6 Proceedings o^ the 



they depend for the successful development of their 

 business. This is true because by far the greater part 

 of all our forests must pass into the hands of forest 

 users, whether directly or through the Government, 

 which will continue to hold some of them but only as 

 trustee. The forest is for use, and its users will decide 

 its future. It was only a few years ago that the 

 practical lumberman felt that the forest expert was a 

 man who wished to see the forests preserved as bric-a- 

 brac, and the American business man was not prepared 

 to do much from the bric-a-brac standpoint. Now I 

 think we have got a working agreement between the 

 forester and the business man whose business is the 

 use of the forest. We have got them to come together 

 with the understanding that they must work for a 

 common end — work to see the forest preserved for 

 use. The great significance of this Congress comes 

 from the fact that henceforth the movement for the 

 conservative use of the forest is to come mainly from 

 within, not from without; from the men who are 

 actively interested in the use of the forest in one way 

 or another, even more than from those whose interest 

 is philanthropic and general. The difference means^ 

 as the difference in such a case always does mean, to 

 a large extent the difference between mere agitation 

 and actual execution, between the hope of accomplish- 

 ment and the thing done. We believe that at last 

 forces have been set in motion which will convert the 

 once distant prospect of the conservation of the forest 

 by wise use into the practical accomplishment of that 

 great end ; and of this most hopeful and significant fact 

 the coming together of this Congress is the sufficient 

 proof. 



I shall not pretend this afternoon to even describe 

 to you the place of the forest in the life of any nation, 



