ness, built railways, built towns, made 

 market for labor, for produce and 

 furnished us cheap lumber to build. 

 He was like the pioneer farmer who 

 burned up the walnut logs in Wash- 

 tenaw and Lenawee. He wasted and 

 spoiled things not because he was de- 

 structive, but because he could not 

 help himself and still do business. He 

 added as much as anybody, except the 

 farmer, to building up Michigan, and 

 he does not deserve all the criticism 

 which now is so freely bestowed on 

 him. His methods were bad and the 

 State should have changed then and 

 helped this industry into right ways 

 of doing. 



But this is a by-gone. To-day we, 

 as the people of Michigan, have the 

 lands and we have the need for tim- 

 ber, and it is useless to lament and 

 say, Why does not Mr. Doe, who 

 skinned off this land and who is now 

 skinning the lands of Oregon and 

 Washington, come back and help us? 

 He does not and can not. 



But the lands are here and we, as 

 people, are here, and we have the 

 small choice of letting things drift 

 down and to the bad and pay ex- 

 orbitant import prices for timber or 

 build up our forests, make this land 

 pay us a rent, and provide a cheaper 

 home supply of material. 



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