Mount Vernon signal. (Mt. Vernon, Ky.) 18??-current, 1906-06-29
FORESTRY AND HOMECROFTS
ADDRESS OF GEORGE IL. MAX.
WE'LL, DEAN OF THE HOME
CROFTERS GID OF THE
TALISM4N.

MADAME PRESIDENT AND DELE
GATES-LADIES AND GENTLE
MEN:
When l received the invitation to bC
with you here to-day and speak upon
the subject Forestry and Home
crofts," as 1t Is announced Oh the
program, L felt that the occasion was
one Of so much importance, and the
opportunity one which so greatly ap-
preciated, that l ought to do some,
thing which 1 rarely do, and that was
to at least think out n speech in al.
vance. / was asked for manuscript
OF it for the press, but L felt that il
was unsafe to give il because | never
did that yet that something didn't
happen that made me lay aside my
speech and talk about something else.
have speech epared which was
planned to last for half an hour, and
there it is (holding up card. Now,
L have fifteen minutes TO speak, and
l am going TO save that speech for
some other occasion, in some other
place, and talk to you about something
which has been suggested TO me here
this morning by the address we have
just listened TO from Mr.. Mills.
l was born In California and spent
my life there applause from the Cali
fornia delegates) until within very
few years when my work in the Ma
tional Irrigation Movement took me
away from my native state. But /
want to take advantage OF this Op-
portunity to stand here and make a
plea for the preservation Of those
Temples Of God-the Big Trees Of
California. Applause)
l question very much whether those
who are here to-day realize the power
that Is yours, In bringing about rig {
action, whether it be In congressional
or state legislation. We often say
that this is q government Of the pe0-
pie, and that il Is controlled by their
votes. SO it is. But behind the vote
Is the thought OF the people. 1t Is
public opinion which controls this
country. The vote IL merely a regis
tering Of that opinion; and the thought
Of the people which preccdes that
opinion and brings about reforms, H.,
In my judgment, often a thing that
springs from the minds Of the women
or the country rather than from the
minds Of the men OF the country.
am free to say that In my earlier
years, and before / had a wider ex-
perience and opportunities Of OBJ
serration, I was not believer in Civ
ing the ballot to the women. 1 am
not here to make plea for that to-
day, because / am not so much i'm
pressed with the Importance of it as
others who think that the ballot is the
main thing. 1t is the conversation of
the home circle and the thoughts that
spring most often from the minds Of
the mothers Of the country that con-
troll this country. (Applause)
And although 1 believe to-day that
the status Of the man and the woman,
so far as their rights Of citizenship
and rights before the law are con-
cerned, should he the same, l want
to lay that conclusion before you
simply as basis for the broader
statement that women can control
this country by the power of thought
without the ballot. If the women who
are here to-day and those who are af-
filiated with you in this great organi-
cation, would take up one or two
things as the result of this conference
and 90 hence and agitate it in every
home circle, and in every women's
club, and in every village and city,
and through the columns of every
newspaper in the land, and by cor
respondence, you could accomplish
within the next twelve months two
great things which would be a record
Of accomplishment sufficient for one
Of ha rd fo,
ton, and that is, first, to save the big
trees Of California Applause); and,
second, to secure the passage of the
bill providing for forest reserves in
the White Mountains and on the Ap-
palachian Range. (Applause)
If those great trees In California
were once destroyed they could not
be replaced in centuries and probably
never. They were there when Christ
walked the earth. They were there
when Rome shOne reSplendent in all
her glory. They were there when
Carthage nestled amid green fields
and vineyards on the southern shores
Of the Mediterranean. They were there
when Palmyra, with all her magnifi-
cence, was the meeting place of the
dis lIdN cllllSo OclNctl ASH anu
the Mediterranean country. And to-
day they stand there pleading with
their out-spreading branches against
ruthless destruction to satisfy the
greed Of man.
We may go back through history,
and ruined city after ruined city
shows how ephemeral is everything
that man builds. Did is never occur
to you, has it never occurred to those
who are interested in uplifting and
increasing the power for good of the
church, and in carrying its missionary
work into the cities and into the slums
and into the tenements, where, God
knows, it is needed most of anywhere
on this earth-has it never occurred to
you that child nurtured in the tene-
ments and in the slums and in the
City flats, and seeing nothing around
1t but bricks and mortar and asphalt
and trolley-cars and things that man
has made, lives whore there is nothing
to create a conception of a higher
power, and lacks the influence of the
splendid manifestations of nature,
which are the most convincing revela-
ton that we have that there is a
Creator, and that there is God, and
that there should be faith in religion
in the heart of every man.