M 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



o second-class mail matter has raised an 

 5sue which the Association must meet. Our 

 >resent plan of publication does not comply 

 vifh the law as interpreted by the Depart- 

 nent. A circulation made up of members 

 if an association who pay dues and receive 

 he magazine without e.xtra payment is not 

 ccepted by the Department as a bona fide 

 ubscription list. Whether this is just or 

 lot in its application to our Association 

 loes not enter into the case. It is the 

 lecision of the Department and seems to 

 >e warranted by the law. The officials ad- 

 nit that the Department has been lax in the 

 last in the administration of the law, and 

 hey are using reasonable consideration in 

 egard to contracts and agreements already 

 ntered into, but the provisions of the law 

 .re to be strictly enforced in the future. 



Two alternatives are open to us. We may 

 eparate our membership from the subscrip- 

 ion to the magazine and continue to publish 

 s we are now doing. That is, we may 

 harge our members dues of one dallar, or 

 uch other amount as the Association may 

 letermine in its By-Laws, and may then 

 harge those who wish to subscribe for the 

 nagazine two dollars, or such other amount 

 is we may determine upon for a subscrip- 

 ion price. By following this course we may 

 :eep the magazine under the general Act 

 f 1879. 



It is also open to us to make entry under 

 he Act of July 16, 1894, which relates to 

 tuhlications of benevolent or fraternal so- 

 ieties or orders, and of professional, liter- 

 iry, historical or scientific societies, but under 

 his act, as now interpreted by the Depart- 

 nent, we cannot carry any advertising. The 

 idvertising business of AMERICAN FORESTRY 

 s not large, but it nets the sum of from 

 51,200 to $1,500 a year on its present basis, 

 md this will be increased with the increase 

 >f circulation. As our income is limited, 

 md no margin of profit is provided in our 

 mblicatipn work, the loss of this sum would 

 nean a decrease in the quality of the maga- 

 dne. As we hope to make the advertising 

 r.ore profitable, the prospective loss is greater 

 :han the figures here given. 



The other solution which we are informed 

 jy the Department will fully meet the re- 

 quirements of law, would work out in this 

 *ay : Make the ordinary annual member- 

 ship fee one dollar. All those persons who 

 ire sufficiently interested in the work of the 

 Association and wish to contribute to it and 

 :o promote its welfare, pay this fee and be- 

 :ome members of the Association with such 

 rights and privileges as go with that member- 

 ship. Then it would be open to them, as to 

 Dthers not members, to subscribe for the 

 magazine at regular subscription price. 



Some advantages would come from the 

 latter plan. We should be able to separate, 

 as we cannot now, those persons who are 

 really desirous of promoting the work of the 

 Association and those who simply wish to 

 >btain the magazine. No one who now re- 

 ceives the magazine for two dollars a year 



would have to pay any more for it, and 

 there would, therefore, be no reason for 

 dropping any subscriptions. Presumably, 

 therefore, the income of the Association 

 would not suffer, but might be increased by 

 the adoption of this plan. It is, therefore, 

 recommended that the annual membership 

 fee be made one dollar, and that it shall not 

 include the subscription to the magazine. 



In connection with the adjustment of an- 

 nual dues to meet the new requirements of 

 the Post Office Department with reference 

 to our publication, the directors recommend 

 that the By-Laws be amended by making the 

 annual dues one dollar, and that a class of 

 contributing members paying ten dollars an- 

 nually be established, to occupy the wide gap 

 between annual and sustaining memberships. 

 Specifically, this recommendation is that the 

 words, "Contributing Members," be inserted 

 in Art. Ill, Sec. 2, after the words, "Sus- 

 taining Members," and that the following he 

 inserted in Art. Ill, Sec. 3, after the sentence 

 relating to Sustaining Members and before 

 that relating to Annual Members : "Con- 

 tributing Members are those who pay annual 

 dues of ten dollars ($10)." 



In 1908 The American Forestry Association 

 was the only National organization which 

 seemed to be so made up as to push the new 

 conservation movement, and there was at one 

 time some danger of the Association being 

 absorbed, so far as its most vital interests 

 were concerned, in this varied and Nation- 

 wide movement. The organization last year 

 of the National Conservation Association 

 complicated the situation for a time and the 

 function and the future of the organization 

 seemed to be seriously involved. Conference 

 between officers of the two associations and 

 a careful study of their functions and pur- 

 poses cleared the situation and made it pos- 

 sible for us to direct the work of The Amer- 

 ican Forestry Association along lines in har- 

 mony with its early history and also with 

 present tendencies. At present there is every 

 promise that the two organizations will work 

 in harmony, cooperating at many points, and 

 that conflict of interests and duplication of 

 effort will be avoided. Such an outcome is 

 much to be desired, for any injurious com- 

 petition that would affect the work of any 

 organization that stands for great National 

 principles like ours would be a public ca- 

 lamity. As it is, the American Forestry 

 Association will go forward, pursuing the 

 course marked out by its work of nearly 

 thirty years, increasing we hope its mem- 

 bership and power, publishing a magazine 

 that will be made a great educational force 

 and a reliable authority in its field, striving 

 for legislation that will promote the preser- 

 vation and cultivation and wise utilization 

 of our forests, together with all allied work 

 for the conservation of natural resources, so 

 much of which so far as soils and waters are 

 concerned, comes back to the forest ulti- 

 mately. 



We hope to do more in the future than in 

 the past in the promotion of state and pri- 



