Geographic Notes 



will assemble in Washington, D. C. 

 The meeting is held under the auspices 

 of the American Forestry Association, 

 by whom it was called. The purpose 

 of the Congress "is to establish a 

 broader understanding of the forest in 

 its relation to the great industries de- 

 pending upon it ; to advance the con- 

 servative use of forest resources for both 

 the present and the future need of these 

 industries ; to stimulate and unite all 

 efforts to perpetuate the forest as a per- 

 manent resource of the nation." 



On Monday, at 12 o'clock noon, Jan- 

 uary 2, the delegates will be received 

 in a body at the President's New Year's 

 reception at the White House. 



Morning and afternoon sessions will 

 be held on January 3, 4, 5, and 6 in the 

 National Rifles' Armory. On the after- 

 noon of January 5 a special meeting 

 will be held in the L,afayette Theater, 

 which will be addressed by the Presi- 

 dent of the United States and other 

 men prominent in our industrial and 

 national life. 



IMMIGRATION AND NATURAL- 

 IZATION 



PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT in his 

 last message to Congress states very 

 clearly the principle which has guided 

 us in the making of immigration laws 

 of the past and which should also guide 

 us in our revision of these laws . ' ' First 

 and foremost, let us remember that the 

 question of being a good American has 

 nothing whatever to do with a man's 

 birthplace, any more than it has to do 

 with his creed. In every generation, 

 from the time this government was 

 founded, men of foreign birth ha ye stood 

 in the very foremost rank of good citi- 

 zenship, and that not merely in one, but 

 in every field of American activity ; 

 while to try to draw a distinction be- 

 tween the man whose parents came to 

 this country and the man whose ances- 

 tors came to it several generations back 

 is a mere absurdity. Good American- 

 ism is a matter of heart, of conscience, 



of lofty aspiration, of sound common 

 sense, but not of birthplace or of creed. 

 The medal of honor, the highest prize 

 to be won by those who serve in the 

 Army and Navy of the United States, 

 decorates men born here, and it also 

 decorates men born in Great Britain 

 and Ireland, in Germany, in Scandi- 

 navia, in France, and doubtless in other 

 countries also. In the field of states- 

 manship, in the field of business, in the 

 field of philanthropic endeavor, it is 

 equally true that among the men of 

 whom we are most proud as Americans 

 no distinction whatever can be drawn 

 between those who themselves or whose 

 parents came over in sailing ship or 

 steamer from across the water and those 

 whose ancestors stepped ashore into the 

 wooded wilderness at Plymouth or at 

 the mouth of the Hudson, the Dela- 

 ware, or the James, nearly three centu- 

 ries ago. No fellow-citizen of ours is 

 entitled to any peculiar regard because 

 of the way in which he worships his 

 Maker, or because of the birthplace of 

 himself or his parents, nor should he be 

 in any way discriminated against there- 

 for. Each must stand on his worth as 

 a man and each is entitled to be judged 

 solely thereby. 



' 'There is nodangerof having too many 

 immigrants of the right kind. It makes 

 no difference from what country they 

 come. If they are sound in body and in 

 mind and, above all, if they are of good 

 character, so that we can rest assured 

 that their children and grandchildren 

 will be worthy fellow-citizens of our 

 children and grandchildren, then we 

 should welcome them with cordial hos- 

 pitality. 



" But the citizenship of this country 

 should not be debased. It is vital that 

 we should keep high the standard of 

 well-being among our wage- workers, 

 and therefore we should not admit 

 masses of men whose standards of living 

 acd whose personal customs and habits 

 are such that they tend to lower the 

 level of the American wage- worker, and 



