The Forests of Canada 



505 



to the representatives of the great lum- 

 bering class, who perhaps are more in- 

 terested than any other class of the com- 

 munity in the maintenance, preservation, 

 and protection of the forests. Welcome 

 to the university men whom we see be- 

 fore us, welcome to the traders, welcome 

 to the sportsmen ; welcome to all classes 

 who are present and who are ready to 

 contribute of their time and of their 

 money to the great object we have in 

 view and which is an object of primary 

 national importance. The large attend- 

 ance which I see before me, I am most 

 gratified to say, exceeds all the expecta- 

 tions that we had; and this attendance, 

 large as it is, is a manifest evidence that 

 the Canadian people at last realize the 

 great importance of all problems con- 

 nected with forestry. 



THE PRIMEVAL FOREST 



A great deal of harm has already been 

 done — harm which, I am afraid, in many 

 respects cannot be recalled ; but it is not 

 yet too late, and the harm which we know 

 has taken place is and ought to be an 

 incentive to us to do our best in the en- 

 deavor to check it and to give more at- 

 tention to forestry problems. Our ances- 

 tors, when they came to this continent, 

 found it an unbroken forest from the 

 shores of the Atlantic Ocean to the Mis- 

 sissippi Valley. It was the home of a 

 race of hunters who derived their exist- 

 ence chiefly from the chase and for 

 whom, therefore, the forest was a natural 

 element. It was the object of our an- 

 cestors to turn this land into a fit habitat 

 for a race of agriculturists, for the white 

 man, whose civilization is based pri- 

 marily upon agriculture. They had to 

 clear their homes from the forest ; but 

 instead of attacking the forest with care 

 and tenderness they looked upon it as an 

 enemy, to be got rid of with the axe, with 

 fire, and with every mode of destruction. 

 History tells us and our own experience 

 tells us that they went at it most merci- 

 lessly. The forest had no friends what- 

 ever, because, to clear off a few acres of 

 land, they would set fire to miles upon 



miles of the noblest trees that ever lifted 

 their lofty heads toward the heavens. 

 This, at one time or other, went on in 

 every part of the continent, and even at 

 this very day it is still going on in some 

 parts of the continent. 



These pioneers of former days, as the 

 pioneers of these modern days, did not 

 realize that in the economy of nature 

 forests are just as indispensable to the 

 civilization of man as tilled fields. They 

 did not appreciate that, even from the 

 point of view of agriculture, unless tilled 

 fields are furnished by forests with mois- 

 ture and rainfall, they decrease in their 

 productiveness accordingly, and that the 

 efforts of the agriculturist will suffer in 

 proportion. We have assembled here in 

 order to devise ways and means, if pos- 

 sible, first of all to check this evil and to 

 make every class in the community 

 realize the great importance of maintain- 

 ing, preserving, and protecting our for- 

 ests. 



THE NECESSITY OE A LARGE EOREST PRE- 

 SERVE 



What I would like to call the attention 

 of this convention to, in the first place, 

 would be the necessity of establishing a 

 preserve, a large forest domain. There 

 are certain portions of the earth's surface 

 which, in the wise economy of nature, 

 must always be maintained as forests. 

 All the hills, mountains, and plateaus 

 which are the sources of flowing streams 

 or rivers should never be allowed for any 

 consideration whatever to remain any- 

 thing else than forest. No consideration 

 whatever should allow these portions of 

 the earth's surface to be denuded of their 

 trees. We know the consequences, and 

 therefore it is needless for me to dwell 

 upon that feature; it is a mere truism. 



If these portions of the earth's surface 

 in our own country are to be maintained 

 as forests it is essential, in my humble 

 judgment at all events, that they should 

 form part of the national domain, 

 that they should belong to the state. 

 In Canada by the state I mean the pro- 

 vincial governments where the manage- 



