SOME CONSERVATION PROBLEMS OF THE GREAT LAKES! 
Harlow B. Mills 
Like any word which has come into common use, conservation has many 
meanings to many people. Conservation is like the Grace of God; it is desired 
by the most of us and its high priests are many. Conservation is like a crack 
limited train; it has a point of origin and a destination, with a tight intermediate 
schedule. Conservation is like the more abundant life; it is aspired to by all. 
Conservation is like a copperhead snake; it appears unexpectedly and disrupts 
plans. Conservation is like an ancient prophet; it is a voice crying in the wilder- 
ness. Conservation is like a hard taskmaster; it demands the best, less than 
which is not enough. And finally, conservation is like a bandwagon; if we want 
to go Somewhere we had best climb on. 
Any word with the wide connotations possessed by this one is bound to be 
loved and hated by the same person, to be desired and feared, to be promoted 
and suppressed, to be a Gabriel and a Lucifer, and all at the same time. There 
is no resource which does not need conservation at some time or place. And 
there is no field in which conservation does not at times appear to be a bar to 
progress, an Old Man of the Sea to a Sindbad. 
Conservation demands, therefore, a wide viewpoint, a synthesis of many 
needs, a Sympathy for many ideals, and a humility which is hard for humans to 
attain. 
The understructure of conservation is represented by Science, by the 
development of knowledge. And science is compartmentalized. Mathematics, 
a blending of philosophy and science, is exact. It is predictable. If we do oper- 
ation A, then B will follow and we cannot avoid it. Physics is less exact. Op- 
eration A in all likelihood will be followed by B. Chemistry embodies still less 
exactness. We know that A will be followed by B provided condition C applies. 
Biology begins to pick up variables in some numbers. Operation A will result 
in B or B- or B+ or B’ or BA, depending on the many variables playing on the 
reaction. Cause and effect are snarled and difficult to untangle. A harmonious 
biological complex is like a great chord on an organ, consisting of many notes 
played at the same time. One note out of place will throw the whole chord into 
dissonance, and the discovery of the offending note is often extremely difficult. 
address given at the Joint Technical Program of the American Geo- 
physical Union and the American Meteorological Society in a Symposium on the 
Natural Setting and Engineering Problems of the Great Lakes, Del Prado Hotel, 
Chicago, Illinois, September 11, 1952. 
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