PRrlSIIENT SEZ (cont.) 



much for so little work. There are over 7,000 

 foori products for the shopper to choose from. 

 Tor the averape family, this food is acquired so 

 effortlessly it makes the manna of the Old Test- 

 ament seem small in comparison, '.vith this great 

 plenty there has been a philosophy developing 

 that since this is a land of such surpluses and 

 over-production, it will go on forever without 

 thoupht or care. More and more the men who are 

 going to our Congress and our State Legislatures 

 are men from big cities and urban areas who think 

 little about soil and water conservation unless 

 continually prodded and prompted by those of us 

 concerned with the future. In my opinion, this 

 recent proposal by the Federal Budget Bureau 

 co'ild only have been written by men having little 

 knowledge or concern with the subject of soil anc 

 water conservation. 



In my opinion, a great society cannot exist 

 or even be created without a great agriculture. 

 If we do not protect our basic natural resources 

 as carried out in our present soil and water con^ 

 servation districts, how will the future genera- 

 tions and their expanding populations have ade- 

 quate fooi.i and water? In the year 2000 will our 

 children, as mature men and women, have cause to 

 be grateful for our foresight or will the lines 

 from 'Wittier' s poem have more meaning in their 

 lives? "Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the 

 saddest are these, 'it might have been' ". 



CONSERVATION CHARLEY by Hariy Corry 



Thieves are ornery, no-account, low-lifing 

 varmints. They're worthless, parasitic polecats. 

 They're the bottom of the lower crust. 



As Mrs. Thelma Snodgrass, looking up her blue- 

 blooded nose, says, "Thieves are abominable. 

 Everyone detests their intestines." As an after- 

 thought she adds, "Everyone who is anyone, that 

 is." 



"Thou Shalt Not Steal" is a universal rule of 

 life. 



In every country in the world the citizens 

 frown on pilfering. Even the cannibals of New 

 Guinea and darkest Africa go haywire over a bloke 

 who snitches a roasted femur or a toasted tibia 

 from someone else's pantry. And the feller who 

 hunted mastadons and did battle with dinosaurs 

 got real provoked if one of his new clubs was 

 missing when he returned to his cave. 



Law books bulge with rules and regulations, 

 explanations and interpretations of degree, mo- 

 tives and penalties for theft. And the jailhouse 

 is jammed with guys and dolls who thought the 

 books were filled with fairy tales. 



Ve're pretty well protected by law from the 

 standard brands of thieves. But there's a steady 

 stream of unstandard thieves galloping through a 

 loophole in our legal library. 2 



What about the feller who steals from Mother 

 Nature? -- her soil, for instance? Nowhere in 

 the law books is he mentioned. The police can't 

 arrest him, the lawyer can't prosecute him, and 

 a jury can't judge him. He steals without the 

 slightest chance of being caught. 



Legally, he isn't a thief. Morally, he might 

 be the worst of the lot. 



He'll deny the charges, of course. The sky 

 can be black with clouds of soil from his fields. 

 The rain and snow melt can cart soil off by the 

 carload. Our respectable thief will merely 

 shrug. He'll, no doubt, point to the wind and 

 water and say, "See, sonny, there's the thieves. 

 Look at those rascals steal my soil," 



The wind and the water may be the fellows who 

 do the actual stealing but our careless friend 

 is the mastermind behind the gang. He plows up 

 sod and neglects to protect it with stubble mulch 

 and strip cropping. He tears up natural drain- 

 ageways and breeds gullies. He over-irrigates 

 and digs canyons. 



These practices all result in lost soil. They 

 can all be prevented. 



The professional thief steals from others to 

 enrich himself. He gains from his activities — 

 if he isn't caught. 



The man who steals soil, on the other hand, is 

 a kook. He's got a screw loose. He enriches -no 

 one. He steals from himself. He makes his farm 

 poorer and his income is reduced. He also steals 

 from you and I because our soil is the very basis 

 of our existence. He steals from the millions 

 yet unborn who will have to live off of whatever 

 soil we leave them. 



We're gonna have to stop these soil stealers or, 

 one day, we'll be a teeming mass of sad sacks ~ 

 hungry ones, at that. 



li-H CLUBS PLANTING TREES 



That is exactly what the h-H clubs of Sheridan 

 County are doing this year in connection with li-H 

 conservation. This all started when I wrote to 

 the eleven U-H clubs of Sheridan County suggesting 

 that they order and plant trees for Arbor Day, 



I felt that this way the individual U-H 'er 

 could better learn and be in contact with conser- 

 vation by planting and caring for some trees of 

 his own. This would not mean a great deal of work 

 on the part of any one member andyet it would in- 

 volve individual participation. A small start in 

 conservation which might develop greatly by the 

 time they become adults. 



Vicki Rasmussen 

 Antelope, Montana 



An "old timer" is one who can reniein- 

 ber when the village square was n ])lii( o 

 instead of a person. 



