Conservation of Natural Resources in California. 59 



A NEW PATRIOTISM. 



This article from the World's Work Magazine is certainly worth thought- 

 ful reading by all Americans. Don't fail to note its fine, patriotic spirit. 

 It is by Gifford Pinchot, who has had every opportunity for twenty 

 years to know whereof he speaks. It is said that he accepts no salary 

 for his work as chief forester of the United States, but turns it ba,ck 

 into the treasury for the good of the cause, and devotes the best years 

 of his life to a labor of love. 



The people of the United States are on the verge of one of the great 

 quiet decisions which determine national destinies. Crises happen in 

 peace as well as in war, and a peaceful crisis may be as vital and con- 

 trolling as any that comes with national uprising and the clash of arms. 

 Such a crisis, uneventful and almost unperceived, is upon us now, and 

 unwittingly we are engaged in making the decision that is thus forced 

 Tipon us. And, so far as it has gone, our decision is wrong. Fortu- 

 nately, it is not yet final. 



The question we are deciding with so little consciousness of what it 

 involves is this : What shall we do with out natural resources ? Upon 

 the final answer that we shall make to it hangs the success or failure of 

 this nation in accomplishing its manifest destiny. 



. Few Americans will deny that it is the manifest destiny of the United 

 States to demonstrate that a democratic republic is the best form of 

 government yet devised, and that the ideals and institutions of the great 

 republic taken together must and do work out in a prosperous, contented, 

 peaceful, and righteous people; and to exercise, through precept and 

 example, an influence for good among the nations of the world. That 

 destiny seems to us brighter and more certain of realization to-day than 

 ever before. It is true that in population, in wealth, in knowledge, in 

 national efficiency generally, we have reached a place far beyond the 

 farthest hopes of the founders of the republic. Are the causes which 

 nave led to our marvelous development likely to be repeated indefinitely 

 in the future, or is there a reasonable possibility, or even a probability, 

 that conditions may arise which will check our growth? 



Danger to a nation comes either from without or from within. In 

 the first great crisis of our history, the Revolution, another people 

 attempted from without to halt the march of our destiny by refusing 

 to us liberty. With reasonable prudence and preparedness we need 

 never fear another such attempt. If there be danger, it is not from 

 an external source. In the second great crisis, the Civil War, a part 

 of our own people strove for an end which would have checked the 

 progress of our development. Another such attempt has become forever 

 impossible. If there be danger, it is not from a division of our people. 



