EDITORIAL 



173 



direction of promoting' a movement 

 which may lead, in time, to partial 

 checking of some small percentage of 

 the annual loss of which these billions 

 represent only a modest estimate, the 

 President urges "that an appropriation 

 of at least $50,000 be made to cover 

 the expenses of the National Conserva- 

 tion Commission for necessary rent, as- 

 sistance and traveling expenses." He 

 adds : "This is a very small sum. I 

 know of no other way in which the ap- 

 propriation of so small a sum would re- 

 sult in so large a benefit to the whole 

 Nation." 



In comparison with the yearly waste, 

 and the interests, present and future, 

 involved, the amount asked is, obvious- 

 ly, a sand grain by the seaside, a drop 

 in a rainstorm, a satellite in a solar 

 system ; yet there seems ground to ap- 

 prehend that even this crumb will not 

 be allowed. 



And why? Because, forsooth, of the 

 "lack of money." 



We hear, sometimes, of "saving at 

 the spigot while wasting at the bung- 

 hole," and of permitting fields to lie 

 fallow and grow up in weeds in order 

 to "economize" on seed corn. In com- 

 parison with the case in hand, however, 

 all such figures shrivel into hopeless in- 

 adequacy : and, for historic examples 

 of legislative helplessness, the mind re- 

 verts to decaying Oriental govern- 

 ments, or to Old France, tottering to 

 its fall. 



The remedy suggested is a loan. In 

 comparison with sitting idly and watch- 

 ing this inconceivable waste continue 

 and multiply, a bond issue would be 

 wisdom and economy themselves ; for 

 what were the interest on the bonds in 

 comparison with the wealth which, like 

 another Niagara, is pouring yearly into 

 the all-consuming maelstrom of waste 

 here depicted ! 



But have we no other resource than 

 bonds? Assuming that our present 

 sources of National income, including 

 tarifif duties, are yielding their maxi- 

 mum, does statesmanship here reach its 

 limit? When National safety was men- 

 aced by civil strife resort was had to 



an income tax; and, fifteen years ago, 

 in the face of a situation far less om.in- 

 ous than the one under consideration. 

 Congress again, by legislation, provided 

 for the taxing of incomes. True, the 

 Supreme Court of the United States, by 

 a vote of five to four, held that that par- 

 ticular lazv was unconstitutional ; but it 

 by no means held, as many seem to 

 imagine, that income taxation, in and 

 of itself, and however framed, is, save 

 for war purposes, unconstitutional. The 

 field still lies wide open to Congress to 

 enter at will. 



Again, from a multitude of sources, 

 from the President down, comes the 

 demand for the taxation of inheritances. 

 Mr. Andrew Carnegie, whose personal 

 estate, if left to-day, would contribute 

 so bounteously under such a policy, 

 urges the enactment of an inheritance 

 tax law. In England, the "death duty" 

 has, for many years, been a regular 

 source of income. With the accumula- 

 tion of great fortunes to which, in in- 

 creasing degree, attention is to-day 

 called, the propriety and eflfectiveness 

 of an inheritance tax law must grow in- 

 creasingly evident. 



But without attempting, here, to dis- 

 cuss in detail the principles of taxation, 

 attention is simply called to the follow- 

 ing facts : First, that the need for 

 action is paramount ; second, that our 

 country, the richest on the globe, is 

 abundantly able, from any one of three 

 sources — loans, income taxes and in- 

 heritance taxes — to provide the funds 

 with which a hopeful beginning in con- 

 servation may be made ; and third, that, 

 so far. Congress has not seen fit to ap- 

 propriate even the pittance of $50,000 

 which the President urges for the main- 

 tenance of the National Conservation 

 Commission. 



^m '^ ^ 



Forestry and Dry Farming 



HOW to grow crops in the semi-arid 

 belt lying east of the Rock Moun- 

 tains has long been a question. A solu- 

 tion, it is claimed, has now been found 

 in dry farming. The land is first deeply 



