Appropriateness and Appreciation 
2/ 
of Dr. Hugh P. Baker, then Dean of the College of P^orestry. who 
took the plan to the Trustees of the College. Inasmuch as it had 
originated at the College, and had had Roosevelt's approval, the 
Trustees considered it eminently appropriate as a Memorial, and 
therefore requested Senator J. Henry Walters and Assemblyman 
George R. Fearon to present a bill to the Legislature authorizing 
the establishment at the College of the Roosevelt Wild Life Forest 
Experiment Station. This bill was presented to the Senate and 
Assembly on March 26. 1919. and became a law May 10, 1919, with 
the approval of Governor Alfred E. Smith. 
Activities of the Memorial Station 
This brief account of the origin of this Memorial shows how 
,New^ York State has made a very modest start indeed toward what, 
in the minds of many, is the most appropriate kind of Memorial to 
her greatest citizen ; and the future must reveal what wisdom and 
foresight the State will show in its proper nurture. The State of 
New York thus becomes the guardian of this wild life Memorial 
to Theodore Roosevelt. The New York State College of Forestry 
at Syracuse, is a State institution supported solely by State finids, 
and the Roosevelt Wild Life Forest Experiment Station is a part 
of this institution. The Trustees are State officials. A legislative 
mandate instructed them as follows: 
" To establish and conduct an experimental station to be known as 
' Roosevelt WWd Life Forest Experiment Station,' in w-hich there 
shall be maintained records of the results of the experiments and 
investigations made and research work accomplished ; also a library 
of w^orks, publications, papers and data having to do with wild life, 
together with means for practical illustration and demonstration, 
which library shall, at all reasonable hours, be open to the public." 
[Laws of New York, chapter 536. Became a law May 10, 1919.] 
Special attention should be called to this unique provision for a 
wild life library. We have no such public library in America 
devoted exclusively to this subject. The policy of the Station is 
to build up a comprehensive collection of publications of all kinds, 
including also original note books, manuscripts, photographs, draw- 
ings, and other illustrative material, technical and popular, which 
bear upon the use and appreciation of forest wild life. 
While this Memorial Station was founded by New York State, 
its functions are not limited solely to the State. The Trustees of 
