CONSERVATION. 61 



thought loi' the future. Everything was provided for. It was the 

 patient work of ages to spread a thin layer of soil over the rocks and 

 on the hills and mountain sides, and then fasten it there with trees, 

 shrubs and grasses. .Mighty rivers flowed to the sea fed by thousands of 

 streams which sang merrily on their way. These streams were care- 

 fully protected, forests, bushes and rank vegetation prevented the 

 washing of the soil, while at the sources of all these rivulets there 

 was the most careful planning to retain the waters. Dead leaves, decay 

 mg trees, mosses and the accumulated deposits of the ages all were like 

 vast ?Donges to retain the waters so the streams would have an even 

 How. iMighty forests weri.' planted. They grew and decayed, and so as 

 the centu.'cs passed the land grew richer and richer. 



How artisiically all was arranged. There were often delightful parks 

 in the forests, and when the woods edged upon the prairies there were 

 tall trees in the background, shrubs to the front, then the ffower 

 sprinkled carpet of green. 



Go into the forests, the great temples of God. What massive columns 

 upheld the dark gree.'i canopy. Look where you would, in woodland, 

 plain and mountain, the ages of the past had made preparations for the 

 ages to come. 



Then came the two brothers, graft and greed. With no appreciation 

 whatever of the plans of the Creator. They were ready to kill the finest 

 horse if they could only get his hide. They would burn down a man 

 sion if they could only get the nails. A careless government which to- 

 day from its owu natural resources could have had income enough for 

 current expenses, allowed billions to be taken and destroyed. One or 

 the moit beautifi'i sights on earth is a splendid forest. One of the 

 saddest syei fades is to see that same fcrest the prey of the ax and fire. 

 Those blackened stumps, like the gravestones of departed grandeur. If 

 the lumberman had planned for the most speedy and utter ruin he could 

 not have prepared a more complete system. He took only half of the 

 tree and le*'t the rest to dry for the great tinder-box. The fires came. All 

 that dead rubbish was ready for them. Not only was the dead brush 

 burned, b.it the age lori'j deposit of dead leaves, rotten logs and rich 

 mould planned to feed the soil for the coming eons; all were destroyed 

 and a garden of Eden became a blackened wilderness. How the ruin 

 has spread. Within the memory of man the mighty forests of In- 

 diana and Ohio were chopped down and burned. If left until today they 

 would be worth more than all the crops grown there since their destruc- 

 tion. Take Arizona for instance. The forests have been cut from the 

 mountains, the rubbish inviting the fires, and the fires never miss an in- 

 vitation. Greed drove in great flocks and herds of sheep and cattle. 

 They have destroyed "the herbage which fastened the thin layer of earth 

 to the rocks. TJie floods came and ripped the earth from the mountain 

 sides and whirled avalanches of mud into the fertile valleys, often plow 

 ing out great guUeys twenty and thirty feet deep through the rich soil 

 and all hurried on to fill the river beds. Now when the floods come there 



