Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-01-05
THE PRESIDENT SPEAKS
Mr.. Roosevelt Addresses the
American Forest Congress.
HUNDREDS PRESENT
ANNUAL MEETING In PROGRESS
THIS AFTERNOON.
Session This Morning at National
Rifles Armory-Railroad Presi-
dents Discuss Forestry.


Wilson of the Department of Agriculture.
president of the congress. presided. and
President Roosevelt made the opening adj
dress on 1.-The Forest in the Life Of Ma
ton Other speakers on the program are
NJ J. J. Jusserand. the French ambassador,
and number of prominent railroad and in
dustrial men from all parts of the country.
At the business session of the congress
held this morning in the National Rifles
Armory the subject of Railroads in Rela-
ton to Forestry was ably discussed by
railroad presidents and officials of the bu-
reau of forestry. Rev. DR.. Edward Everett
Hale also made an appeal for the preserva-
ton of the forests of New England.
The Presidents Address.
President Roosevelt was introduced by
Secretary Wilson a few minutes after 3
o o'clock.
The President said:
1T is a pleasure to greet the members of
the American forest congress. 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 together through delegates alto,
gether worthy of the organiza tons they
represent, to consider their individual and
their common interests in the forest. This
meeting may well be called a congress of
forest users. for that you are users of the
to combine use with conservation is to me
full of the most hopeful possible promise
for our forests.
1.-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 forests and industries
both suffered from that failure But the
time of Indifference and misunderstanding
has gone by. Your coming is a very great
step toward the solution of the forest
problem-a problem which cannot be set
tied until it is settled right And it cannot
be settled right until the forces which
bring that settlement about come, not
from the government, not even from the
newspapers and from public sentiment in
general, but from the active, intelligent and
effective interest of the men to whom the
forest is important from the business point
of view; beca uHe-they use 1t and its prod
| ucts; and whose interests is therefore con-
crete instead of general and diffuSe l do
not in the least underrate the power of an
awakened public opinion; but in the final
test it will be the attitude of the indus
tries 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 greater part of all
our forests must pass, into the hands of
the government, which will continue to
hold some of them, but only as trustee.
The forest is for use, and it's users will
decide its Future s9si1 y
The Active Interest Displayed.
'',The, great significance Of this colgrt $
comes 0frpm- the fact that henceforth the
movement for the conservative use of the
forest is to come mainly from within, not
from without: from the men who are &C
tivelya Interested in the use of the forest in
one way or another, even more than from
those whose interest is philanthropic and
general The difference means to q large
extent the difference between mere agita-
ton and actual execution between the hope
of accomplishment and the thing done. We
believe that at last forces, have peen set in
motion which will convert the once distant
prospect of the conservation of the forest
by wise use into the practical accomplish
ment of that great end; and of this most
hopeful and significant fact the coming to-
gether of this congress Is the sufficient
proof.
1.-THE place of the forest in the life of
any nation is far too large to be describe
in the time at my command. This Is pecu-
liarly true of its place In the United States.
The great industries of agriculture, trans
portauon, mining, grazing, and OF course,
numbering. are each one Of them vitality
and Immediately dependent upon wood, wa
ter or grass from the forest. The manu-
featuring industries whether or not wood
enters directly into their finished product,
are scarcely, II at all. less dependent upon
the forest than those whose connection
with it is obvious and direct. Wood Is an
indispensable part OF tine ma1er1al StruC-
ture upon which civilization rests, and civ
ilized life makes continually greater de-
mands upon the forest. We use not less
wood, but more. For example. although
we consume relatively less wood and rela-
lively more steel or brick or cement In GER
tain Industries than was once the case, yet
in every instance which recall, while the
relative proportion is less the actual in
crease in the amount of wood used Is very
great Thus, the consumption of wood in
Shipbullding Is far larger than 1t was be-
fore the discovery of the art of building
iron ships, because vastly more ships are
built Larger supplies of building lumber
are required, directly or indirectly, for use
in the construction of the brick and steel
anu stone structures Of great modern cities
than were consumed by the comparatively
few and comparatively small wooden build
ings in the earlier stages of these same
cities Whatever materials may be substi-
tuted for wood in certain uses, we may con-
fidently expect that the total demand for
wood will not diminish, but steadily in
crease.
Demands of the Future.
"It is fair question then, whether the
vast demands of the future upon our for
ests are likely to be met. No man is a
true lover of his country whose confidence
in its progress and greatness is limited to
the period of his tpwn life, and we can not
afford for one instant to forget that our
country is only at the beginning Of It's
growth. Unless the forests of the United
States can be made ready to meet the vast
demands which this growth will inevitably
bring, commercial disaster is Inevitable.
The railroads must have ties, and the best
opinion of the experts is that no substitute
has yet been discovered which will salts
factorily replace the wooden tie. This is
largely due to thesgreatand continually IN
creasing speeds nj which our trains are
run. The miner MUST have timber or he
cannot operate his mine, and in many
cases the profit which mining yields is d.
rectly proportionate to the cost of the tim
Der supply The FARMER. east and west,
must have timbef&fdr bumberless uses on
his farm, and he must be protected. by
forest cover upon. the headwaters of the
streams he uses against floods in the east
and the lack of water TOR irrigation in the
west. The stockman must have fence posts.
and very often he must have summer range
for his stock in the national forest reserves.
In a word both the production of the great
staples upon which our prosperity depends
and their movement in commerce through
out the United States are inseparably de-
pendent upon the existence of permanent
and suitable supplies from the forest at a
reasonable cost.
IF the present rate of forest destruc-
ton is allowed to continue a timber fam
inc is obviously Inevitable. Fire, waste
ful and destructive forms of numbering