“Yes,” said Bob mildly.  “Why not?  The lumberman fulfills a commercial function, like any one else; why shouldn’t he be allowed freely a commercial reward?  You can’t lead a commercial class by ideals that absolutely conflict with commercial motives.  If you want to introduce your ideals among lumbermen, you want to educate them; and in order to educate them you must fix it so your ideals don’t actually spell loss! Rearrange the scheme of taxation, for one thing.  Get your ideas of fire protection and conservation on a practical basis.  It’s all very well to talk about how nice it would be to chop up all the waste tops and pile them like cordwood, and to scrape together the twigs and needles and burn them.  It would certainly be neat and effective.  But can’t you get some scheme that would be just as effective, but not so neat?  It’s the difference between a yacht and a lumber schooner.  We can’t expect everybody to turn right in and sacrifice themselves to be philanthropists because the spirit of the age tells them they ought to be.  We’ve got to make it so easy to do things right that anybody at all decent will be ashamed not to.  Then we’ve got to wait for the spirit of the people to grow to new things.  It’s coming, but it’s not here yet.”

California John, who had listened with the closest attention, slapped his knee.

“Good sense,” said he.

“But you can educate people, can’t you?” asked Amy, a trifle subdued and puzzled by these practical considerations.

“Some people can,” agreed Thorne, speaking up, “and they’re doing it.  But Mr. Orde is right; it’s only the spirit of the people that can bring about new things.  We think we have leaders, but we have only interpreters.  When the time is ripe to change things, then the spirit of the people rises to forbid old practices.”

“That’s it,” said Bob; “I just couldn’t get at it.  Well, the way I feel about it is that when all these new methods and principles have become well known, then we can call a halt with some authority.  You can’t condemn a man for doing his best, can you?”

The girl, at a loss, flushed, and almost crying, looked at them all helplessly.

“But——­” she cried.

“I believe it will all come about in time,” said Thorne.  “There’s sure to come a time when it will not be too much off balance to require private firms to do things according to our methods.  Then it will pay to log the government forests on an extensive scale; and private forests will have to come to our way of doing things.”

“What’s the use of all our fights and strivings?” asked Amy; “what’s the use of our preaching decent woods work if it can’t be carried out?”

“It’s educational,” explained Thorne.  “It starts people thinking, so that when the time comes they’ll be ready.”

“Furthermore,” put in Bob, “it fixes it so these young fellows who will then be in charge of private operations will have no earthly excuse to look at it wrong, or do it wrong.”