Conservation of Natural Resources in California. 



41 



less bank account. Our account has never been overdrawn, and we 

 have never had our bankbook balanced. It is only now that a few of 

 our wiser men begin to see that it is time for us to get a balance from 

 the clerk at the desk. We have been checking out, like inebriated 

 mariners, what we had or thought we had in this rich bank of America, 

 land of the free, country of endless opportunity. Now we have used up 

 our forests, are exhausting our mines at fearsome speed, have exter- 

 minated most of our wild game, endangered the food supply which 

 comes from the waters, and, in general, done all we could to put an end 

 to our great resources, recklessly spending not only our interest but 

 also our principal. We have not even left unscathed the pleasant land. 

 Not only are we using up at mad speed the natural products of the soil, 

 but also are using up the soil itself. 



A hundred acres of good land made worthless by flood. Orchards smothered and 

 fence posts covered by sand. 



If you think that the soil is exhaustless, or that it can be replaced, it 

 might behoove you to take a homoeopathic dose of geology and also take 

 another guess. Mr. Roosevelt and most of the Congress of the United 

 States would like to have us all take the trouble of studying the ground 

 we stand on. Mr.. Roosevelt's recent message asked us to pass our bank- 

 books in at the window for a balance. It is an unpleasant thing to do. 

 There are always so many more vouchers out than we thought. The 

 balance is always so much smaller than we thought, and the bank has 



