756 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



present of America. With Elms, the earliest forefath- 

 ers sheltered their cabins. Under an Elm, George 

 Washington assumed command of the Continental Army. 

 On the side of sentiment, the Elm has filled the eye and 

 heart of countless children, men and women in America. 

 Truly the native American Elm is a native born Ameri- 

 can citizen. 



"With its erect pose, it stands always at soldier-like 

 'attention.' Consequently, it is a fitting monument to the 

 cause of so arranging world affairs that the sons of you 

 men of the American Legion may be spared the hell 

 which you yourselves so bravely and so nobly entered. 



"The cause is an appeal to sanity. It is an appeal to 

 save your sons, for if the world again should go mad, 

 your sons, true to their inheritance, faithful to their 

 duty will step into the flaming path which you yourselves 

 have trod. 



"For such an avenue this is a fitting spot the mem- 

 orial to Abraham Lincoln. Look about you and see him. 

 He and the United States are identical. He and you 



men who fought are identical. He and the cause of the 

 plain people for which you fought are identical. He, 

 Eternal Truth, and the cause we mark today are all 

 identical. 



"Accordingly in this city where he died and here before 

 his formal memorial we dedicate these trees, native 

 American Elms, dedicate them to the cause of world 

 brotherhood and eternal peace. Therefore, as a represen- 

 tative of the American Forestry Association and in its 

 behalf, I request the American Legion to place these liv- 

 ing memorials." 



After Mrs. Harding, Mr. Pack and members of the 

 American Legion Posts in the District of Columbia had 

 placed the earth about the trees a bugler sounded "Taps." 

 Immediately after the ceremony Mrs. Harding's trowel 

 and the trowel used by Mrs. Medill McCormick at the 

 tree planting on the Association's grounds last Spring, 

 were sent to the Chicago Tribune for use in Chicago on 

 Armistice Day, when the American Legion planted sev- 

 eral miles of a Road of Remembrance. 



4 A , "GENERAL PERSHING PLANTING A TREE IN HONOR OF THE FRENCH DEAD 



An American oak planted on October 19, 1921, in the Trocadero Gardens in Paris by the commander in chief of the American 



