By Charles R. Van Hise, published in the World's Work, Vol.
XVIII, p. 11718.
... It is clear that the problem of the conservation of our natural
resources is an interlocking one. If the forests are conserved in the
rough lands and mountains, the streams will have an even flow, their
navigability will be easily maintained, they will give a uniform
water-power; the erosion of the soil will be lessened; the bottom
lands along the stream will not be flooded. If the water-powers are
developed, the consumption of coal will be lessened. If the elements
which are changed from ore to metals are carefully saved--not being
allowed to rust or to be lost--and thus utilized again and again, it
will not be necessary to take from the mines so large an amount of
ore, and thus less coal and power will be required for their
extraction. The conservation of one resource assists in the
conservation of all others. We should work with the agents of the
earth rather than reverse their work, as we have been doing since
American settlement began.
Intimately connected with the conservation of the natural resources is
the conservation of humanity itself. Just as we have been reckless in
the use of our natural resources, so as a nation have we been reckless
of human life. We now know enough in reference to the prevention and
cure of communicable diseases, we know enough in reference to
improving the conditions under which the industries are carried on, so
that, according to Professor Irving Fisher, the average human life
might be lengthened by a third.
So far as we permit human beings to be created, it is plainly our duty
to conserve them and, so far as possible, produce a happy environment
for them. This great problem of the conservation of humanity is
mentioned merely to put it in relation with the problems of the
conservation of our natural resources, rather than to discuss it.
How long shall this nation endure? Or, more exactly, how long shall
human beings occupy this land? It is only within the past two
centuries that the lands of the country have been subject to
agriculture upon an extensive scale, and the main drafts upon the soil
of this country have been within the last century. We should think,
not of a hundred years, or of a thousand years, but of hundreds of
thousands, or of millions of years of development of the human race.
There is no reason, from a geological point of view, why human beings
may not live upon this earth for millions of years to come, perhaps
many millions of years, and, so far as we are concerned, such periods
are practically infinite.
These considerations impose upon us as our most fundamental duty the
transmission of the heritage of our natural resources to our
descendants as nearly intact as possible. This is an individual
responsibility, as well as a state and a national responsibility.
There's a strongly developed opinion at the present time that the
owners of great wealth, and especially those who control great natural
resources, should act as trustees for the nation. This is easy to see;
but every man who owns a farm is equally a trustee to the nation for
his small property. If at the end of his life the farm goes to his son
depleted in richness, he is as truly faithless to his trust as are the
great interests, some of which think only of present gain, and
wastefully exploit the natural resources of the country. Each in
proportion to his own responsibility is a traitor to the nation. At
the present time, fortunately, this sense of stewardship is gaining
possession of those who control some of the great resources of the
nation. As yet, there is scarcely a glimmering of responsibility in
the case of the smaller holder of natural resources. But the future of
the nation is safe only when small and large holder alike, from the
man who owns forty acres of land to the groups of men who control the
anthracite of the nation, shall administer their trust primarily for
the benefit of the people now living and for succeeding generations
rather than for themselves.
I do not hesitate to assert that, from the point of view of our
descendants, this question of conservation of our natural resources is
more important than any political or social question, indeed, more
important than all political or social questions upon the solution of
which we are now engaged. Not only is it more important, but it is
more pressing, for already our unnecessary losses are irremediable,
and the situation is growing steadily worse.
It is necessary that a great campaign of education be inaugurated at
once with reference to the conservation of the soil, just as there has
been a campaign of education with reference to the conservation of the
forests. The task is an enormous one, indeed vastly greater than that
carried on with reference to our other resources, because of the fact
that the land holdings are so subdivided; but the campaign of
education must be carried on, and, as a part of it, the laws must be
developed, until we reach the situation where no man dares so to
handle his land as to decrease its fertility. If present methods are
allowed to continue, it is certain that in the not distant future this
country will be able to support only a relatively sparse population.
Only by the conservation of our soil, undiminished in its fertility,
can we hope to be able to provide for the hundreds of millions of
people who, in the near future in the United States, will be demanding
food and clothing. The conservation of the soil is the conservation of
the basal asset of the nation.
Similarly, the campaign of education in reference to the forests must
be continued, and that with reference to the coal and mineral
resources inaugurated; for only second in importance to the
conservation of the soil is the economic mining and use of coal, the
conservation of the forests, and the use of metals with the minimum
waste.