10 SECOND ANNUAL CONVENTION 



ravages of the pine beetle in that county, but the association intends also 

 to support other forestry measures which will be of benefit to the county. 

 Whether these two associations are in direct affiliation with our State Asso- 

 ciation or not, we will take pride in cooperating with them in every way 

 possible and will look upon them as our own children. I sincerely trust that 

 the representatives from these two counties who may be with us, will give 

 this meeting some idea of this work which is being carried on in them. 



Of course, all this work could not have been carried on without the thor- 

 ough support and cooperation of the North Carolina Geological and Economic 

 Survey. The Survey looks upon this as the work for which it was organized 

 and created by the Legislature, and so is very glad indeed to cooperate with 

 the Forestry Association in every way that it can. 



And here let me express the sincere thanks of the Secretary and of the 

 Executive Committee to those vice-presidents who have cooperated so cheer- 

 fully and heartily in the duties that have been demanded of them. If the 

 Association had a vice-president in every district who did as much as those 

 who are taking a real interest in the work, the Association could make itself 

 felt in a very short time in every corner of the State, and the object of this 

 meeting, which is to arouse the people to the necessity of electing Representa- 

 tives in our next General Assembly who will be interested in the matter of 

 forest protection, could be attained. 



I do not know whether or not it comes within the scope of a Secretary's 

 report to call the attention of this meeting to certain pressing questions 

 which the Association might take up in the near future, but, with the per- 

 mission of the President, I am going to briefly outline a few ideas which I 

 hope will be discussed at this meeting and some definite action taken. At 

 the last meeting of the Association the principal topic of discussion was a 

 proposed forestry law which had then been introduced before the General 

 Assembly. This law was considerably changed by the committee appointed 

 by this Association to draft a law, and was subsequently modified so that its 

 passage at the last session of the Legislature might, if possible, be secured. 

 Unfortunately, neither this bill nor any other general forestry bill was ■ 

 passed. The Association should bend every effort the coming year to impress 

 upon the people and upon the candidates for the Legislature the pressing 

 importance of passing some good forestry law during the next session of 

 the Legislature. Our President has just outlined a plan of campaign looking 

 to this end. 



Forest Protective Associations furnish a plan for the protection of the 

 forests from fire which can be operated by the owners themselves until the 

 State assumes this duty. Such associations seem to me especially suited to 

 certain areas of our mountain forests. Effective Forest Protective Associa- 

 tions have been organized in some of the Northwestern and Northern States, 

 and Mr. W. B. Greeley, Assistant Forester of the United States, in an address 

 to the Hardwood Manufacturers' Association, recently strongly recommended 

 them as one of the best means of protecting mountain forests. In this con- 

 nection Mr. Greeley says: 



"Aside from action by the State governments, however, coats must be 

 taken off and good gray matter expended in hard work on the protection of 

 the individual timbered property. In this work, the experience of some of 

 the Northern and Western timber owners as to the value of cooperation 



