The Two Masks of Destruction. 



When an army of marauding Germans laid hands on Belgium, placed the nation 

 ill formal slavery, and ruined or sequestered the national domain, 100,000 Canadian 

 citizens i)ut on the King's uniform and pledged themselves to evict the trespasser. 



Belgium and France have lost, through the violence of gun fire and other practises 

 of war, enormous quantities of beautiful and almost priceless forest. A hundred 

 years will scarcely restore these wrecked woodlands to the condition of August 3rd, 1914. 



"War is just one brand of Destruction. It appals because it takes toll of the price- 

 less human. It amazes because it lacks the accidental factor of most other destruction. 



If foreign guns smashed down ten million dollars worth of Canadian forests 

 in a brief twelvemonths' campaign, can anyone picture the burst of patriotic 

 resentment arising through town and countryside? Governments would concentrate 

 every resource to oust the invader; no otlier task would be known in the land until 

 the rescue of the forests had been accomjilished. 



Canadian forests are falling every month of every year beneath the onslaught 

 of Fire. Guns or Fire — it makes no difference except that cannon are surpassed by 

 Fire in thoroughness. Fire is an invader, a national and individual foe. He will ruin 

 our splendid annual forest crop of 172 million dollars if his power is not stayed. He will 

 dry uj) the rivers and waterfalls, develop damaging floods, impoverish the farm lands, 

 and leave the whole nation poorer. 



Fire is as much a national trespasser as a line of hostile regiments. He deserves 

 to be handled with the same steadfastness, the same vigilance, the same ingenuity. 



Forestry experts have calculated that lumbermen have cut since Confederation 

 over a billion and a quarter dollars worth of Canadian trees. 



While five or six hillioa dollars icorth liave been sacrificed to fire. 



Is this the sort of national record worth perpetuating? 



[Flioto by Underwood and Underwood 



ONE BRAND OF DESTRUCTION. 



German shell fire concentrated for a few minutes on the area shown in the 

 above photograph smashed and stripped a patch of timber into a few 

 useless skeletons. The picture was taken in Northern France. 



68 



