Conservation of Natural Resources in California. 55 



"BLIND MOUTHS." 



An editorial from Century Magazine, November, 1907. It is a very fine 

 example of scholarly modern English. 



Literature is full of trenchant expressions of the recklessness of 

 greed, such as * ' After us, the deluge ! " " Devil-may-care ' ' and ' ' Out of 

 sight, out of mind" but none of them compared with the lightning- 

 like revelation of selfishness made by these two words of Milton's. 

 Conveying, as they do, the sense of an all-consuming appetite, the very 

 maw of darkness, they would seem to have come from the poet 's vituper- 

 ative prose, rather than from the flowing elegy of the gentle Lycidas. 



"What has posterity ever done for us that we should do anything 

 for posterity?" is a saying as striking for the falsity of its suggestion 

 as for the edge of its wit. The most obvious material and natural 

 reasons impel us to work for posterity. Our happiness consists largely 

 in procuring the happiness of our children and our grandchildren, 

 whose happiness in turn will consist in the happiness of their children 

 and grandchildren. However attenuated this altruistic sentiment may 

 become with further extension, it is enough for practical purposes if it 

 shall reach forward four generations. We bless our ancestors for the 

 building of roads and the planting of trees and it is what posterity 

 will do for us in the way of benediction that rightly animates any one 

 above the beasts. Indeed, it is hardly too much to say that civilization 

 itself lies in the fact and to the extent that ''out of sight" is not 

 "out of mind." 



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It is with the conservation of the forests that we are here concerned, 

 for without them there would be far less range to administer. Until 

 1890 our land policy was all steam and no brake. Under a false 

 individualism, due to consideration for the bona fide settler and the 

 Civil War veteran, the larger interests of the region, which included 

 their interests, were forgotten. Recklessness and waste were rampant. 

 By false entries, bribery, and local terrorism millions of acres were 

 acquired and held by individuals and corporations, and what was 

 intended for the homemaker fell into the grasp of commercial exploiters, 

 whose operations have not only left trails of devastation, but have 

 poisoned the politics of many states. 



During Mr. Harrison's administration * * * came a new policy. 

 By a legislative provision, passed March 3, 1891, the President was 

 authorized to withdraw from public entry and set apart and reserve 

 in any state or territory such portions of the public lands as might in 

 his opinion be desirable for the preservation of the forests and waters. 

 Then began a campaign of education throughout the country so con- 



