ERNEST S. GRIFFITH 23 



expression in institutional counterparts, in federal bureaus with spe- 

 cial-interest clienteles, in regional "authorities" and "administrations," 

 in Congressional committees. Most of the abortive moves to transfer 

 certain resource functions to the states have been largely inspired by 

 local economic interests, though usually defended on "constitutional" 

 grounds. Localism for many years blurred the effectiveness of na- 

 tional administration, as the populace and their representatives in 

 Congress rallied to the support of those whose habitual way of mak- 

 ing a living "regardless" was threatened by administered conservation. 

 National planning has made headway, but at least in part as it has 

 forced divergent local interests to face their problems together. Finally 

 there has been the dilemma of the spiritual versus the material, per- 

 haps never more plainly articulated than by Theodore Roosevelt, but 

 expressing itself more intensely today as the shortcomings of urbanism 

 become increasingly apparent. 



So the history of conservation could well be written, not so much 

 chronologically, or institutionally, but in terms of these interwoven 

 strands. Almost never did they appear in isolation. Rather could they 

 be identified in each and every major situation as it developed. They 

 are all with us today, but we are a more mature people. Our hierarchy 

 of values has been rearranged somewhat, and for the better. 



Today, as in the past, individual leadership counts for much. The 

 great leaders of the past — Pinchot, the two Roosevelts, Senator Fran- 

 cis G. Newlands, WJ McGee, Harold Ickes, Hugh Bennett, Morris 

 Cooke, Senator George Norris, and others — have done their work 

 well in educating a nation. Others are taking their place today; and 

 their task in many respects is an easier one, for the groundwork has 

 been laid and millions of Americans are with them in this, one of the 

 noblest tasks to which a man may devote his life — the enlightened 

 conservation of the natural heritage of a free people. 



