American Forest Congress 39 



operations — no easy task, for the skill of our loggers 

 and lumbermen is proverbial. 



If I may as a Southerner use my section of the 

 country as an example of the varied problems confront- 

 ing the forester, I will say that we need him to point 

 out our natural forest areas, and thus save us the time, 

 effort, and substance which we otherwise might waste 

 in clearing them only to iind through bitter experience 

 that they would grow nothing else than trees; to 

 indicate the methods of logging which would insure 

 the perpetuation of our standard trees, th^ yellow 

 poplar, oaks, hickories, gums, cypress, and pines. One 

 has already shown us a way to gather turpentine 

 which has added millions to the revenues of the pine 

 belt through improving the product, and which has 

 greatly lengthened the period during which trees may 

 be bled. We need him to solve our fire problem and 

 devise means for prevention of and protection from 

 this arch enemy of forest management. His scientifi- 

 cally established facts regarding tree growth, influ- 

 ences, and value present and future will strengthen 

 our pleas to state legislatures for wisely conceived, 

 far-sighted tax laws. 



So we repeat this question: Why should not our 

 univefsities offer courses which will fit men for all, 

 instead of a few, professions ? I know there are dan- 

 gers to be apprehended, and that it will require the 

 utmost care to avoid the Scylla and Chsirybdis of a 

 narrow utilitarianism and the pursuit of art and science 

 as ends in themselves; but of the many advantages, 

 not the least will be the introduction of a vitalizing 

 and democratizing element into the student community 

 which will cause our universities to come forth from 

 their cloistered seclusion into a closer touch with the 

 activities of life. 



