American Forest Congress 435 



securing an appropriation for a forest reserve, for 

 you see there isn't anything in the latter for anybody 

 except the people. While, for. the former you can 

 "line up" a solid phalanx of shipbuilders, armor plate, 

 and boiler makers and all their henchmen to bear down 

 upon our Congressmen with silver-tipped arrows and 

 promissory appeals that win. We foresters work for 

 the people, and so oftimes our arguments and bills 

 have to wait a long while before they are given a 

 hearing and penetrate the crust of human selfishness. 



Address by Filibert Roth 



Professor of Forestry, University of Michigan 



I CAME here as an individual to enjoy meeting 

 friends and gather inspiration which will enable 

 me to perform better my duty as a citizen, as a servant 

 of the Michigan Forestry Commission, and as a teacher 

 at the University. I also came here as the servant 

 of that Commission, representing it, I am afraid, very 

 poorly. I came here to say to you that Michigan is 

 still in the front ranks of this union as one of its 

 greatest States. For nearly a century we in Michigan 

 have been hewing out of the forests the homes for 

 more than two million people, our lumbermen have 

 hustled, and have provided the lumber to build the 

 homes of the prairie States from the Dominion to 

 Texas. We worked faster than we knew. Had we 

 continued with the ox team and the old-time "up and 

 down" sash saw, we would still have pine to sell. But 

 the old methods were too slow ; the old-fashioned "cog 

 gear" gave away to "rope feed," and rope feed was 

 thrown away and replaced by "shotgun" feed to rush 

 the timber against the whirling saw. 

 Working with steam and electricity we went beyond 



