12 Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin 



unquestionably his supreme achievement, because in it is the cul- 

 mination or climax of his whole constructive national program. 



In view of these considerations let us bear in mind that the 

 supreme memorial to him is the life he lived and the work itself, 

 as Lincoln said of the soldiers' lives given at Gettysburg. All other 

 kinds of memorials worthy of the name should aim to continue the 

 kind of work for which Roosevelt lived and strove. Let us fully 

 realize this and proceed to do what is best, from this standpoint. 

 We must expect considerable divergence of opinion, depending upon 

 the variations in human nature, but in the minds of many a most 

 appropriate memorial to Roosevelt would combine and recognize 

 not only his public service but as well his distinctive personal quali- 

 ties and likings. All grant that he was a statesman, a scholar, a 

 hunter, and a field-naturalist. He was a field-naturalist first, and 

 later became a scholar and statesman. He never outgrew his first 

 love for wild nature and wild things of the field and forest. This 

 knowledge of nature was the fertile soil upon which grew his con- 

 servation plans, which he developed in cooperation with Gifford 

 Pinchot, the forester. 



A memorial therefore which would help perpetuate one of Roose- 

 velt's greatest achievements, namely, his conservation program as 

 applied to forestry, including wild life, and which would promote 

 a wide public interest in natural history studies, the subject " always 

 uppermost in his mind," would be truly distinctive and worthy. 

 Roosevelt himself has said : 



" From now on it is essential to recognize that the best scientific 

 men must largely work in the great out-of-doors laboratory of 

 nature. It is only such outdoors work which will give us the chance 

 to interpret aright the laboratory observations. . . . There 

 must be ample research in the laboratory in order even to present 

 those problems, not to speak of solving them, and there can be no 

 laboratory study without the accumulation of masses of dry facts 

 and specimens." 



Here, in Roosevelt's own words, are the essential features for a 

 plan to advance our knowledge of forest wild life by a balanced 

 combination of outdoor study and laboratory research. 



The Establishment of the State Wild Life Memorial 



The Roosevelt Wild Life Forest Experiment Station of the New 

 York State College of Forestry at Syracuse was authorized by the 

 legislature in May, 1919, and has the unique distinction of being 



