Conservation of Natural Resources in California. 19 



WE ARE ALL RESPONSIBLE. 



When expressing our indignation at the wicked waste of the people's 

 heritages it is well to remember that it is the people who are to blame 

 for it. You and I and all of us are the criminals, not merely the men 

 and the corporations who have so largely profited by the wasted re- 

 sources. It is easy to work up wrath and blow off. steam about them; 

 but we must remember that they have played the game according to 

 the rules, and that we, the people, make or consent to the rules of the 

 game the laws. The big boys often try to change the rules and use 

 them unfairly, doubtless, as in smaller games ; but if all the other 

 children attend to it, take an interest in it, stick together, they can 

 make the rules right and keep the big fellows within bounds. 



It is well to remember this : most of us, if we could, would do just 

 what the "predatory rich" have done. 



One of the worst things that have been done, probably the very, worst, 

 has been the taking away of the timber lands from the people. But 

 how has this been done ? By buying out small owners for small prices. 

 Our careless and reckless law gives to* any one 160 acres of timber land 

 if he or she will make oath that it is for his own use, not -to be used for 

 the benefit of some one else. In my travels I find many people, nice 

 people, school teachers, ministers, ladies and gentlemen, locating timber 

 claims and selling them as soon as title is complete, for a few hundred 

 dollars three hundred, five hundred, perhaps; yet the timber itself, 

 is really worth many thousands of dollars, to say nothing of the land on 

 which it stands. 



Thus, for an insignificant sum for our own selfish immediate use do 

 we nice people sell the birthrights of our children's children. Thus the 

 great timber corporations acquire empires of land and princely fortunes 

 in timber. Thus does our country lose its heritage for all time. Where- 

 fore remember that we, the people, have our share of responsibility in 

 this thing. We accept these laws and help make them. We take a 

 small share of the swag ourselves when we can get it. 



The reason for the wasting and plundering and going to smash of this 

 vast and splendid estate of ours is not hard to find. It is from a simple 

 and natural cause, a universal law because we, the owners, have 

 neglected it. Any property, any enterprise, goes to wreck and ruin if it 

 is not attended to, guarded, watched over, by its owners. What would 

 happen to a great store or a mill or a mine if it were abandoned to whom- 

 ever happened along ? How would a farm prosper if none of its owners 

 took the trouble to look after it? Why, even a $500 house in a little 

 village will soon be damaged beyond repair, broken, run down, carried 

 away, when it is not cared for by its owners ! And who gets the blame 



