82 



THE FORESTER 



April, 



to mark a large number of trees for use 

 for the royal navy and this was done, but 

 this commissioner, like the commission- 

 ers of later days, was human. He was 

 denounced as a fraud and a villain and 

 complaint was made to the royal governor 

 of Massachusetts, who was governor of 

 the territory of New Hampshire, and a 

 petition was sent to the king for his re- 

 moval, but they had 'pulls' in those days 

 as they do in these days and he managed 

 to hold his place for many years. 



"We have seen the. woodworking bus- 

 iness from this country depart. Gentle- 

 men around this board who are or have 

 been in the business any length of time 

 know that Boston forty years ago was 

 the center and the circumference, I 

 might say of the furniture business of 

 this country. It has now gone where 

 the raw material is. We have an incor- 

 porated society, and our idea is this: 

 The first thing and we believe it is the 

 proper thing to do in the first place is 

 to educate public opinion to realize the 

 necessity of the preservation of what we 

 have. There is a bill before the legisla- 

 ture now which asks for an appropriation 

 of $4,000 to make a forest survey of the 

 State. The forests in this State prac- 

 tically amount to nothing. There are a 

 few box boards in this State and some- 

 thing of that kind, but we believe that 

 the time has come to agitate this ques- 

 tion and to ask the State not only this 

 State, but other States and the National 

 Government to reserve forests as na 

 tional domains. There are a quarter of 

 a million of acres in this State which are 

 valueless for taxation and we purpose to 

 ask the Government to reserve those. It 

 has been demonstrated that it is possible 

 to make this a paying investment for the 

 State, so that this land which is prac- 

 tically valueless shall make some return. 

 I will give you one illustration: In Ply- 

 mouth County, less than forty miles from 

 here, is a small tract of Pine land, and I 

 will say to you for the benefit of those 

 who are not aware of the fact that Cape 

 Cod is a sandy district, and sandy land 

 is adapted for the growing of Pine. 

 There are two tracts of land down there 



owned by different owners, and one of 

 these was sown forty years ago with Pine 

 seed, while the other was allowed to run 

 wild. The result is that now the one 

 tract is assessed for $150 an acre and the 

 other for $2.50. That demonstrates that 

 it is practicable to do something along 

 these lines. It does not need any argu- 

 ment to show that we can do it. The 

 chairman has referred to the fact that 

 Memphis is the great market for hard- 

 wood to day. Indianapolis was the great 

 center not many years ago. I lived there 

 from 1869 to 1873 and I have heard it 

 said that it was impossible to exhaust 

 the hardwood of Indiana, but you and I 

 know that forty per cent of the hardwood 

 to-day is brought in there. It behooves 

 us to lock the door before the horse is 

 stolen. We have public- spirited men 

 in this State and they have taken hold 

 of it. The idea is to enlighten the pub- 

 lic and to influence the legislature to 

 take hold of this matter. 



"Another thing I might touch on is 

 that our water supply depends on the 

 forests. This Commonwealth has spent 

 more than $50,000,000, or will have 

 spent, when the water-works system is 

 completed, to maintain her water supply, 

 when if our forests had been saved and 

 cared for at least one-half of that sum 

 would have been saved. In New York 

 State through her Forest Commission 

 they are saving the Adirondacks largely 

 for this reason. 



"It is a practical question, gentlemen, 

 and I commend it to you for careful study 

 and to take home with you. As the hon- 

 orable president has said, it is a serious 

 question where they are going to get the 

 supply for the future from unless some- 

 thing is done along these lines." 



Mr. Woods was followed by Hon. 

 Robert C. Lippincott, of Philadelphia, 

 who spoke of the growing interest in the 

 question of forest conservation in his 

 own State, briefly outlining the legisla- 

 tion that has been enacted and commend- 

 ing Dr. Rothrock for the faithful and 

 efficient service which he has rendered 

 as Commissioner of Forestry. Mr. Lip- 

 pincott closed with the assertion that the 



