256 PUBLIC PARKS OF IOWA 



In this work, just as* in every other department of civic life, officials 

 cannot go much ahead of public opinion in the enforcement of law. 



The extermination of any species of life, plant or animal, through 

 the aggressive and destructive agency of man is a matter which may 

 well engage the serious attention of thoughtful men. Unless such 

 species are universally harmful to the existence and welfare of man, their 

 extinction becomes a calamity. Most of us do not understand how in- 

 timately bound together are all of the forms of life; and how the inter- 

 ference with any single form will upset the balance of the whole immedi- 

 ate complex of nature, and how the effects of such disturbance go rippling 

 outward in ever-widening circles, till often the original cause is lost 

 sight of. 



Man tabes the wilderness and converts it into his habitation. Con- 

 ditions become so changed that the larger wild life can no longer find 

 food, shelter and safety. The environment is no longer fitted to their 

 existence. Many forms of life are then crowded out. 



The problem which then faces man is to determine what animal forms, 

 if any, can be of service in the modern and civilized scheme. Much work 

 has been done in the solution of this problem; and we do not need to 

 call upon science to show us many ways in which the wild animal life 

 contributes to the comfort, prosperity and welfare of civilized man. 



If one were to take the pains to catalog the various animal products 

 which find a place on the market, no doubt the total wealth represented 

 thereby would far exceed our most extravagant guesses. 



Without detailing the many forms of animals which furnish food, we 

 may note the immense value of furs to the human race; what, indeed, 

 can take the place of furs in man's clothing? Only in certain quarters, 

 as in Alaska, have adequate attempts been made to conserve the sup- 

 ply of fur-bearing animals. Long ago the necessity of regulating the 

 taking of food fish was recognized; and in the larger bodies of water 

 this may be considered as under control. The salmon industry on the 

 Pacific coast has likewise been put upon a conservative basis, with good 

 prospects of its continuance. The lobster and shrimp industry on the 

 Atlantic coast has interested itself in developing a rational procedure in 

 the taking of this form of life. A lo-ng time ago England took control of 

 the pearl j bearing oyster beds. The pearl button industry of our own and 

 adjacent states has lately come to the realization that the supply of clams 

 in the rivers may be exhausted. 



In our greed to obtain, we are in the habit of going after these 

 animal resources just as we go after copper and gold in the earth. We 

 do not stop to think that the supply of our animal resources is spread out 

 upon the earth's surface, and is limited in quantity, and it seems to take 

 time for the realization to dawn upon us that our animal resources, un- 

 like our mineral resources, may be perpetuated if we only restrain our 

 greed and exercise rational methods. The result of greed is inexorable. 



It is also a slow process for us to realize that our animal life may be of 

 great value to us in other ways than by yielding to us the products of 

 their bodies, such as flesh, fur, hide, feathers, bones, oils, etc. We do 



