i62 TIMBER SUPPLIES AND THE WAR 



latter part of last century came to receive a certain 

 meed of attention from the Governments of the States 

 of the world. One of the more recent and notable 

 recognitions took place in America under the Roosevelt 

 regime. That great and far-seeing statesman studied 

 the question, became convinced of its importance, and 

 set himself to put a stop to what may be said to have 

 been one of the most notorious instances of wasteful 

 utilisation of forest material in any country. Roose- 

 velt took up the question in his own vigorous fashion, 

 preached the conservation of the natural resources of 

 his own country, helped to create a Bureau of Forestry, 

 and by all the means in his power encouraged a forestry 

 opinion and a forestry knowledge amongst the people. 

 The crusade resulted in the creation of large forest 

 reserves, in large plantings, and the enlistment of the 

 great lumber interests in checking forest fires, which 

 were imperilHng the future material prosperity of 

 the nation, and in replanting areas they had felled 

 over. 



The energetic action of America in the direction of 

 forestry caught first the imagination and then the 

 attention of the world. Outside Europe, India, long 

 years before, had recognised the importance of con- 

 serving her vast forest area, and under that able 

 administrator, Lord Dalhousie, a permanent poHcy 

 for forest administration was laid down in 1855 ; a 

 work which, subsequent to the Mutiny, with its imme- 

 diate after-result of rapid railway building, was to 

 be greatly accelerated by the formation of an Imperial 

 Forest Department. But India does not advertise. 

 The officials carry on their work in an almost total 



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