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AMERICAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION. 



Seventeenth Annual Meeting. 



In accordance with Article XII of the 

 Constitution, the annual meeting of The 

 American Forestry Association was held 

 on December 14, 1898, at the hall of the 

 Cosmos Club, Washington, D. C. 



Owing to illness, President Appleton 

 was not able to be present. The meet- 

 ing was called to order soon after eleven 

 o'clock A. M., by Col. J. D. W. French, 

 Vice President for Massachusetts. 



Mr. Pinchot, Chairman of the Execu- 

 tive Committee, read the following report 

 of the work of the Committee for the 

 past year : 



REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. 



The Executive Committee of The American 

 Forestry Association is the representative of 

 the Association located at the Capital, to attend 

 to the current work of the Association and 

 keep in touch w ; th the progress of the forest 

 movement all over the country. It is proper 

 at this time to state somewhat in detail what 

 the Committee has done during the past year, 

 for the information of the members of the 

 Association. 



The Committee has held seventeen meetings. 

 It has passed upon and approved all bills, none 

 of which have been paid without a warrant 

 signed by the Chairman of the Committee. It 

 has elected 128 new members, and has voted 

 to drop from the membership list several who 

 were in arrears, and who seemed to have lost 

 interest in the Association. It has considered 

 a large number of propositions submitted for 

 approval, and has extended its aid to such as 

 seemed wise and commendable. 



Two meetings of the Association were held 

 during the year; in Boston and Omaha. Those 

 who attended the Boston meeting will not 

 soon forget the generous hospitality extended 

 to them by the Massachusetts members. The 

 Omaha meeting was also successfully con- 

 ducted, and at each meeting many valuable 

 papers were read, and there was much in- 

 teresting discussion. Most of these papers 

 have already been published in The Forester. 

 The advantage of having them appear so soon 

 after the meetings is, it is thought, apparent 

 to every one. 



Soon after the Association began issuing 

 The Forester, which happened during the 

 past year, a subcommittee on Publication was 

 appointed, which acted as an editorial staff for 

 the magazine. During the summer all these 

 members were obliged to be out of town, and 

 the magazine suffered in consequence. It was 

 therefore decided to secure some one to edit 

 The Forester, and devote all his time to it. 



Mr. Joseph B. Thoburn, of Denver, formerly 

 Secretary of the Colorado Forestry Associa- 

 tion, has been engaged, and there is every 

 reason to believe that The Forester will 

 become a valuable and influential journal in 

 its own field. Arrangements are being made 

 whereby the National Geographic Society and 

 The American Forestry Association will 

 occupy office rooms together, on a business 

 basis, to their mutual advantage. 



The most important work of your Committee 

 during the past year has been its contribution 

 to the successful endeavor to ward off the 

 threatened attack upon the forest reserves set 

 apart by President Cleveland, which had been 

 suspended for one year prior to March 1, 

 1898. In the last Sundry Civil Bill the Senate 

 inserted a proviso suspending the President's 

 order setting apart these reserves, and re- 

 storing them to the public domain. Your 

 Committee, on April 2, decided to take action 

 and sent out circular letters to all members of 

 the Association urging immediate protest. On 

 April 13 a memorial was sent to all members 

 of Congress, urging that the Senate amend- 

 ment, if adopted, be limited to one year. Still 

 later, specific amendments to the Sundry Civil 

 Bill were suggested to the committees of the 

 House and Senate. The efforts of this Asso- 

 ciation were in line with and were assisted by 

 those of officials and private individuals, and 

 the combined protest had its effect. The 

 House refused to agree to the Senate amend- 

 ment, and the reservations were saved. 



During the past year, there were submitted 

 to the Association some eighty-nine designs 

 for a corporate seal. A competent jury of well- 

 known artists and architects passed upon these 

 designs, and decided that no one of them was 

 possessed of sufficient merit to warrant your 

 Committee in paying the prize of $100 offered to 

 the successful competitor. The designs were 

 exhibited at the Cosmos Club in this city, and 

 surprise was expressed that they should have 

 been so unsatisfactory. 



In June last the Association met with a loss 

 in the resignation of Dr. B. E. Fernow as 

 Chairman of the Executive Committee and 

 Editor-in-Chief of The Forester. His pe- 

 culiar fitness for the position, his ability, his 

 iealousy of the rights of this Associat on, and 

 his untiring and aggressive enthusiasm for the 

 work, have been of very great value to the 

 Association, and have contributed in no small 

 degree to the progress it has made and the 

 influence it has wielded. The retirement of 

 Dr. Fernow, to take charge of the New York 

 State College of Forestry at Cornell, is re- 

 gretted by none more than those who have been 

 so long associated with him in the work of the 

 Executive Committee. 



The progress of forestry in the United 

 States, during the year which is about to end, 



