The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1908-11-18

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siders best are lkelest to advance to
higher positions rapidly, or to be re-
commended to private owners seeking
men. The prospective student, then, is
pretty sure TO learn the attitude OF
! the government toward the school he
is considering. This attitude cannot
| help depending upon the personnel,
| the facilities and policies of the school.
With very few exceptions, since the
government has at some time en-
ployed almost every available instruc-
tor in forestry in the country, the ef-
ficiency of these instructors can be
! judged by the governments standards
| and the government will have a decid-
! ed opinion. This opinion is not eX-
pressed, but for the reason I have de-
scribed it has a probably perceptible
| influence on the success of the school.
All of which merely means that half
way measures would be worse than
none; that to get the kind of support
I'VE have described and which the or
| binary school now depends on, the
project should start fully hedged, as
| good as the best, not with any plan
of beginning modestly and growing as
| circumstances warrant.
/ From the more strictly technical
! forestry side of the course the lum-
| bermen will learn how all the forego-
ing things may be done with the least
injury to his forest as a perpetual re-
source. He can see both the ideal and
| the greatest profit, and make such a
| balance between the two as circum-
| stances warrant. He will learn to tell
| how fast his timber grows, how fast
! it deteriorates, and what can be- done
| to regulate these things. He will
learn what will follow different meth
DDS of cutting; how to get a second
crop, and how long it will take. He
will learn that red fir and yellow pine
demand entirely different protection
He will learn the comparative
| strengths of woods of different species
and ages and why these differences
exist. He will learn how to tell what
| standing timber will run light and
enable him to beat the railroad COM
pany on OverWeights. He will learn
where to expect the greatest percent
age of clear and where to expect
conk.
'TO give such a course in forestry
and numbering will reqaire a stronger
personnel than is possessed by any
forest school in the country, because
| in addition to eqfualling the existing
forestry instruction you must secure
thoroughly first class lumbermrn.
N11o Ay+
any names unknown to the numbering
fraternity or known to be weak. And
| good lumbermen are not the readiest
kind to accept college employment,
! partly because they can't afford it
and also because the very life that has
made them competent in their line
| doesn't tend to make them feel at
home in class room. You must sue
ceed in overcoming this obstacle. An
other lies in Whitman's distance from
laundering regions. The courses we
are now discussing must be taught
largely by actual demonstration and
| there is no use considering the project
unless good long excursions to the
woods are admitted
The Other Side.
| But having now been conscientious
ly pessimistic. which was really meant
as an incentive to the highest effort
rather than as encouragement, | am
ready to show the other side. If Whit
man can carry out the project along
the lines | have suggested, she will
nave forest school so good that it
can't help succeed. The people and
the work are in the west. An imita-
ton of existing schools, even if as
good as the originals, may not be
needed: but if you can furnish what
| the other schools can't furnish the
people and the work do need yoa. The
government particularly wants these
forester -lumbermen. You have an op-
pOrtunity to serve the nation, the
state, the timber owners and our young
! men, and in a way than which none
can be higher.
| This leads to the question as to who
should help in the movement l can
not agree with those who think that
because our forests are mainly in
private hands their preservation is
not a public function. Although the
commonwealth has given over most
of its wood and water to private ex-
ploitation it has not lost interest in
them except in the single item of pri-
mary profit on their sale The neces-
sity of maintaining supply for the
consumer, perpetuating industries
which represent community wealth
and providing employment for our
people, remains an economic princi-
pie. The private owner may or may
not suffer by waste and destruction
but the community is bound to suffer
We have only to look at older states
and countries to see the impoverishing
results of the exhaustion of numbering
centers, leaving behind resilstion and