Los Angeles herald., 1905-01-06
MANY NOTABLES
HEAR PRESIDENT
DELIVERS ADDRESS BEFORE
FORESTRY CONGRESS
Among other Distinguished Speakers
at the Meeting Was N. Jusse-
rand, the Ambassador
From France
nv Associated Press.

Roosevelt was the principal speaker at
a special session of the American Far
estry congress held this afternoon at
the National theater.
The president, accompanied by Sec
retary Loeb. arrived at the theater
promptly at o'clock He was escorted
TO the stage entrance and as he ap-
peared before the immense audience,
which filled every part Of the house,
the people received him standing. while
the theater rang with applause and the
orchestra played a patriotic air.
Secretary Wilson presided over the
session and many of the distinguished
people in official and social life were
in the audience. Secretary Taft and
Mrs. Ttaft, Secretary Hitchcock, Mrs.
Hitchcock and Miss Hitchcock and Sir
Mortimer Durand. the British ambassa-
dor, occupied boxes. on the stage were
many prominent members of the For
estry congress.
Secretary Wilson, in presenting
President Roosevelt, who was the first
speaker. made an address, simply ir-
PRODUCING Mr.. Roosevelt as the presi-
dent Of the United States. The presi-
dents address was punctuated fire.
quentIy with applause.
Tho Presidents Speech
The president spoke in part as fol-
lows:
"It is a pleasure to greet the MEM
bers Of the American Forestry con-
gress. You have made by your coming
meeting which is without parallel In
the history of forestry. For the first
time the great business and the forest
interests of the nation have joined to-
gether, through delegates altogether
worthy of the organizations they repre-
sent, to consider their individual and
their common interests in the forests.
This meeting may we'll be called con-
gress of forest users, for, that you are
users of the forests, come together to
consider how best to combine use with
conservation, is to me full of the most
horeful possible promise for our
forests
"The producers, the manufacturers
and the great common carriers of the
nation had long failed to realize their
true and vital relation to the great
forests of the United States, and for
ests and industries both suffered from
the failure, but the time of indiffer-
ence and misunderstanding has gone
by. Your coming is a very great step
toward the solution of the forest prob
lena problem which cannot be set
tied until it is settled right. And it
cannot be settled right until the for
ests which bring that settlement about
come, not from the government, not
even from the newspapers and public
sentiment in general, but from the ac-
tive. intelligent and effective interest
of the men to which the forest is inn
portant from the business point of
view, because they use it and it's prod
ucts. and whose interest is therefore
concrete instead of general and diff
fuse. do not in the least underrate
the power of the awakened public
opinion, but in the final test it will
be the attitude of the industries of
the country which more than any
thing else will determine whether or
not our forests are to be preserved.
This is true because by far the great
err part of all our forests must pass
into the hands of forest users, whether
directly or through the government,
which will continue to hold some of
them, but only as trustees. The for
est is for use. and its users will de-
eide its future.
''Thc great significance of this con-
gress comes from the fact that hence
forth the movement for the conserva-
tive use of the forest is to come main
ly from within and not from without;
from the men who are actively inter-
ested in the use of the forest in one
way or another, even more than from
those whose interests are philanthropio
and general. The difference means to
a large extent the difference between
mere agitation and actual execution,
between the hope of accomplishment
and the thing done. We believe that at
last forces have been set in motion
which will convert the only distant
prospect of the conservation of the for
est by wise use into the practical ac-
complishment of that great end; and of
this most hopeful and significant fact
the coming together Of this congress is
the sufficient proof.
"The place of the forest in the life
of any nation is far too large to be
described in the time at my command.
This is particularly true of its place in
the United States, The great In
dustries of agriculture. transportation,
mining and grazing and of course lliu-
bering are each one of them vitality
and Immediately dependent upon
wood, water or grass from the forest.
The manufacturing industries. whether
or not they enter directly into their
finished product, are scarcely if at all,
less dependent upon the forest than
those whose connection with it is oh
vious and direct. Wood is an in
dispcnsable part OF the material struc-
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