EDITORIAL 



701 



creasing bulk of other and more profit- 

 able classes of freight. 



The development here, as everywhere 

 among living and growing things, of 

 the need for "differentiation and spe- 

 cialization" has from the first been in- 

 evitable and is now evident. 



Our friends, however, who are so 

 deeply concerned in the development of 

 our inland waterways must not over- 

 look the intimate and vital connection 

 existing between those waterways and 

 our forests. They cannot ponder too 

 earnestly the words of Ambassador 

 Jusserand : "It is an absolute prin- 

 ciple : no forests, no waterways. * * * 

 The question is as clear as can be : do 

 you want to have navigable rivers, or 

 do you prefer to have torrents that will 

 destroy your crops and never bear a 

 boat? If you prefer the first, then mind 

 your forests. We can tell you, for we 

 know. If the Mississippi is the 'Father 

 of Waters,' the forest is the father of 

 the Mississippi." 



Unfortunately, not all waterways ad- 

 vocates have grasped this fundamental 

 truth. For example, one of the leading 

 advocates in Congress of internal wa- 

 terways voted last March against the 

 Weeks bill, a measure absolutely essen- 

 tial to the protection of eastern and 

 southern waterways. All of which 

 proves the need of increasing educa- 

 tion, even in high places, as to the im- 

 portance, breadth, and depth of the for- 

 estry movement. 



Farmers Building Their Own Roads 



A DESPATCH from Brenham, Tex., 

 tells of a mass meeting of the peo- 

 ple of Washington County, of that state, 

 to devise ways and means to establish 

 good roads. 



As a result, an organization was 

 effected called the Good Roads Asso- 

 ciation of R. F. D. No. 9. 



We are told that there were over 100 

 progressive men present, that they 

 agreed to tax themselves 50 cents per 

 month, and that nearly all the members 

 paid the first assessment. 



Some may style this "individualism ;" 

 some, "communism ;" some, "coopera- 



tion ;" while others may see in it the 

 germ of the town meeting far removed 

 from its habitat in New England, Old 

 England, or the German forest as seen 

 by Caesar and Tacitus. 



By whatever "ism" it be character- 

 ized, it is good, hard sense. 



Governments, national, state, and 

 municipal, have a vast work to do — 

 vaster far than any of them have as yet 

 undertaken. 



But this does not exclude initiative 

 on the part of individuals or interested 

 groups. 



Schiller's maxim, "Do the duty next 

 to hand," applies not simply to indi- 

 viduals or to Governments, but to all 

 to whom duty may seem clear, and who 

 may not be barred by laws "strictly con- 

 strued." 



The work which might be accom- 

 plished locally and without waiting for 

 further legislation is unquestionably 

 vast. At our last annual meeting Sec- 

 retary Wilson urged that everybody, 

 whether Government did its duty or 

 not, should plant trees. 



In like manner many, while urging 

 governmental action but not waiting for 

 it, may enormously promote the good 

 roads movement by attacking the prob- 

 lem where they are. 



^ ^ ^W 



The Dry^farming Congress at Billings 



BEFORE this issue reaches the 

 readers of Conservation, the Dry- 

 farming Congress, due at Billings, 

 Mont., October 26-8, will have been 

 held. This Congress has been thor- 

 oughly advertised by a most efficient 

 press agent. The prospect for a large 

 attendance is excellent. Those enlisted 

 in the movement are pressing enthusi- 

 astically for the conquest of the desert, 

 not all of which is expected to be re- 

 claimed by irrigation. 



The Department of Agriculture, as 

 Secretary Wilson writes Governor 

 Norris, is scouring the world for plants 

 that will grow and put organic matter 

 into the soil during the year that is 

 now occupied in fallowing. Others are 

 working industriously to ascertain the 

 best methods of conserving such moist- 



