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ARNOLD ARBORETUM, HARVARD UNIVERSITY. Jamaica Plain, Mass., May 3, 1897. My dear Muir: Thank Heaven, the Forestry Report
is finished, signed by all the members of the Commission and despatched to Washington. Hague and Pinchot did not mean to sign
when they came to Boston Friday last and were strenuous in their demands for further delay, and I was obliged to talk rather
disagreeably to them. Apparently they thought it best to go with the crowd, although in doing so they take back the positive
statements which they made to the President and Secretary when we were last in Washington. I have no respect or esteem for
either Hague or Pinchot and I am delighted that my official connection with them has come to an end. They have given me a
good deal of anxiety and have done much harm in letting out the impression that the Commission was divided in its opinions.
The final report ought to put a stop to this idea, however, although contradiction never travels as far as the original.
On the whole, I feel well satisfied with the report, but before finally making up my mind on this subject I shall await your
criticism which I hope will be favorable. I wish I might have been able to submit the whole thing to you before I sent it
to the Secretary of the Interior, but this was impossible if it is to be available for 02282