Appropriateness and Appreciation 27 



of Dr. Hugh P. Baker, then Dean of the College of Forestry, who 

 took the plan to the Trustees of the College. Inasmuch as it had 

 originated at the College, and had had Roosevelt's approval, the 

 Trustees considered it eminently appropriate as a Memorial, and 

 therefore requested Senator J. Henry Walters and Assemblyman 

 George R. Fearon to present a bill to the Legislature authorizing 

 the establishment at the College of the Roosevelt Wild Life Forest 

 Experiment Station. This bill was presented to the Senate and 

 Assembly on March 26, 1919, and became a law May 10, 1919, with 

 the approval of Governor Alfred E. Smith. 



Activities of the Memorial Station 



This brief account of the origin of this Memorial shows how 

 ( New York State has made a very modest start indeed toward what, 

 in the minds of many, is the most appropriate kind of Memorial to 

 her greatest citizen ; and the future must reveal what wisdom and 

 foresight the State will show in its proper nurture. The State of 

 New York thus becomes the guardian of this wild life Memorial 

 to Theodore Roosevelt. The New York State College of Forestry 

 at Syracuse, is a State institution supported solely by State funds, 

 and the Roosevelt Wild Life Forest Experiment Station is a part 

 of this institution. The Trustees are State officials. A legislative 

 mandate instructed them as follows : 



" To establish and conduct an experimental station to be known as 

 ' Roosevelt Wild Life Forest Experiment Station,' in which there 

 shall be maintained records of the results of the experiments and 

 investigations made and research work accomplished; also a library 

 of works, publications, papers and data having to do with wild life, 

 together with means for practical illustration and demonstration, 

 which library shall, at all reasonable hours, be open to the public." 

 [Laws of New York, chapter 536. Became a law May 10, 1919.] 



Special attention should be called to this unique provision for a 

 wild life library. We have no such public library in America 

 devoted exclusively to this subject. The policy of the Station is 

 to build up a comprehensive collection of publications of all kinds, 

 including also original note books, manuscripts, photographs, draw- 

 ings, and other illustrative material, technical and popular, which 

 bear upon the use and appreciation of forest wild life. 



While this Memorial Station was founded by New York State, 

 its functions are not limited solely to the State. The Trustees of 



