PUBLICITY IN STATE FORESTRY WORK 



605 



P. S. Lovejoy, Enos A. Mills, William T. Cox, state for- 

 ester of Minnesota; Marcus Schaaf, state forester of 

 Michigan; C. L. Harrington, forestery member of the 

 Wisconsin Conservaion Commission; P. S. Ridsdale, 

 editor of the American Forestry magazine, and others. 

 A notable feature of the booklet consisted in the recom- 

 mendations in favor of forestry which Carl Schurz made 

 while he was secretary of the interior during 1877-80, 

 messages which at that early period sounded a clear 

 warning that if an adequate policy of protecting our tim- 

 ber, as older countries were doing, were not adopted in 

 time, the result would be the deplorable conditions that 

 we face today. Another noteworthy article in the book- 

 let consisted of quotations from an article written in 1855 

 by Increase Allen Lapham, father of the federal weather 

 bureau, in which he set forth cogent arguments in favor 

 of the adoption of a sound forestry policy. In 1867 Mr. 

 Lapham was made chairman of a state forestry com- 

 mission, created by the Legislature of Wisconsin, with 

 the result that a report of 100 pages "On the Disastrous 

 Effects of the Destruction of Forest Trees Now Going 

 on so Rapidly in Wisconsin," was submitted to the law- 

 makers. A synopsis of a survey of Wisconsin's forests 

 made in 1898 by Dr. Filibert Roth, dean of western for- 

 esters, found a conspicuous place in the booklet. Thus 

 this publication pointed out the lessons of the past and 

 outlined the policies that should be carried out in the 

 future. 



The Journal has used the cinema to promote the cause 

 of forestry. During 1921 it engaged a high-class pho- 

 tographer, who is a lover of Nature as well, to take 

 motion pictures of the most striking and beautiful spots 

 in the state. These constitute two reels. They have 

 been shown in scores and scores of communities. As a 

 rule, some member of the staff, conversant with the sub- 

 ject, explains these pictures and their relation to the chief 

 features of the Wisconsin program. A printed folder 

 describing the pictures is distributed and two pages of 

 this are devoted to the presentation in clear, simple lan- 

 guage, of Wisconsin's great opportunities in regard to 

 things that lie out of doors and of the reasons and ad- 

 vantages of working actively and earnestly to these ends. 

 Of course, state forestry is emphasized. 



For years the Journal has maintained a bureau de- 

 signed to aid motor tourists and this has won the repu- 

 tation throughout the country of being a model of its 

 kind. It inspects 8,000 miles of Wisconsin highways 

 every year and constantly collects the latest and most 

 reliable information regarding the condition of the prin- 

 cipal state and county roads. Motorists get all this in- 

 formation by merely asking for it and not only tours 

 through the state by residents and by visitors from far 

 away points are directed by the bureau, but tours through 

 Michigan, Minnesota and every other section of our 

 country and of Canada. This bureau publishes The Call 

 of the Open Road, a guide book for motorists in Wis- 



consin, with a general road map and many sectional road 

 maps, with road indexes and directions for going from 

 any important point in the state to any other. One page 

 of this guide book is devoted to setting forth both in 

 brief and in detail the Wisconsin out-of-doors program, " 

 particularly state forestry. Although a small charge Is 

 made for this guide book, 60,000 copies of it have been 

 printed this year and nearly all of them are in the hands 

 of tourists are, in fact, their constant companions. This 

 means intensive forestry publicity spread quite far. 



In connection with this motor travel bureau there has 

 been organized this year, with 10,000 members already in 

 Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan and other states, The 

 Journal Tour Club. Every member of the club possesses 

 a copy of The Call of the Open Road, with its urgent 

 appeal in the interest of state forestry, and, in addition, 

 pledges himself, in his membership card, to these things 

 among others : 



"I will do all in my power to preserve and perpetuate 

 our scenic and natural beauties and to promote state for- 

 estry. 



"I pledge myself to be careful about starting and 

 extinguishing camp fires and to induce others to help 

 protect our forests against fire." 



I earnestly hope that the spirit in which I have set 

 forth The Journal's plans and efforts in the interest of 

 forestry will not be misunderstood. It is impossible for 

 me to express specific views on the subject of forestry 

 publicity without citing these examples and in doing this 

 my purpose is merely to be as helpful as possible. Some 

 of the ideas which we are carrying out are original and 

 they have worked out so well in Wisconsin that they may 

 prove of value in other states. We who believe in for- 

 estry cannot be too alert, too enterprising, too quick to 

 profit by one another's experiences. 



On one point, apart from publicity, but vital to state 

 forestry, pray let me presume to make a suggestion. I 

 realize, perhaps as clearly as almost any other layman, 

 the trials and tribulations which state foresters have 

 suffered from the beginning. Just as I believe in their 

 ideals, so I sympathize with them in their disappoint- 

 ments, setbacks and heart-burnings of the past and pres- 

 ent. In view of their unfortunate experiences, it is little 

 wonder that they have felt depressed and discouraged. 

 But if I am in any way a judge of the public mind, times 

 have changed greatly for the better ; there is a new, fine 

 spirit in the land and a better day and a real opportunity 

 for achievement are at hand. In every state, however, 

 the cause needs leadership, forceful, determined, con- 

 structive leadership. In each state the state forester is 

 the logical leader. I hope that he, forgetting the gloomy 

 past, will realize that the present is cheering and the 

 future bright indeed. Let him take heart and "buck up." 

 The time to do big things is near. The glory of doing 

 them shall it pass from him and go to another? 



