452 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



October 



are assured which we can not es- 

 cape enhances the danger. By the 

 end of the half century our vast de- 

 posits of iron will (so it is said,) un- 

 der the accelerated drain, have been 

 very largely reduced. Our dwind- 

 ling forests have already begun to 

 harm the industries dependent on them 

 Our coal, the chief source of the 

 power which drives the wheels of in- 

 dustry, can never be burned but once. 

 Can it be that the vast rising struc- 

 ture of our industrial life is consum- 

 ing its own foundations and is doom- 

 ed to eventual downfall? 



That same sagacious man of affairs 

 to whom I have just referred Mr. 

 James J. Hill -has pointed out the 

 distinction between our lasting and 

 our transitory sources of prosperity. 

 Our farms belong in the first class ; 

 our mines in the second. Every ton 

 of ore taken from our mines is like 

 money drawn from a bank account ; 

 when it is used it is gone. For stable 

 and permanent prosperity, if our na- 

 tional greatness is not to fall into an 

 early decay, we must look to those 

 sources of wealth which are capable 

 of utilization without impairment of 

 their productive power. 



There is a fundamental difference 

 between utilization and exploitation. 

 Mere exploitation brings temporary 

 enrichment followed by permanent im- 

 poverishment. Exploitation is too 

 often regarded as development. True 

 and lasting material development de- 

 pends on our learning to make the 

 most of every natural resource. Un- 

 developed, our resources are but po- 

 tential wealth. The greatness, pros- 

 perity, and power of our country, and 

 with them our own individual wel- 

 fare, depend on our learning how to 

 utilize to the fullest every natural 

 resource. 



( )f tbese natural resources our for- 

 ests constitute one of the greatest. 

 Hitherto we have abused this re- 

 source shamefully. We have ex- 

 ploited it. With the prodigal reck- 

 lessness born of abundance we have 

 taken what we needed and destroyed 

 much more than we have used. It 



is now plain that the day of reckon- 

 ing is not far distant. Not our child- 

 ren, but we ourselves, are likely to 

 have brought forcibly home to us the 

 evil consequence of our shortsighted- 

 ness. 



In this problem forestry plays an 

 important part. A considerable por- 

 tion of our land is by nature fitted to 

 serve its best use as a source of per- 

 manent supply of Wood and water. 

 In mountainous regions wood is the 

 only crop which the soil is capable 

 of producing, but it is not merely in 

 the mountains that the natural forest 

 land is to be found, Even in our 

 richest agricultural regions there is 

 usually to be found more or less land 

 too rugged, steep, wet, or infertile 

 for agriculture. Eventually the wood- 

 lots of the American farmer will fur- 

 nish us with a large part of our wood 

 supply. 



The Department of Agriculture ex- 

 ists at Washington to promote the 

 best use of all kinds and classes of 

 the land which forms our greatest 

 national asset. The problem is essen- 

 tially the application of the highest 

 intelligence and fullest scientific know- 

 ledge to the work of making our land 

 yield its utmost. The Department of 

 Agriculture seeks for the farmer new 

 crops, better seed, better methods of 

 cultivation, improved methods of 

 breeding and caring for stock, infor- 

 mation as to how to market his pro- 

 duct whatever can make his farm 

 more profitable. In doing this it is 

 adding enormously to the capital value 

 of farm lands. 



It is no new statement, but yet it 

 is one that can not be made too often, 

 that wood is of basic importance in 

 our industrial life. Other materials 

 can not do away with the need of it. 

 There is no great industry for which 

 it is not important. 



Take the case of Kentucky. More 

 than one-half of her area is wooded. 

 Lumbering adds yearly to the wealth 

 of the state an amount which places 

 it second among her great industries. 

 Yet this is only a beginning. Ken- 

 tucky is rich in coal, but coal can not 



