REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE COURSE LEADING 

 TO THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF FORESTRY. 



THE FUNCTION OF A FIVE-YEAR COURSE IN FORESTRY. 



Modern civilization rests upon the principle of cooperative effort in providing" 

 on a large scale and in advance of actual need the materials required for main- 

 taining our standards of living. The three foundation stones are capital, coop- 

 eration, and Christian ethics. Forestry as a national policy embodies the 

 highest development of the ideals of this civilization. The function of capital 

 is to make possible the existence of individuals during the period required to 

 organize an industry and produce the goods. Its destruction means starvation 

 and savagery. Forestry requires by far the greatest period of time for produc- 

 tion of any material, and is thus most closely dependent upon the ability to 

 await returns, and upon the foresight and self-denial in the present, which this 

 effort calls for. Cooperation means the development of specialists and techni- 

 cians on the one hand, and on the other the harmonious working of this com- 

 plicated organization for the common good, as opposed to class warfare. In for- 

 estry our progress will be measured to a far greater extent than in any other 

 line by public activity, whether through direct ownership or cooperation with 

 private effort. I need not emphasize the third factor ethics which alone pro- 

 tects property rights and makes any form of cooperative effort possible. 



The material energies of organized society may be summed up as the or- 

 ganizing and conduct of enterprises which supply the consumer with what he 

 needs when he needs it. The success of this effort is gauged by the abundance 

 and cheapness of the goods supplied and the relative advance in average stand- 

 ards of comfort This involves a threefold process fundamental to the con- 

 sideration of forestry education : First, a study of the needs of wood consumers ; 

 second, the technique of wood production, harvesting, and utilization; and 

 third, the business factors of adjusting the supply or production to the demand. 

 It is possible to separate practically all forestry subjects into these three 

 groups, except those applied sciences which are synthetic in character and 

 whose function is to teach the principles of harmonizing the three elements into 

 practical directions for operations. 



The first group may be termed "economics." This deals with the demand, 

 or the reaction of the forest on man. Its basis is the means of expression, 

 language. Its fundamental sciences are history and economic relations, based 

 on statistics. Its forest sciences are forest history and forest economies, while 

 it finds its practical application in policies crystallized and expressed by 

 laws. 



The second group may be termed " technique " and deals with the physical 

 environment altogether. Its basis lies in the sciences of physics and chemistry. 

 Its fundamental sciences are geology, botany, zoology, mechanics. Its forest 

 sciences are forest physiography, and soils, dendrology, and forest pathology, 

 forest ecology or silvics, forest entomology and zoology, and wood technology. 

 Its applied sciences are silviculture, forest engineering, forest utilization or 

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