24 Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin 



point of 'diminishing returns') but on the activities of the living 

 animal and its relation to the real world in which he lives. 



" There is thus an urgent need for scientific research. How 

 can this be best favored? 



Proposed Remedy 



" Our larger universities, as a rule, have ignored the investiga- 

 tion of the larger game animals, and at present there is no indica- 

 tion of an early change of policy. The larger animals of the forest 

 have for ages been considered as one of the regular products of 

 the forest, or as Chief Forester Graves of the Forest Service has 

 expressed it : ' Wild life is largely a forest product. It should be 

 regarded as a public resource, to be protected and systematically 

 developed. It is a resource which is easily destroyed under abuse; 

 but it readily responds to right treatment. The intelligent fostering 

 of the valuable wild life of the forest is and has always been one 

 of the objects of forestry. Forests are more than trees. They are 

 rather land areas on which are associated various forms of plant 

 and animal life. The forester must deal with all. Wild life is as 

 essentially and legitimately an object of his care as are water, wood, 

 and forage. Forest administration should be planned with a view 

 to realizing all possible benefits from the land areas handled. It 

 should take account of their indirect value for recreation and health 

 as well as their value for the production of salable material ; and of 

 their value for the production of meat, hides, and furs of all kinds 

 as well as for the production of wood and the protection of water 

 supplies.' 



" The relation of game to forests is thus seen to be a permanent 

 one and not a temporary alliance. It should not depend upon the 

 favor of a few men who happen to be interested, for it is based 

 upon mutual fundamental interests and therefore there should be 

 a definite policy looking forward to permanent results. The most 

 promising methods of favoring research on these large game animals 

 are: 



" First, to utilize trained men. To put into the field such available 

 trained men as can be secured to investigate important and urgent 

 problems. These men should be used while younger men are in 

 training. 



" Second, train voung men. By means of fellowships young men 

 can be encouraged to get the necessary training to become technical 

 investigators of large game animals. 



" It would be the part of wisdom to utilize both of these methods 

 at some educational institution where emphasis is put upon research." 



At a meeting of the Directors of the Boone and Crockett Club 

 soon afterward a special committee was authorized to consider this 

 plan, composed of Dr. Lewis Rutherford Morris, chairman, acting 



