320 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



state, to our physical and moral well-being, 

 demanded by justice, dictated by sound public 

 economy, and warranted by the political insti- 

 tutions, the constitutions and laws, under 

 which we live. We suffer for the sins of 

 omission of our fathers in this respect and 

 for our own sins, but -our neglect is not ir- 

 reparable, and we have announced, as clearly 

 as party platforms and statutes enacted or 

 pending, and court decisions made or cer- 

 tain to be made, can announce anything, that 

 we shall repair this neglect and lay broad 

 the foundations for effective conservation in 

 future years. Conservation and development, 

 educational, financial, agricultural, and indus- 

 trial, rather than exploitation and incidental 

 destruction, are to be the watchwords of 

 our new social democracy, and the political 

 banners on which these watchwords are hon- 

 estly inscribed are the banners under which 

 the young men of the republic will enroll 

 themselves. 



We have applied these watchwords to phys- 

 ical resources, but it has not escaped atten- 

 tion that there is also a human side of the 

 policy of conservation. Life is more than 



meat and the body than raiment, and if our 

 food supply and our lumber supply and our 

 coal and iron supply must be conserved and 

 developed instead of exploited, as they must, 

 how much more must the bodies and the 

 lives of our people no longer be exploited 

 but conserved. The most important part of 

 conservation, merely from the standpoint of 

 dollars and cents, is the preservation and 

 development of strong, healthy bodies, a de- 

 cent, dignified status for workingmen, and a 

 hopeful outlook into the uncertain but 

 friendly future. 



But we must not speak from the standpoint 

 of dollars and cents save as they symbolize 

 real wealth, genuine welfare, substantial 

 prosperity, of which the test is life and not 

 property. A religious writer insists that the 

 force of the religious spirit should be bent 

 toward asserting the supremacy of life over 

 property. "Property exists," he says truly, 

 "to maintain and develop life. It is unchris- 

 tian to regard human life as a mere instru- 

 ment for the production of wealth." It is not 

 merely unchristian; it is unjewish, unmoham- 

 medan, unintelligible, and unhuman. 



