this annual meeting was that 

 in the United States three active or- 

 ganizations are now co-operating in 

 conservation work. These are the 

 National Conservation Congress, 

 which devotes its whole energy to 

 carrying out a four days' congress 

 each year in some leading city of 

 the United States ; the National Con- 

 servation Association (of which Mr. 

 Gifford Pinchot is President), which 

 devotes its attention to national leg- 

 islation ; and the American Forestry 

 Association, which lays its chief 

 stress on propaganda by means of 

 literature, and which is in a sense 

 the mouthpiece of the other two. 

 Canadians have not a little to leam 

 from the enthusiasm and spirit of 

 sacrifice with which the members of 

 these organizations approach their 

 self-imposed tasks. 



Before leaving for home again at 

 noon the following day the Secre- 

 tary visited the offices of the United 

 States Forest Service and of the 

 American Forestry Association gath" 

 ering information for his work, 

 which it is believed will bear fruit 

 in the present year. 



