114 CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION. 



game from all parts of the world; she protected her forest; and, to-day her forests 

 and rivers teem with bird and fish life. Her people are not only well supplied 

 with good food, but she successfully invites sportsmen to visit her and recover the 

 bodily vigour lost in some far away city. Australia is doing exactly the same. 

 So are other countries. Those who belittle the sportsman, (the old fashioned 

 kind I mean now) , should always bear one fact in mind ; it was he who first (before 

 the missionary) trod the unexplored wilderness in the four corners and centre of 

 of the earth, and opened it up to civilization. He it is also who scatters his wealth 

 as he goes, and brings information as to the natural resources of the countries he 

 visits. More than one of our own mines have been started, or at any rate located, 

 by a visiting sportsman. The same is true of some lumber concerns. If you 

 ask the people of Europe, Asia, Africa, and the United States what they have lost 

 by cutting their timber extravagantly, they will tell you they have lost what they 

 cannot replace in less than hundreds of years, and then only at the cost of billions 

 of dollars. We, who boast of civilized instincts, and pretend to teach the abor- 

 iginal the narrower and better way, could, if less egotistical, learn much from those 

 children of nature whose countries we obey an instinct in invading. The red man 

 will soon be gone, or, at least, civilized; he has ceased long since to be even a pic- 

 turesque adjunct. He, however, could teach us much unselfishness in the appli- 

 cation of God's gifts to the daily needs of life. Wherever you go it is the civilized 

 intruder who recklessly cuts and tears at the fair land. There was some excuse for 

 this, though not a very moral one, in the case of the Conqueror, whose aim was the 

 acquisition of wealth and immediate spoliation. But for a people young and pros- 

 perous, to allow their home and the country of their future descendants to be shorn 

 of its chances of prosperity, is the most wicked and abiding fallacy that man in 

 his ignorance or lethargy could be guilty of. Our forefathers knew that man's 

 natural habitat was the open air, if possible with the smell of the balsam and pine 

 added to make perfect conditions. A prominent American said the other day, 

 " Canada is going to reap the benefit of our mistake by drawing millions from our 

 pockets yearly, if she only remains true to herself and protects her forests." Can- 

 ada has immense forests of the finest timber required for every day use all around 

 the world. These forests are full of the big game and of the richest fur-bearing 

 animals. The same forests are storage reservoirs for hundreds of lakes and rivers 

 teeming with various kinds of game fish. They are also the natural health resort 

 for our own people and for men from the great cities of America and Europe. As- 

 sets so vast as these cannot be left at the mercy of " politics." Let us have a Forest 

 Commission, absolutely and fearlessly independent of party politics, to protect 

 our forests, and thereby save our fish, game and natural scenery. 



That Commission will have two great assets to save. 1st, Water power which 

 will in the future make Canada from ocean to ocean, the world's greatest manu- 

 facturing area. 2nd, The forest which will enable those water powers to be oper- 

 ated in utilizing our marvellous mineral wealth and agricultural products and in 

 giving to the world a finished product. To keep a skilled and contented population 

 in our great towns of the future we shall need to offer them cheap living and pleasant 

 relaxation. I hope to have shown you that a wise conservation of forest areas 

 will do a great deal to furnish these conditions. 



The PRESIDENT. We must all thank Mr. Armstrong for his beautiful paper. 

 This meeting will be an additional mile stone to the Mecca he has so happily painted, 



