[Gutenberg 31367] • The Training of a Forester

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tion which marks its members. The profession of forestry is in many ways a peculiarly responsible profession, but in nothing more so than in its vital connection with the whole future welfare of our country and in the obligation which lies upon its members to see that its reputation and standing, which are the measures of its capacity for usefulness, axe kept strong and clear. THE ESTABLISHMENT OF FORESTRY In the United States, forestry is passing out of the pioneer phase of agitation and the education of public opinion, and into the permanent phase of the practice of the profession. The first steps in forestry in this country, as in any other where the development and destruction of natural resources has been rapid, were necessarily directed mainly to informing the public mind upon the importance of forestry, and to building up national and State laws and organizations for the protection of timberlands set aside for the public benefit. The right to be heard with respect by the men who were already in control of the larger part of our total forest wealth had to be won, and has been won. What is more, in the teeth of the bitterest opposition of private special interests, the right of the public to first consideration in the protection and development of the forest and of all the resources it contains had to be asserted and established. That has now been done. In the United States these steps in the movement for the wise use of the forest have been taken mainly in the last dozen or fifteen years, during which the Federal forest organization has grown from an insignificant division of less than a dozen men to thepresent United States Forest Service, of more than three thousand members. During this period, also, forestry, both as a profession and as a public necessity, ha...