688 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



AN aggressive campaign is now un- 

 / \ der way in Minnesota to secure 

 ,/ Ythe passage of an amendment to 

 the State Constitution which will 

 enable the state to retain state lands 

 suited only for forests, instead of selling 

 all such land as now provided by the 

 Constitution. If this amendment pass- 

 es it will be the inauguration of a true 

 forest policy for the state. The Min- 

 nesota State Forestry Association is di- 

 recting the campaign and has enlisted 

 most of the newspapers and most of 

 the progressive oganizations of the state 

 in the fight. 



The campaign is directed chiefly to 

 arousing the voters, impressing them 

 with the need of this forestry amend- 

 ment as it is called, and urging them 

 to vote for it. So well has the cam- 

 paign been planned and so ably is it 

 being conducted that its success is 

 practically assured. 



Summed up, the situation is this : 

 The State of Minnesota originally 

 owned eight and a half million acres of 

 land. Under the State Constitution, 

 all of these lands were to be sold on 

 the assumption that all were fit for 

 farming. When the big pineries were 

 removed, much of that land was found 



to be so rocky and gravelly as to be 

 entirely unfit for farming, and that 

 land having now been cut over and 

 burned over, will become a barren 

 waste, unproductive, paying no taxes, 

 a burden to the community and a bad 

 advertisement to the state. 



The issue now is this : Shall the state 

 go ahead and follow the old policy 

 which is now known to be partly 

 wrong or shall it adopt another method 

 of managing the state lands? The 

 legislature has seen the urgent neces- 

 sity of departing from the old mistaken 

 ways and has proposed a remedy, which 

 is embodied in No. 9, the State Forests 

 Amendment. 



This amendment provides that all 

 those state lands which are better suited 

 for tree growth than for farming, shall 

 not be sold but be used as State 

 Forests. 



Nine out of ten amendments in Min- 

 nesota usually fail, and in order to 

 make the average voter realize the fact 

 that there is a forestry amendment to 

 be voted on, and that it is up to his in- 

 terests that this amendment pass, it is 

 necessary that an extensive campaign 

 be conducted. 



AN HONEST FOREMAN 



LINES PENCILED ON THE WALL OF A FLAG STATION NEAR 



RAQUETTE LAKE, NEW YORK 



The hiker stood on the cross-arm, 

 The foreman on the ground, 

 Said the hiker to the foreman, 

 "Do we quit when the sun goes down?" 



"No, no," said the company's foreman, 

 "We work until 'tis dark." 

 "If that is the case," said the hiker, 

 "I'll take my time and start. 



I'll travel the wide world over, 



I'll roam from town to town 



Until I find an honest foreman 



Who will quit when the sun goes down." 



Transcribed by E. M. Price. 





