2 
As this number of the Forester goes to press there are being 
received in Honolulu the reports of recent notable happenings in 
the Conservation controversy on the mainland. It would be out 
of place at this time to discuss in these pages the probable effect 
of the changes of personnel in the Forest Service, or to speculate 
upon their bearing on the Conservation movement. But this may, 
and perhaps ought once more to be said, that the issue now before 
the American people is not a matter of individuals but a question 
in which principles of fundamental importance are at stake. The 
great majority of thinking men in the United States are practically 
at one on the necessity of conserving the sources of natural wealth 
that still vest in the Nation, but there is very great difference of 
opinion as to how< this may best be done. This in itself is a grave 
question, but the real issue, the crux of the whole problem is the 
question by and for whom are the natural resources to be ex- 
ploited ? Are they to be rightly developed and legitimately used 
in the interest and for the benefit of all the people, or are they to 
go to swell the coffers and enhance the power of the favored few ? 
This is the real bed rock question. It is a simple and clear cut 
issue. It must not be lost sight of. 
The fight is no new one. It is but a new phase of the old, old 
struggle of the People vs. Predatory Wealth. But seldom before 
has the issue been so clearly defined or have the stakes been of 
such tremendous importance. With the rapid increase of ma- 
terial wealth in recent years, resulting from the application of 
science to industrial life, there have been made possible combina- 
tions that were unthought of a few decades ago. The time has 
arrived when the ultimate control of the sources of wealth has 
become a moral as well as an economic problem, for in the last 
analysis the issue turns on whether this Nation is to exist and be 
carried on in the interest of all the people, or whether it is to be 
run by money, for profit. 
In the great battle that is now on every effort will be made to 
becloud the main issue and to distract attention to minor occur- 
rences. Raising dust is one of the most effective ways of con- 
fusing those who are vs^atching a contest. Irrevalent interrup- 
tions and bold misstatements are to be expected, while personal 
differences will be made to occupy a prominent place. But it is 
not a question of details or of quarrels between individuals. 
Whether this or that government official is found culpable, or is 
^‘white-washed” ; whether he is removed or exonerated has but an 
incidental bearing on the great and vital question that is being 
fought out. 
In a fight of this sort public sentiment and an awakened public 
conscience are more potent than dollars. Let the main question 
be kept clearly before the country until the great mass of the 
American people knows the issue as it really is, and there can 
and will be but one outcome. 
