AMERICAN FORESTRY 



389 



President Approves Memorial Tree Planting 



President Harding issued the following statement on May 6 in response to a request from 

 Joseph M. Patterson, of the Chicago Tribune, which paper has taken up vigorously the 

 American Forestry Association's memorial tree planting idea. 



I find myself altogether responsive to your request for an appeal to the people to plant 

 memorial trees along the important public highways as memorials to the men who were sacri- 

 ficed in the World War, and, indeed, also to those who gave their service without the ultimate 

 sacrifice. I can hardly think of a more fitting testimonial of our gratitude and affection than 

 this. It would be not only the testimony of our sentiments, but a means to beautify the coun- 

 try which these heroes have so well served. 



A general adoption of this plan would, in the coming years, be noted as one of the useful 

 and beautiful ideas which our soldiers brought back from France. The splendid avenues of 

 France have been among the great delights and attractions to travelers there, and a similar 

 development would equally add to the beauty and attraction of our country. I am pleased to 

 know that the idea has been already taken up quite extensively and that considerable progress 

 has been made. If the co-operation of state, municipal and county administrations may be 

 secured, as well as of the forestry services of the nation and the states, it ought to be possible 

 to make a rapid advance in a comparatively short time. I hope that you and your coadjutors 

 may be successful in securing a most substantial beginning in this direction during the present 

 season. Very truly yours, 



WARREN G. HARDING. 



Photograph by Harris and Eiving 



MRS. HARDING PLANTING THE OHIO TREE 

 A tree presented by the State of Ohio to the American Forestry Association's home, on Sixteenth street, Washington, D. C., 

 by Mrs. Warren G. Harding. A tree from each state is planted along a miniature roadway, where every passer-by can see it. 



