President Eisenhower's address before the fourth American Forest Congress

Title

Language

English

Year

1954

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

President Eisenhower's Address Before* The Fourth American Forest Congress it is my very happy and very distinguished privilege thic; morning to extend to each of you a welcome on behalf of the Administration to your Nation's Capital. The very characb~r of your organization confers distinction upon anyone who may be invited before it. But you will realize that due to the number of conventions that meet in this city, there are, at times, staff discussions over in the White House as to whether or not they should send the President forth this morning to attend a meeting of this kind. Now, in this particular case, entirely aside from my own desires and determinations, I assure you there was no question. It happens that my principal staff officer (Sherman Adams) is a forester. And there are two subiects of which I hear most. I think, when I am with him: New Hampshire and forestry. I, of course, am not going to trespass upon your time to attempt a discussion of those professional and technical elements of your calling, of which you know so much more than I. It would be sheer presumption for me to mention them. I should like, though, to speak of just one of those points in which I think our interests are so clearl:v identical. The interest of this Administration is to create a balanced but advancinJZ economy and prosperity in this country. Now, for any group of people who are engaged in the conservation of our resources -in the production of a product which may range anywhere from fifteen to eighty or ninety years-you are concerned directly and * Held in Washington, D.C. October 29-31, 1953. GRADUATION ISSUE-APRIL, 1954 by reason of your profession with a steady rather than an intermittent and historicallike action in the advancing forces, the advancing tradition, of our economy. You deal more directly than most, I think, in futures -not merely a future of the day after tomorrow or who are we going to have in such an office, or what kind of activity will be going on in that place. You deal in decades, decades in the growth of your product, of the forests and the trees, and in the conservation of all those elements of our continent that make that possible. Then again, when I think of the basic resource that is used so widely in clothespins and matchsticks, in ship-building and in construction, in the dissemination of news through the pulp industry, rour interests again are not those that are confined merely to the forest. But when you go into the uses of your product, you are concerned with everything that touches the United States. So is your government. Its purpose is to understand, if possible, the problems of every special group in this country, but never to use the resources of this country to favor any groul? at the expense of others-to attempt to get that kind of balanced progress that can ht:: sustained, that will not c:reate upsets in our economy. So you ·can understand, of course, the interest we have in soil and water conservation. When I first led an invading force onto another continent during the war, we went into northern Africa. It was difficult to bePage 5 lieve that that area had once been the granary of the ancient world, that it provided the timber and almost all of the agricultural resources that were used in Italy aµd Greece and Sicily, and through those more heavily populated countries. Today, in such vast areas, there JS just a stretch of sand and desert. The civilization that supported the cities that flourished are gone-Timgad, probably one of the famous destroyed cities on the earth, and not far from the great city of Constantine. That is the kind of thing that must never happen here. It is through the wisdom, tbP efforts, the dedication, and the devotion of such people as yourselves, that it will not happen. Too many of us are blind, or indifferent, or just completely ignorant of the facts that make that work so important. So I think I can conclude with just this one word: I cannot tell you how much i;atis:. faction it gives me to know that intelligent Americans are meeting together, whose interests are as broad as this land, whose viQuirico P. Luga Specializing in Log Exportation Bu.siness Address: Gov. Generoso, Davao Office Address: Davao City, Phil Page 6 sion must be projected forward not merely till tomorrow-or :possibly an election-but for a century. What is going to be the character of this country? Is it going to favor the individual as it favored us? Is it going to give him an opportunity? Is it going to have the resources to give him that opportunity? Or would we have to de.e;enerate into some kind of controlled economy, some kind of regimentation of all of the heritage-of all the phases of our heritage that we have received-all of the God-given resources and privileges we enjoy? I believe that every true American wants to pass on, without any stricture, the right of the individual to his own determination of what he is fitted for, of how he shall worship, of what he shall earn, of how he can save, and what he can do with his savings -subject to taxes. I should remark that even in such a crown of roses, as we know has always been the promise and the share of our beloved America, there still are some thorns-and taxes is one of them, I guess. So ~gain, as· I bid you welcome, I also express this tremendous gratification that you are here for this Congress, this assembly; I wish you the greatest of success, and to each individual, God bless you. They are not the best students who are most d• pendent on books. What can be got of them is at best only material; a man must build his house for himself. * * * Talent for talent's sake is a show and a bauble. Stranger, if thou has learned a truth which needs no school of long experience, that the world is full of guilt and misery, and has seen enough of all ita sorrows, crimes and cares to tire thee of it, enter a wildwood and view the haunts of Nature. The calm ahade shall bring a kindred calm, and the sweet breeze that makes the green leaves dance s1!9ll waft a balm to thy sick heart.-Bryant * * * The difference between failure and success is doing a thing nearly right and doing it exactly right. .. .. * Time ls what we want most, but what, alas! We use worst. FORESTRY LEAVES

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