' IN FORESTRY. 



what it bad in titties' past*. " 'Forineiiy -eclticational conferences meant comparisor. 

 of meth-ods of teaching in different institutions. The result was an improvement 

 in technique and an improvement in purpose and spirit. To-day we have a 

 different problem and a greater one. With the changes the war has produced, 

 the high cost of living, etc., the matter of conserving our powers and of economy 

 has come into education. Economy can be viewed in two ways, by saving 

 money or making it go as far as possible ; adapting means to ends determining 

 which things must be done now, which things can be postponed, which things 

 need to wait until the special interest can best be suited. 



An educational conference is, therefore, no longer a comparison of methods 

 of scientific results Iready obtained. It is the adapting of methods into an 

 organization which must have as much division of labor as a manufacturing 

 plant, which must view the problems of demand, whether urgent in the imme- 

 diate future, or the kind -that can be dealt with more as circumstances allow, 

 which must adapt the education of the country not simply to the methods of the 

 science but to their position in our educational system as a part of the economic 

 system of the country. 



In this, foresters are adapted to lead the way. Forestry above all else is 

 animated by the spirit of public service. It will take the lead here because it 

 is free from the danger of subordinating public welfare to private considera- 

 tion. We should study the demand for different lines of education as well as 

 the supply, but always from the standpoint of the consideration of national 



fore private interest. We welcome you all most heartily to this conference. 



OPENING ADDRESS. 



By JAMES W. TOUMEY, Dean, Yale School of Forestry. 



The first national conference on education in forestry in the United States 

 was held in Washington, D. C., on December 30, 1909. That conference was 

 called hrough the initiative of Gifford Pinchot. The object of the conference 

 was fully set forth by Prof. H. S. Graves, in an article in the March number 

 K? * * Quarterly ' P blish *d in 1910. At that time there were over 

 ) institutions m this country and Canada which gave instruction in forestry 

 orestry was then first beginning to attain a recognized place in educationai 

 circles in this country. There was no recognized standard of professional 

 tra mng, as was shown in the wide difference in scope in the forest schools 

 and he great diversity in attainments of those calling themselves profes- 

 sional foresters. As pointed out by Graves, the civil service examinations 

 served in a measure as a professional standard, but as only a part of the men 



Th e e real^ K *** ** <>- * cely answered t^e purp"" 

 The real purpose of the conference was to take the first steps in an iLe 

 ment among the schools as to the character and minimum techn al trah ing 

 required of a forester of the different grades. It was emphasized at th" 

 conference that the pressure to emphasize the practical app *at7on of for 



that time practically an the forest schools had developed 



