ASPECTS OF THK PRESENT FORESTRY AGITATION. 141 



it. There existed once a necessity for destroying forests that 

 crops might be planted. This necessity has matured into an 

 instinct so that the first natural tendency of the American lad is 

 to cut or strike a tree. The tendency of Arbor Day then, is to 

 lead to a change of sentiment among the young concerning our 

 trees. This is one of the most hopeful signs. All that we have 

 accomplished is not much, but if each State in the Union had a 

 forestry association of a thousand members, and each such society 

 were to join with the others upon a single point in forestry legisla- 

 tion to place it before our national Congress, the petitions would 

 aggregate forty thousand names at least. It would be probably 

 the first tangible si^n to our representatives that we are in 

 earnest, and would give them the desired reasen for action on 

 their part. There is no doubt of our ability to do all this by 

 organized effort. It is further worth}' of remembrance, that the 

 hardest work is to start the movement ; but this once done it 

 must grow, because organizations increase more rapidly in propor- 

 tion as they become larger and more numerous. A cause once 

 made popular takes care of itself. An isolated National Forestry 

 Association must attenuate its lines in the effort to cover so large 

 an area as our national domain. Except here and there, ivhere it 

 meets, it carries almost no weight in an attack. But let a National 

 Association grow out of State Associations and the case is different. 

 It means united forces, solid line?, and weight in concerted 

 action. 



It remains to be stated, that the forces in favor of forestry are 

 moving in the direction of State organization. New Hampshire 

 and New York have already- organized. Each State, too, is 

 represented in its society by some of the most influential citizens 

 and public men. Texas has just organized an Arbor Da}' and 

 Forestry Association. 



Dakota placed in her constitution a clause providing for a 

 Forestry School. But there still remains much to be done. Even 

 where state and county organizations already exist, the weight of 

 increasing numbers is desired. No issue of the day is more 

 directly for the people than this. It has not even a tinge of 

 political coloring ; it is simph' and wholly a cause based upon 

 right and expediency and in the interest of the future prosperity 

 of the whole State and whole country. No people can more fully 

 realize all this than the citizens of Massachusetts, where so many 



