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procedure under the conditions that are found to exist. In particu- 

 lar, the farmers in ever}^ section of the country must be aided, either 

 to develop their woodlots or to plant trees upon the prairies. * * * 

 The forests now under Government control should remain under Gov- 

 ernment control so far as they are needed for public uses. We must 

 have forest reserves, and we shall have to extend their area later on, 

 not merely by Presidential proclamation, but by purchase, both East 

 and West. Forest lands are passing out of the Government's owner- 

 ship every day — lands whose preservation is absolutely essential to the 

 well-being of the country where the}^ lie. It will eventually cost the 

 Government of the United States hundreds of millions of dollars to 

 become possessed again of the areas which it once held, which are now 

 in private ownership, and which are absolutely essential to the welfare 

 of all of us. '•' * * I hope to see the Bureau of Forestry act as a 

 helper and assistant, not only to the commercial interests, which is 

 its first duty, but to all the interests of every kind that are in any 

 way connected with the forest. And this not by interference or 

 dictation. I should like to have every man and every woman in this 

 convention go home with the idea that the Bureau of Forestr}^ is the 

 servant of every one of you, and asks nothing better, and can hope for 

 nothing better, than to be called upon to give you help to the utmost 

 limit of its power. 



