Part III.] Pond Fish Culture 207 



coal, and thousands of men would hasten to convert material 

 on which the happiness and comfort of our people largely 

 depend, and which it has taken nature's forces many centuries 

 to prepare — and that, too, presumably, for the special use of 

 mankind — into money, an absolutely worthless thing when it 

 can not be exchanged for bread, or when compared with the 

 mental, moral and religious worth in human life. 



Why this concern about conservation and soil fertility? We 

 are concerned in the conservation of soil fertility because it is 

 the greatest natural resource and the most important heritage 

 nature has to bestow upon her children. While considering 

 the natural resources of the country, President Taft in a 

 former message expressed our sentiments when he said : "The 

 feature that transcends all others, including woods, waters, 

 materials, are the soils of the country. . . . Their pro- 

 ductive powers should have the attention of our scientists, 

 that we may conserve the new soils, improve the old soils, levee 

 river overflow soils, grow trees on thin soils, pasture hillside 

 soils, rotate crops on all soils, discover methods for cropping 

 dry-land soils, find grasses and legumes for all soils, feed 

 grains and mill feeds on the farms where they originate, that 

 the soils from which they come may be enriched." 



This quotation covers the ground so completely that we 

 desire to add but one thought, namely, that every bushel of 

 Kansas wheat should be ground in Kansas mills, and every 

 pound of by-products or mill feeds resulting therefrom, to- 

 gether with every ton of Kansas hay, should be fed to Kansas 

 animals on Kansas lands, and all wastage returned to Kansas 

 fields, that the soils from which they came may not be impov- 

 erished. 



We are concerned in water storage and soil fertility because 

 we believe that it is incumbent upon us to encourage by every 

 available means the conservation of both water and soil, the 

 two things more than any others on which depends health — 

 riches more to be enjoyed and more conducive to happiness 

 than any other form of wealth. 



We are concerned in soil fertility because we desire to ele- 

 vate the standard of living of the masses of the people by 

 making the necessities and comforts of life cheaper and bet- 

 ter, the minds and hearts of the people larger and more chari- 

 table, and by this means promote good citizenship and good 

 government. We are concerned in soil fertility because it is 

 the basis of the future of human life in our country, and we 

 not only have hopes, but a serious care, in our minds and 

 hearts for the welfare of the boys and girls, our sons and 

 daughters, who are to be the men and women of the future. 



We are concerned in soil fertility because many of us be- 

 lieve that there is something in life, and in business too, 

 beyond the ever-greedy and selfish spirit of financial gain, a 



