Re: forest health

Whoops! Looks like someone's been imbibing the Kool-Aid. Letter writer Craig B. Clemmens of Apollo imagines that the "healthy forests" policy of commercial loggers is a levy of benefaction on the ecosystem ("Obama's Ban on Forest Roads Is a Mistake," June 19). It reminds me of the army officer who, during the Vietnam War, declared "we had to destroy the village to save it."

Errata: 1) Adam Smith was not the first economist, having been preceded by Chanakya (c. 300 B.C.), Richard Cantillon and others ... 2) The Hobbesian phrase he intended to reference is: "nasty, brutish and short."

JIM LeJEUNE
McCandless