superior. The meandering stream, twisting and flowing 

 back on itself around bends, clogging itself with logs and 

 other debris that form numerous backwater pools, and 

 permitting its floods to spread thinly over flood plains, 

 is the natural way of reducing velocity and promoting 

 penetration. 



M THE SOCIAL LOSS. 



As a consequence of the practices which have shortened 

 the time between precipitation and the return of waters to 

 the oceans, there are serious losses which must be set over 

 against the gains which have induced the practices. 



We may sum up the gains as follows: Through drainage, 

 clearing of forests, and plowing under of natural grasslands, 

 a remarkable addition to the tilled lands of the Nation and 

 to the production of agricultural crops has been made. From 

 this must be subtracted the losses resulting from failure to 

 be selective, which resulted in the draining of inferior soils 

 and the creation of social-problem areas. In the background 

 also is the question whether exploitation and productivity 

 may not have proceeded faster than the economic system 

 could adjust to them. However, notwithstanding the 

 failure of these practices to be governed by uniform policies 

 and plans, to be selective, and to have uniformly beneficial 

 results, there remains a noteworthy net gain in the agricul- 

 tural power of the United States. 



With respect to conservation of water assets (we shall con- 

 sider later conservation of soils), the outstanding losses are: 

 First, a large proportion of the waters precipitated on the land 

 surface find their way to the oceans without having rendered 

 all their potential services to man; and second, in their course 

 they destroy property and frequently human lives. 



It is a folk saying that a mill can never grind with the water 

 that has passed. Likewise a people can never receive the 

 benefits of waters that have passed; and their potential 

 serviceability is in the aggregate enormous. Given retarda- 

 tion and more regular flow in the circulation of waters because 

 of adequate ground and surface storage, many communities 

 now deficient may realize one or more of the following bene- 



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