.\ 



Canadian 



Vol. IX. Ottawa, Canada, November, 1913. No. 11 



TABLE OF CONTENTS : Pafte 169. 



THE FIELD OF WORK. 



The following opinions are selected 

 because they seem to signify where 

 the work of the Canadian Forestry 

 Association lies. Some people tell us 

 that the public is enthusiastically and 

 overwhelmingly behind us and that 

 all that is necessary is to bring that 

 public opinion to bear to make govern- 

 ments and corporations do right. 

 The indications are that we have 

 with us a respectable and growing 

 body of pubhc opinion but that the 

 great bulk of the people do not know 

 anything at all about the need of 

 conserving our forests and consequent- 

 ly do not care. It is not a case of 

 hostility but of lack of knowledge. 



The great work, therefore, of the 

 Association must be publicity and 

 education. The writers of some of 

 the above letters would have these 

 ends secured by making the Asso- 

 ciation a government department and 

 providing it with ample funds from 

 the public purse. It would be easier 

 on the officers of the Association to 

 get their funds in a lump grant than 

 to collect them in the form of one 

 dollar bills for membership fees from 

 Atlantic to the Pacific. Some of the 

 letter writers below think the Asso- 

 ciation is of precious little use (and 

 their candor is valuable in keeping 

 us humble and active) but the best 

 friends of the Association agree that 

 it would be of no use at all if it were 

 a government department. Govern- 

 ment departments exist to carry out 

 the orders of departmental heads; 

 independent associations exist to let 

 heads of departments know how the 

 people view their policy and their 

 administration. In that way an 

 association performs a real service 



which is appreciated and respected 

 by the elected rulers of the country. 



The Association has never adopted 

 the attitude of being perpetually 

 'agin the government' because it 

 has always found governments open 

 to argument and ready to advance as 

 fast as the people. 



In order to perform this function 

 toward governments an association 

 must get the people to express their 

 opinion and no one can express an 

 opinion on a subject he knows 

 nothing about. So we come back to 

 the point that the chief work of the 

 Association is education. There is an 

 immense field before it. It is hamp- 

 ered by conditions. It spends half 

 its time in collecting funds to enable 

 it to spend the other half in propa- 

 ganda work. It fails to collect enough 

 and so it must do its work badly in 

 comparison with what ought to be 

 done. Still it works on lines strictly 

 in harmony with our British and 

 Canadian institutions, and it is per- 

 forming a work which no other body, 

 governmental or private, is perform- 

 ing to-day. 



The greatest obstacle to the saving 

 and utilization of our forests for the 

 good of the whole community is the 

 lack of knowleelge of the people that 

 the forests need saving, or, indeed, 

 ar(j worth saving. We need therefore 

 to rally to the cause leading men and 

 institutions in every community not 

 primarily to strengthen the Asso- 

 ciation but to show their neighbors 

 that forest conservation is not a fad. 



Some Opinions. 



From an Insurance Manager. 



'Enclosed find the writer's cheque for 

 $3.(X). The matter has been entirely over- 

 looked and I am pleased that you have this 

 tactfully and pointedly called my attention 

 to my remissness. While I have overlooked 



161 



