AMERICAN FOREST CONGRESS 433 



Father Wright sat at a little distance looking out 

 at the blue waters of the lake over which for centuries 

 the birch canoes of his people had glided so swiftly. 

 We approached, and holding aloft the lamp, said : 

 "What does this mean?" With a pathos in his voice 

 that I shall never forget, he replied, "Dead and Down 

 Timber Act, burn, want to buy." 



I assure you the old lamp was good campaign mate- 

 rial. At our next State meeting, when our brothers 

 were present, we told the story and exhibited the lamp 

 and said, "Are not the Indians the wards of this nation ? 

 Shall we, through our laws, offer a premium for 

 criminal practices? This lamp should cause blush of 

 shame to mantle the cheek of every honest voter in 

 Minnesota and kindle a back fire of indignation that 

 should wipe from off the statutes such nefarious laws. 



It is true, women do not vote, but who shall say 

 that they are actually "counted out?" Let me illus- 

 trate that we have a little influence, by another incident 

 in our forest reserve campaign. When the stress 

 came, and the news reached us that some of our 

 Minnesota members in Washington had gone over to 

 the enemy, the club women concluded it was desirable 

 to send representatives to interview our Congressmen. 

 On reaching Washington, we first sent our cards to a 

 member with whom we had a personal acquaintance, 

 and were received most graciously with this greeting, 

 "When did you arrive, how did you leave my con- 

 stituents, and what can I do to enhance the pleasure 

 and profit of your visit?" But as soon as we men- 

 tioned the forest reserve the atmosphere seemed sud- 

 denly struck by a nor'easter and the mercury fell as 

 quickly as at Chilkoot Pass, and in icy accents these 

 words fell upon our ears: "Well, ladies, I'm not much 

 interested in that forest reserve scheme, and I don't 



