38 IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE Vol. XXVI, 1919 



President of the United States and his cabinet. The Conservation 

 movement was officially launched and has been under way ever 

 since. The term conservation has become a household word. In 

 fact during the period of the war, conserve and conservation were 

 the most overworked words in our language. 



While conservation was on the lips of many of us and in the 

 minds of all of us during the war, there never has been a period 

 in the history of the world when inroads in the natural resources 

 were so great. War is waste with a capital W, just as truly as it 

 is what General Sherman denominated it, with a capital H, waste 

 in material things as well as in human life. 



During war times the winning of battles outweighs all other 

 considerations. We are now in the period of reconstruction and 

 the stress of haste in repairing and restoring the losses entailed 

 by the war tempts many of our people to continue wasteful prac- 

 tices permitted during the war. It is high time that thoughtful 

 consideration be given to the elimination of wasteful methods and 

 the extravagant use of the nation's resources ; to re-establish our 

 industries and our commercial activities on a pre-war basis and 

 re-dedicate our best efforts toward real conservation. 



Conservation Defined — While the speeches and writings of the 

 great apostle of conservation are full of the spirit of conservation, 

 the subject is never treated academically. In his special message 

 to Congress transmitting the report of the National Conservation 

 Commission, he says : "The policy of conservation is perhaps the 

 most typical example of the general policies which this Govern- 

 ment has made peculiarly its own, during the opening years of 

 the present century. The function of our Government is to insure 

 to all its citizens, now and hereafter, their rights to life, liberty, 

 and the pursuit of happiness. . . ." 



"We have realized that the right of every man to live his own 

 life, provide for his family, and endeavor, according to his abili- 

 ties to secure for himself and for them a fair share of the good 

 things of existence, should be subject to one limitation and to no 

 other. The freedom of the individual should be limited only by 

 the present and future rights, interests and needs of the other in- 

 dividuals who make up the community." Conservation does not 

 mean hoarding, but the wise and intelligent use of our resources 

 now, with reasonable forethought and consideration for the rights 

 and happiness of the generations which are to follow. This defini- 

 tion is generally accepted as correct in principle, when applied to 

 a nation, but has little force from the standpoint of the mdividual. 



