Conservation of Natural Resources in California. 



49 



are coming to us Americans unless we can get down to a practical basis 

 on religion, politics and business unless we can understand that little 

 old hymn we used to sing. 



When ax and plow work together as agents of destruction and not 

 as creative influences, then we are not using good business sense. Yet 

 that is what we have done ripped the covering from the soil, and then 

 ripped off the soil itself. In that way we destroyed a primary value. 

 In that way, also, we raised the price, cut down the supply of food, of 

 clothes, of habitation, for the average man. The average American has 

 let a few men steal him blind, and now he is stealing himself blind. The 





A rich, alluvial farm, destroyed by a freshet. 



soil is the connecting link between organic and inorganic life. It is the 

 foundation of organized society and of all civilization. It is not only 

 our bank account, but more it is the place where all the bank accounts 

 come from. 



Any man who touches the soil, and even the city man who does not, 

 ought to understand it. The main truths are simple enough, like most 

 big things. It is easy to see that depth of soil, and therefore richness in 

 product, is inverse as to slope, because the soil washes thin on the hill- 

 sides and runs thicker on the flat. Therefore, on the flats it raises more 

 vegetation, which in turn furnishes more mulch, which in turn holds 

 4 c 



