notified by mail that the gentlemen named on the list are to be proposed for membership of the different committees.

I don't object at all to Mr. Cutting's suggestion that the President appoint the Nominating Committee, because I have absolute confidence in the President's ability to pick those men. It was rather to relieve him of that responsibility, which might be an embarrassment, that I suggested that the President ex officio and the Chairmen of the various committees which have just been elected should constitute that Committee; and I think they should report to the Secretary of our Association at least thirty days before the next annual meeting, submitting a list of nominations. Then the Chairmen of those committees will know who on those committees have been doing the work and who have not.

THE PRESIDENT: The only difficulty with that is the difficulty of getting all these Chairmen of these various committees together at any one time. It is a rather difficult thing to do. Suppose the Chairmen of the committees just don't say anything. The President would know that, and he could ask the Secretary, when he appointed the committees, to appoint his Nominating Committee and to put on that committee men who understand the activities of the Association. I am satisfied with that suggestion. The only trouble is, you will never get all those committee chairmen together.

MR. KELLOGG: You always do run the committees, Mr. President, and the Association as well; so what's the trouble? I second Mr. Meigs' motion.

THE PRESIDENT: Will you just repeat your motion, Mr. Meigs?

ORGANIZATION OF NOMINATING COMMITTEE

MR. MEIGS: That the Nominating Committee shall consist of the Chairmen of the present committees which have now been elected, with the President of the Association ex officio as Chairman; and that they shall report to the Secretary of the Association at least thirty days before the next annual meeting, so that the members of the Association may be acquainted with the ticket before the convention.

MR. KELLOGG: I second that motion.

A SPEAKER: I think the President ought to say who the Nominating Committee should be. I think one of the President's duties is to do that. It has always been his duty, and I don't think it should be taken away from him.

ANOTHER SPEAKER: The President doesn't appoint the Nominating Committee.

THE PRESIDENT: I have been doing it for two or three years, although I am a little uncertain as to whether it is strictly speaking a part of my duties.

MR. MEIGS: I withdraw my motion, Mr. Chairman, with Mr. Kellogg's consent, if he will consent to the withdrawal.

MR. KELLOGG: No, I have not consented to its being withdrawn, and I do not propose to consent to it. I don't believe our friend knows the President. Our President is just as wise as he appears to be today-always. There has never been a time when, either in committee or in conference or in the Association meetings, ultimately his idea did not prevail.

Now it will help him, in my judgment; and when these Chairmen are called together to act as a Nominating Committee he will be there and he will then have knowledge of what the committees have been and are doing, through a report from their respective chairmen.

I think the plan embodied in the motion is a very wise one. This is not an effort to shear him of any prerogative. We couldn't take it away from him if we would; and we wouldn't take it away from him if we could. It is simply to carry out an idea that I think is a very excellent one.

Now it is not the usual practice for the Chair to appoint committees; but there are certain conditions under which he does appoint committees, and those conditions are always governed by the form of the resolution in which the constituting of the com. mittee is provided for.

THE PRESIDENT: Is there any objection to the adoption of the resolution? I have no personal feeling about the matter whatever. MR. MEICS: I have no objection. I will withdraw my withdrawal of the motion.

THE PRESIDENT: The vote will then be upon the original motion as made by Mr. Meigs and seconded by Mr. Kellogg.

The Chair then put the motion, which was unanimously carried by viva voce vote.

THE PRESIDENT: It is now so late that I don't believe we had better go into a discussion of finances. To do justice to that subject we ought to sit here until one o'clock to-morrow morning— and by that time Mr. White and Mr. Hull and Mr. Sisson would be here. (Laughter.)

MR. GAYLORD: No, I don't believe they would! (Renewed laughter.)

THE PRESIDENT: The matter of finances is something we must give consideration to right away. I wonder if we can't do that in a directors' meeting.

VOICE: Yes. Why not?

SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON FINANCE

THE PRESIDENT: I would like to appoint a special committee -without any authority whatever on the question of finances, and ask that committee to meet immediately after the banquet tonight. Mr. Gould is not here and Mr. Sisson is not here. We have got Mr. Meigs and Mr. Cutting and Mr. Hull-although he is not present in the room now. I would like to have Mr. Sykes, Mr. Gaylord, Mr. Meigs, Mr. Cutting and Mr. Sullivan meet me after the banquet in an informal session to take up this question of finances. That will be enough of us to talk the thing over.

It is a pity we have not enough here to go ahead and deal with the subject in a comprehensive way, but we have not. If Mr. Hull and Mr. Sisson appear, all right, we will invite them in; but, whether they do or not, they will have to do whatever we decide to do, because I notified them last night to that effect.

TREASURER W. CLYDE SYKES: I understand the condition of the treasury is such that we will have to do something soon.

THE PRESIDENT: Don't worry about that. I appreciate that most keenly. Now, unless there is some further business that some of you think of, we will adjourn until-

MR. FISHER: I want to suggest that an index be put in the front of the book containing the proceedings of the meeting, in regard to these papers that have been read. They will be very valuable for reference, and if that is done it will make it convenient for anybody in looking them up later.

The PRESIDENT: That is a good suggestion, and we will have that done.

I desire to announce the appointment of the following gentlemen on the forest taxation committee to co-operate with the similar committee of the New York State Forestry Association: V. K. Kellogg, Chairman; F. J. Meigs, W. L. Sykes, F. A. Gaylord, and A. B. Recknagel.

(Adjournment until 7 P. M. for the banquet.)

THE BANQUET

(PRESIDENT GEORGE N. OSTRANDER, TOASTMASTER)

THE TOASTMASTER: In spite of disappointing Senator Ferris I have to set an example for John D. White-member of the Committee on Transportation (Laughter) by acting as Toastmaster.

I suppose you all know that the Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks has the largest membership and is the oldest of all the associations of the State of New York that are interested today in conservation and especially in forestry as applied to the State of New York and forestry problems in the State of New York. The President of that association, Mr. John G. Agar, is an able lawyer of the City of New York; a man who has unselfishly interested himself in these problems, who has the natural ability and experience to speak on them with truth and in a way instructive to all of us who are interested in these problems.

One of the things that that association is responsible for, in my opinion, is the policy of the State of New York in acquiring forest lands. It was the influence of that association that brought about the enactment of Chapter 227 of the Laws of 1897,-the first substantial appropriation of this State to purchase such lands. Mr. Agar was active in that. Therefore, no one is better qualified to speak upon the subject of a policy for the acquisition of lands for the forest preserve than is Mr. Agar and this association which he represents.

Mr. Agar was to be here tonight, but unfortunately a professional engagement kept him in New York this afternoon and he was not able to come; but the Secretary of that Association, Dr. E. Hagaman Hall, who is amply competent and able to read Mr. Agar's paper to us, is here, and I take great pleasure in introducing Dr. Hall now. (Applause.)

REMARKS BY DR. E. HAGAMAN HALL

DR. E. HAGAMAN HALL: Mr. President and gentlemen: Mr. Agar is sincerely sorry he cannot be here to-night. He has sent his compliments to you and states that only his professional engagements have prevented his coming here. I know he would have been glad to come here and to have attended the meetings which have preceded this gathering here tonight. I think they have been the most interesting meetings of this sort that I have attended for many years. I have enjoyed them hugely.

I know Mr. Agar would have been glad to be here with you in this room, surrounded with these forest scenes on the walls* -with the birds singing and the leaves fluttering-and to meet all you good fellows. (Cries of "Hear! Hear!") As long as he cannot be here, I am glad to be his representative; but I confess, after I heard your President speak of the forest preserve this morning in your convention meeting-when I heard him speak of it as a "cemetery," I thought possibly you might regard me as acting in the capacity of an undertaker, or the superintendent of a morgue, or something of that sort! (Laughter and applause.)

Now possibly you have invited us to be represented here on the principle that the old Romans used to follow in setting up a death's-head at their feasts, so that, by contrast of ideas, you might enjoy your pleasures the more. (Laughter.) Now if I am going to be an undertaker I would like to be an undertaker of a cemetery where the monuments are not of carved marble but of growing trees and leaves, with birds singing among the branches; of a cemetery to which people are so glad to go, a cemetery filled with such lovely "corpses" as we have up there in the Adirondacks, a cemetery to which people do not go in the spirit of Thanatopsis, as to a bourne from which no man returneth, but to which they go to get new vitality for all the joys and responsibilities of life.

Mr. Agar would have been glad to have been here, too, because I think these meetings between the members of our different associations, even if we do not always see things exactly alike, have been profitable as well as enjoyable. I hope, in Mr. Agar's paper, which I am to read, there are some things you will agree with; but if perchance there are some things with which you do not agree, he asks your kindly indulgence.

* Referring to the wall-paper.