ARBOR DAY. 113 



of his labors begin to show themselves he is called a hero 

 and is worshiped. And well he ought to be ! For he has 

 had not only the right idea, but he has had the courage 

 of a hero to stand by his convictions, be it in the wide field 

 of political or national development, be it in the narrower 

 field of economic or communal development. 



The man who starts a new idea deserves credit first, the 

 man who puts the idea into practice next, and the man 

 who gains general recognition of its value next. I be- 

 lieve the credit belongs in all these phases to Governor 

 J. Sterling Morton for the idea of Arbor Day, and I 

 gladly pay my tribute to the man who started, put into 

 practice, and promulgated the new idea, which has now 

 become generally recognized as one of the important 

 educational means of changing a race of forest destroyers 

 into a race of forest planters. 



As an educational feature, to stimulate interest in tree 

 culture, Arbor Day is now recognized bytwentyjeight 

 states ; enough to make its observance as a national festi- 

 val possible and desirable. As a means to produce actual 

 quantitative tree planting in the number of trees planted 

 on that one day I believe that Nebraska still stands 

 ahead of all other states, thanks to the fostering care 

 which has been bestowed by the agricultural and horti- 

 cultural societies and public-spirited men upon keeping 

 the interest in the day unflagging. 

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