i8 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



In the value of its invested capital and its product, 

 lumbering ranks fourth among our great industries. 

 But in its relation to the forest it stands first. To 

 bring the lumberman and the forester together has 

 been the earnest and constant endeavor of the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture. Ten years ago, or even five 

 years ago, we did not fully understand each other. 

 To-day, - in every great forest region in the United 

 States, lumbermen and foresters are working together 

 in active, hearty, and effective cooperation on the same 

 ground. 



It is true that the area under conservative forest 

 management is still small, but the leaven is working 

 and the inauguration of new, more conservative, and 

 better paying methods has fully begun. What the 

 general adoption of conservative lumbering will mean 

 to the individual lumberman, to the lumber industry, 

 and to the country as a whole, is beyond estimate. 

 And it is coming, because it will pay. 



The vast area of the timber lands of the United 

 States is mainly in your hands. You have it in your 

 power, by putting forestry into effect upon the lands 

 you own and control, to make the lumber industry 

 permanent, and you will lose nothing by it. If you 

 do not, then the lumber industry will go the way of 

 the buffalo and the placer mines of the Sierra Nevada. 

 But I anticipate no such result. For the fact is that 

 practical forestry is being adopted by American lum- 

 bermen. In its results it will surpass the forestry 

 practiced in any other country. The development 

 of practical forestry for the private owner has been 

 more rapid here than in any other country, and I look 

 for a final achievement better than any that has been 

 reached elsewhere. 



The regulation of grazing upon the public forest 



