82 



Canadian Forestry Journal, Fcbruar]), 1919 



A YEAR OF PROPAGANDA 



The Canadian Forestry Association's Enterprises During 1918 

 Passed in Brief Review. 



Editor's Note: The follorving constitutes the report of the Directors of the Canadian 

 Forestry) Association regarding the nwr}( of the past \)ear. 



In the following report it will be seen that 

 whereas in 1917 many new ventures were en- 

 tered upon the extension of services in 1918 

 has been marked. There has been a constant 

 endeavor to hold the Association in the part of 

 practical utility, and as in previous years so in 

 1918 the bulk of effort has been given to the 

 promotion of forest fire prevention. While this 

 is no more than a rudiment of the forestry pro- 

 gramme to which the Association has been com- 

 mitted, it is of such importance as to justify our 

 maximum effort for many years to come. We 

 have been occupied durmg the past twelve 

 months with two main forms of propaganda, 

 direct campaigns with governments for changes 

 in laws or organization and educational work 

 directed towards those districts and classes of 

 population most requiring our services. After 

 some months of delay, owing to difficulties with 

 the Canadian Railway War Board, a railway 

 coach was loaned to the Association by the kind- 

 ness of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company 

 for the purpose of providing a travelling de- 

 monstration of the importance of modern forest 

 protection. The car was outfitted at Ottawa 

 about the end of August with models of lookout 

 towers, an aeroplane, forest telephones, a Mar- 

 coni wireless set, a miniature nursery, sets of 

 industrial exhibits, showing the process of paper 

 and other manufacture, and samples of Cana- 

 dian woods. This was supplemented by a large 

 quantity of educative literature in English and 

 French, as well as souvenirs reinforcing the fire 

 prevention idea. The Secretary took the car 

 from Ottawa through a section of Ontario and 

 Quebec as far as Smooth Rock Falls in the 

 Ontario Claybelt. Through the knidness of the 

 Quebec Forest Service we were permitted the 

 services of Mr. Victor Baillairge, who held a 

 series of meetings from Cochrane to Edmunds- 

 ton, N.B. The car was covered with large 

 banners asking the public to take precautions in 

 preventing timber destruction. So popular did 

 the coach prove that bodies of visitors some- 

 times reaching 600 in a single day, came aboard, 

 inspected the exhibits, heard the explanations 



as to the methods of fire prevention, the import- 

 ance of the forest industries and their raw 

 materials and as much other information as 

 could be given them in the brief time allowed. 

 Usually a motion picture lecture was given in 

 the evening so that occasionally we reached as 

 many as 700 to 800 people in the 24 hours. 

 At the New Brunswick border the car was met 

 by a representative of the New Brunswick Forest 

 Service and taken to those points where educa- 

 tional work was believed to be most necessary. 

 At the Nova Scotia border the Secretary of the 

 Canadian Forestry Association again met the 

 car and took it to eastern and western Nova 

 Scotia. Two or three of the Nova Scotia en- 

 gagements had to be postponed on account of 

 the prevalence of influenza, but at the eight 

 points where public meetings were held the at- 

 tendance was remarkably good. On the western 

 trip from Nova Scotia to Quebec the exhibition 

 car was wrecked at Springhill Junction and had 

 to be taken to Moncton. There a new car was 

 secured from the Canadian Government Rail- 

 ways but could not be employed to finish our 

 schedule in the Lake St. John region because of 

 the ban on all public meetings caused by the 

 epidemic. The Association hopes to secure a 

 larger and better car for the 1919 season and to 

 multiply the exhibits. It is not too much to say 

 that the use of the car proved one of the most 

 effective steps yet taken in forest protection 

 propaganda. The response on the part of the 

 public amply justifies proceeding with the 

 scheme along more extensive lines in 1919. 

 Reaching the Children. 

 Early in the year a series of school teachers 

 announcements was prepared and sent to the 

 Governments of British Columbia, Ontario, Que- 

 bec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. By co- 

 operation of these governments a great multitude 

 of school children was warned as to the danger 

 of forest fires and given instruction as to how 

 to prevent them. In most cases the department 

 of education joined with the minister in charge 

 of forests in circularizing all school teachers and 

 sending them copies of the Forestry Association's 

 literature to be read to the children. These 



