64 Conservation of Natural Resources in California. 



preserve for our children the heritage we received from our fathers, we 

 must alarm the people out of their thoughtless indifference. Public 

 thieves must be punished, fires must be checked, individual rights must 

 be purchased when demanded for the public good. Wantonness of 

 waste by careless owners and destructive greed for immediate gain by 

 selfish owners must be controlled. This is a mighty task, more difficult 

 than some of the greatest our ancestors performed in the old days. But 

 if it be not accomplished, the shame of defeat will rest on this genera- 

 tion, for this is pre-eminently our battle. We may not throw its burden 

 backward to our fathers, or forward to our children. The former could 

 not see its swift coming, the latter will have little to fight for if we 

 fail in preserving for ourselves and them the resources by which only 

 we or they can win continued prosperity. 



