ii8 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



how any immediate headway can be made. But agita- 

 tion for anything theoretically desirable is a good 

 thing, for the dream of one generation is the reality 

 of the next. Conditions are shifting fast in this new 

 country of ours and the next fifty years are likely to 

 show great changes in fundamental things. 



"The time is comparatively near at hand when the 

 virgin wealth will all be exhausted or closed to the 

 pioneer, and when the conservator must take the place 

 of the developer and promoter. It is therefore not too 

 soon to begin the study of this important subject of 

 forestry, as perhaps before we are aware of it the 

 conditions may have so changed that what now has its 

 existence only in theory may have been materialized 

 into concrete form." 



During the eleven years that have passed since that 

 time the cause of forestry has made great headway 

 under the intelligent direction of the Bureau of For- 

 estry, although that bureau has been until very recently 

 handicapped by a division of its natural duties between 

 three branches of government lacking intelligent cen- 

 tralized control. It has, however, brought the practical 

 and the theoretical into more harmonious relations 

 with each other and has promoted a broader and deeper 

 understanding of all the elements which enter into the 

 problem and has prepared all of those who are inter- 

 ested in the subject for effective co-operation. What 

 has been accomplished is much ; it is hardly more than 

 preliminary and preparatory for the actual work of the 

 next decade. 



I want to call your attention to the fact that the 

 inhabitants of great timber states have not been 

 unmindful of this question. They have viewed with 

 concern the rapid disappearance of their woods, and 

 have to a large degree come to a realization of the 



