74 KUEAL LIFE IN CA]!^ADA 



rock, but which is held by binding roots while under 

 forest, is one example. Gravel which parts readily 

 with its water in the open but remains moist when in 

 woods is another. Sand which drifts with the wind is 

 a third. " It is a known fact that in certain upland 

 parts of the Eastern United States the average level of 

 the ground-water has fallen from ten to forty feet . . . 

 while springs and wells have permanently failed."* In 

 their original condition forests throve on these lands. 

 Once cleared it was impossible to maintain conditions 

 under which profitable agriculture could be carried on. 

 Even re-afforesting has become difficult. This condi- 

 tion holds of a large part of the mountainous and hilly 

 districts of the world. Yet upon these districts the 

 waterflow of the streams, and consequently the humidity 

 of the climate, and ultimately the productiveness of all 

 lands depend. Yet the policy of our Governments long 

 fostered exploitation of the forests upon such lands. 



A great economic wrong has been inflicted upon the 

 world by the exploitation of all natural resources, a 

 waste made possible by modern means of transportation 

 and manufacture employed under control of the purpose 

 of present gain alone, untempered by the thought of 

 service or of responsibility for the future ; a wrong of 

 such magnitude as to amount to actual spoliation of 

 coming generations, of such magnitude as to amount to 

 actual defiance of the God of Providence. 



The world of to-day is in the position of an heir who 

 has come into possession of a great estate and is reck- 

 lessly squandering his patrimony : 



Creation's heir, the world, the world is mine.t 



* Commission of Conservation, Report I, p. 13. 

 t Oliver Goldsmith, " The Traveller." 



