Canadian Forestry Journal, Jan.-Feh., 1912. 



of those forest reserves which the 

 different governments in Canada, 

 federal and provincial, have set 

 apart. It did this and more. It 

 demonstrated to the man in the 

 street, that forest conservation is 

 now a matter which must be dealt 

 with. Even to those in touch with 

 the work it revealed greater ad- 

 vances than they had dared to hope 

 for. 



But to speak as if this convention 

 were a thing apart, and a success by 

 itself would be entirely wrong. There 

 could have been no convention of 

 value had the foundations not been 

 laid in the past. Not only must one 

 refer to the great convention of 1906, 

 which brought home the national 

 character of the work, but there was 

 the patient work from 1900 Avhen 

 the Association was organized. Even 

 further back than that, as the Mont- 

 real Gazette reminds us in a most 

 thoughtful article, there was the 

 meeting in that city of the American 

 Forestry Association in the year of 

 its organization (1882) 'when the 

 Houghs, the Littles, the Jolys, the 

 PenhalloAvs and other wise men 

 warned us against the assured 

 nemesis of long generations of in- 

 difference.' On that occasion ]\Ir. 

 William Little chartered a large 

 passenger steamer and held her at 

 the wharf for three days that the 

 delegates might have sleeping ac- 

 commodation. In 1906 Mr. John R. 

 Booth took the delegates out in a 

 special train to see operations in his 

 Madawaska limits. And the labors 

 of Senator Edwards, and IMessrs. 

 Herbert M. Price, "W. B. Snowball, 

 Aubrey "White, E. Stewart, Hiram 

 Robinson. Thomas Southworth, R. H. 

 Campbell and the late rector of Laval 

 University, IMgr. Laflamme, are too 

 much in mind to need recapitulation ; 

 work that was generously endorsed 

 and supported on the governmental 

 side by Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Hon. 

 Clifford Sifton. Hon. Sydney Fisher, 

 and by Rt. Hon. R. L. Borden, Hon. 

 Frank Cochrane, Hon. Jules Allard 

 and Hon. W. C. H. Grimmer in their 



respective spheres. Then, too, the 

 generous aid of the leading banks of 

 Canada helped to make progress pos- 

 sible. Those who promoted the con- 

 vention of 1912 often had occasion 

 to say to themselves, 'Other men 

 labored and ye have entered into 

 their labors.' 



Coming to the convention held, a 

 review of its leading features shows 

 that the effort was to follow the ad- 

 vice of Hon. Clifford Sifton given at 

 the last meeting at Quebec to 'get 

 something done'. In a word the 

 whole aim was to be as practical as 

 possible. This aim was furthered 

 l3y the fact that for the first time in 

 the history of the two organizations 

 the Forestry Association and the 

 Lumbermen's Association met at the 

 same time and place. Some fearful 

 ones, ])elieving that the Forestry 

 Association thought the Lumbermen 

 selfish and careless in their opera- 

 tions, and tliat the Lumbermen deem- 

 ed the Foresters a body of doctrin- 

 aires and impractical theorists, con- 

 sidered it inevitable that there would 

 be a clash and an explosion that 

 would injure the work of both. In- 

 stead of this, however, the conven- 

 tion proved a clearing house of ideas 

 and showed that lumbermen and for- 

 esters are practically one in aim, and 

 with not nearly so much divergence 

 as to method as had been supposed. 

 Instead of mutual recriminations 

 there were mutual confessions, with 

 the result that because of better un- 

 derstanding tliere will be better work 

 on the part of both tlian ever before. 



The meetings were held in the 

 Railway Committee Room, which, 

 next to the Commons Chamber, is 

 the largest hall in the building. It 

 seats comfortably somewhat over 

 250 people and during most of the 

 sessions so many were standing as to 

 bring this number considerably over 

 300. Viewed from the present mo- 

 ment it might have been better to 

 hold the Imsiness sessions in some 

 larger liall down town, but this 

 would in all probability have pre- 

 vented the attendance of the Right 



