American Forest Congress 425 



There were economists present with sentiment, to be 

 sure, but not moved by sentimentality. Later a large 

 amount of sentimentality was introduced into the 

 subject, thanks to the ladies, and this, too, was a good 

 thing at the time, because in that way interest was 

 gradually spread among all classes of the public, even 

 to the practical men of the woods. I feel greatly 

 gratified that all the talk that we of the earlier ages 

 performed, has made it possible to bring together such 

 an assembly as the present one, with practical men, the 

 lumbermen themselves, in the audience and on the 

 platform. It has taken a large amount of talk to make 

 that possible, but still more so, as was stated by the 

 secretary of the Association this morning, the natural 

 development of economic laws has brought around a 

 good many who doubted the necessity and propriety 

 of our earlier work. 



As far as the Federal Government's interests are 

 concerned, I dare say they are now well understood 

 and cared for, and some of the States are initiating 

 the Federal Government and have been awakened to 

 their duty. They have begun to perform it, and as 

 time goes on, will perform it better and better. As far 

 as private interests are concerned, I want -to accentuate 

 the fact which Dr. Schenck tried to bring out this morn- 

 ing, namely, that the lumberman is a necessary agent 

 in our civilization and that the lumberman, while he 

 serves himself, serves civilization, although I dare say 

 that not one of the lumbermen here has gone into 

 business for the purpose of helping civilization along, 

 but for the purpose of helping his own pocket. The 

 private interests, then, leaving out the interest of the 

 nation at large, lies in the profit that might be expected 

 from a change in the use of forest properties. It would 

 be difficult for anyone to prove that such a change at 



