286 Naturalist at Large 



edge that we shall only long for the day when we 

 can set it free again. But in the meantime, young 

 people are growing up — young people who will spend 

 their formative years in a democracy looking its worst 

 under conditions for which it was not designed. The 

 educational system of which we are a part therefore 

 has the stupendous responsibility to the future of de- 

 mocracy and of our nation, of teaching the generations 

 of tomorrow to love a way of life which by their own 

 actual experience they will only have opportunity to 

 observe as a tired and harassed image of its former 

 beauty in times of peace, and of the beauty it shall 

 regain anew after victory if we do not permit it to 

 become permanently marred by neglect in the mean- 

 time. 



Of course our efforts would be wasted if victory 

 should not be won. And I know there are people who 

 sincerely believe that for that reason we ought to re- 

 duce our cultural efforts to the lowest possible main- 

 tenance level. In my opinion the terrible handicaps 

 under which we are striving to implant in future 

 generations an appreciation of the things for which 

 we are fighting today call for the entirely opposite 

 attitude. The effort of our physical victory may also 

 prove wasted if in the meantime we have lost on the 

 spiritual front. And I do not propose to apologize 

 for having sufficient faith in our ultimate victory 

 to consider the continued growth and development 

 of the cultural and educational institutions to 

 be one of the most essential duties which can be 

 borne in our nation today, second only to the duty 



