rest regions are themselves growing more and more to realize the
necessity of preserving both the trees and the game. A live deer in the
woods will attract to the neighborhood ten times the money that could
be obtained for the deer's dead carcass. Timber theft on the State lands
is, of course, a grave offense against the whole public.

"Hardy outdoor sports, like hunting, are in themselves of no small value
to the National character and should be encouraged in every way. Men who
go into the wilderness, indeed, men who take part in any field sports
with horse or rifle, receive a benefit which can hardly be given by even
the most vigorous athletic games.

"There is a further and more immediate and practical end in view. A
primeval forest is a great sponge which absorbs and distills the rain
water. And when it is destroyed the result is apt to be an alternation
of flood and drought. Forest fires ultimately make the land a desert,
and are a detriment to all that portion of the State tributary to the
streams through the woods where they occur. Every effort should be made
to minimize their destructive influence. We need to have our system of
forestry gradually developed and conducted along scientific principles.
When this has been done it will be possible to allow marketable lumber
to be cut everywhere without damage to the forests--indeed, with
positive advantage to them. But until lumbering is thus conducted,
on strictly scientific principles no less than upon principles of the
strictest honesty toward the State, we cannot afford to suffer it at
all in the State forests. Unrestrained greed means the ruin of the great
woods and the drying up of the sources of the rivers.

"Ultimately the administration of the State lands must be so centralized
as to enable us definitely to place responsibility in respect to
everything concerning them, and to demand the highest degree of trained
intelligence in their use.

"The State should not permit within its limits factories to make bird
skins or bird feathers into articles of ornament or wearing apparel.
Ordinary birds, and especially song birds, should be rigidly protected.
Game birds should never be shot to a greater extent than will offset the
natural rate of increase. . . . Care should be taken not to encourage
the use of cold storage or other market systems which are a benefit to
no one but the wealthy epicure who can afford to pay a heavy price for
luxuries. These systems tend t