Luxe Beat Magazine DECEMBER 2014 | Page 139

History
Roosevelt’s backing, raised seemed
to involve:
• Roosevelt had an intense aversion
to corporate size, as evidenced by
his aggressive antitrust lawsuit
against Standard Oil. Thus, he and
Pinchot wanted lumber sales from
government forests limited to small
companies, not giant corporations.
This seemed to hold, even if
corporations were willing to follow
Pinchot’s cutting regulations. Taft
and Ballinger, Secretary of the
Interior, were apparently willing to
sell timber on a first come first come
basis, under existing regulations.
believe that men were morally
entitled to make any modifications
of nature.
In 1910, Pinchot had a heated
dispute with the Secretary of the
Interior and President Taft, which
led to his dismissal. When he was

intensely backed by former President
Roosevelt, his issues partially led
to formation of the Bull Moose or
Progressive Party, and Roosevelt’s
split with the conventional
Republicans.
The issues that Pinchot, with

• Taft was willing to allow coal
mining exploration in the Alaska
territory, where vast federal forests
existed. Pinchot and Roosevelt were
quite opposed to this.
Later, Pinchot reconciled with the
Republican Party and served two
separate terms as Governor of

Gifford Pinchot Living room
off entry hall
© Maralyn D. Hill
ABOVE
Portraits of Cornelia Bryce
Pinchot and Gifford Pinchott
Photo Maralyn D. Hill

139

Pennsylvania. When his political
career ended, in 1937, Pinchot
toured some federal forests in
western states. He was appalled
to find that, earlier, a former
protégé of his had become a form
of religious fanatic and had allowed
indiscriminate clear cutting in many
forests. Denuding of land and
resulting soil erosion were rampant.
For the rest of his life, which ended
in 1946, he spoke and wrote
passionately with the aim of
restoring his original approach
to forestry.
Today, Grey Towers, the summer
home of the Pinchot family, is
preserved as part of the U.S.
Forest Service.
In summary, Gifford Pinchot
deserves credit for promoting
public education on the advantages
and necessity for maintaining long
term time horizons in utilizing
natural resources.