252 Canadian Forestry Journal, November, ipi3. 



SENTIMENT MAKING AND FOREST 



PROTECTION. 



By 

 E. T. Allen, 

 Forester, Western Forestry and Conservation Association, Portland, Oregon. 



If every citizen knew the truth 

 about forest preservation and use, 

 understood the economics of forest 

 production and what governs the 

 conduct of lumbermen, comprehend- 

 ed the power and responsibility of 

 state and government, realized his 

 own relation to these problems and 

 what conduct of his own would best 

 serve his welfare and the commun- 

 ity's; then there would be little use 

 in discussing most of the topics be- 

 fore this meeting. That they are 

 vital topics is because they are ques- 

 tions of human conduct, either in or 

 out of the lumber industry, yet are 

 given proper consideration by too 

 small a proportion of the people 

 whose conduct is involved. We are 

 unsuccessful in any of our aims only 

 where we hold a minority belief. 

 Minority belief is lack of public sen- 

 timent. Therefore we succeed or 

 fail exactly in the measure of our 

 ability as sentiment makers. The 

 certainty and speed of accomplish- 

 ing any result dependent on human 

 action are measured by the degree 

 to which the desire for this result, 

 and knowledge of how to get it, ap- 

 proach being universal. 



That is all there is to it and it ap- 

 plies to forestry and fire protection, 

 to public encouragement of proper 

 business organization, and to find- 

 ing a market for our product. Such 

 a fundamental factor in the success 

 of human endeavor has not escaped 

 deep study anywhere except in for- 

 estry industry. Princes, priests and 



The paper from which the accompanying ex- 

 cerpts were taken was delivered recently before 

 the San Francisco Forestry Meetings. 



politicians have always lived by it; 

 psychologists and advertising ex- 

 perts have reduced it to exact 

 science. Forest industry has long 

 suffered by its operation against us, 

 first through hostility or indifference 

 toward forest welfare generally, 

 and lastly through its employment 

 by our competitors. Yet although 

 we have smarted under this, only 

 very lately have we realized that it 

 has been our own fault; that we 

 have deliberately left to others the 

 one great instrument that all must 

 wield or perish. And now that we 

 are taking it up belatedly, is it rea- 

 sonable to suppose we can succeed 

 without learning the principles 

 which govern its use? The object 

 of my talk here is to warn against 

 such a belief. We will waste much 

 effort, perhaps do real harm, if we 

 assume that sentiment making re- 

 quires nothing more than our native 

 intelligence backed by some money. 

 It requires experience and system 

 as much as any other undertaking; 

 probably more than most because, 

 while we can learn many things by 

 our own failures and successes, no 

 man alone can observe all the work- 

 ings of the human mind in different 

 environments. He must borrow 

 from the experience of others and 

 do so with great discrimination. 



The Lazvs of Sentiment. 



I shall not attempt a complete ex- 

 position of psychologic laws and all 

 the detail of their application to for- 

 est propaganda. I do hope, how- 

 ever, to set you thinking on two dis- 

 tinct propositions. One is that there 

 are certain laws which govern all 



