Roosevelt's Part in Forestry 
49 
to handle it. At the recommendation of the Secretary of Interior, 
as I recall it, President Roosevelt made, soon after he came to the 
W'hite House, a decision as to grazing on National Forests in Ari- 
zona which I thought to be unwise. Representatives of the grazing 
interests of that territory, including, I believe, the present Associate 
Forester of the United States Forest Service, came to me and set 
forth their objections to the President's decision. I agreed with 
them, and I suggested that, although the President's action had 
been made public, we might nevertheless put the case before him. 
\Ye did so, very briefly. W ith his usual lightning grasp of a situa- 
tion, Roosevelt saw that he had followed the wrong trail, and with- 
out the slightest care that he would be reversing himself in public, 
he set the matter right. I knew then that he was a great man. 
It was the endless good fortune of forestry in America that while 
it was still young it should have had in the White House so firm, 
sympathetic, and understanding a friend. How much it owes to 
him it will never be possible accurately to determine ; for the debt 
of forestry to Roosevelt is not to be counted only in the great 
things he did for it, but also in the thousands of small advances 
and advantages which came to American forestry because it was 
known to be dear to the heart of the first citizen, the greatest driving 
force, and the most powerful influence in America. 
Forestry is firmly established among us today because Roosevelt 
stood behind it like a stone wall when there was little to it except 
hope and good intentions.* 
* Reprinted, by permission of the author and the Editor, from the Journal 
of Forestry, Vol. 17, pp. 122-124, 1919. 
