436 



CONSERVATION 



the westernmost verge of the continent, 

 where progress must pause for a mo- 

 ment, like the early voyagers, before 

 venturing across the broad Pacific to 

 remake that Orient which beheld some 

 of her earliest conquests, may well be 

 exhibited in pronounced and admirable 

 form the qualities that have always 

 marked the American West." 



Such language reveals in Mr. Hill 

 a genuine son of the Republic a man 

 who has breathed the air of the prairies 

 and the mountains ; who knows some- 

 thing of the mighty sweep of our na- 

 tional domain and has felt something of 

 the spirit that has made and is yet to 

 make America great. Speaking of the 

 exposition, Mr. Hill continues : "In its 

 execution is the vigor of youth that 

 should ripen into a splendid maturity. 

 In everything is the magnificent self- 

 confidence without which there can be 

 neither great qualities nor great achieve- 

 ments. The Pacific Coast is drawn to a 

 large scale. The mountains, the ocean, 

 the distances ; even the forms of sea 

 and vegetable life are fixed on a gen- 

 erous plan. Such surroundings shouM 

 be incompatible with human pettiness, 

 Man should emulate nature by growing 

 into greatness of interest, purpose, 

 thought and character. It would almost 

 seem as if nowhere else could there be 

 such inspiration from environment for 

 the development of a worthy civic spirit, 

 as well as for great material creations." 



Passing to the question of natural 

 resources, the speaker continued : 



"The first and most imperative word, 

 I need hardly say, one which the coun- 

 try has come to hear with much re- 

 spect and not a little fear as to its fu- 

 ture, is 'conservation.' I put it first, 

 not only because it belongs there in the 

 scheme of national politics, but because 

 it particularly needs to be repeated and 

 emphasized among the people of the 

 North Pacific Coa?t. You have been 

 following the footsteps of your ances- 

 tors farther east, who are now begin- 

 ning, at great cost of labor and wealth, 

 to repair the consequences of errors 

 that still seem to you natural and proper 

 acts. From California northward to 



the extreme of Alaska there are to-day 

 probably more unimpaired natural re- 

 sources than in all the rest of the coun- 

 try. Your great forests are falling ; 

 but so immense were they that man has 

 not yet compassed their destruction. 

 You have seen what happened to New 

 England and to Michigan and to Wis- 

 consin and Minnesota ; what will be the 

 condition of the South in a few more 

 years? 



"You still possess the principal sup- 

 ply of timber in the United States. 

 Will you take steps to guard it, to pre- 

 vent waste for the sake of immediate 

 gain to a few individuals, until lumber 

 shall become a luxury and the very poor 

 must huddle in houses of mud or sod, 

 like the peasantry of the Old World? 

 If that argument does not appeal, will 

 you consider the economic effect of the 

 future decline and disappearance of 

 what is now and might remain always 

 one of your greatest industries ? Will 

 you realize what this country must be- 

 come when stripped of its forests : the 

 washing away of the soil, the inevitable 

 changes in climate, the devastations of 

 torrential overflow and disastrous 

 drought, the barren bleakness of your 

 mountains and the desolation of your 

 valleys when the forests have gone? If 

 you do, your earnest work for forest 

 conservation will begin to-day." 



As at the White House Conference 

 a year ago, President Hill again called 

 attention strongly to the importance of 

 soil conservation. He said : 



"It is on record that the best soil in 

 this state produced, when the first set- 

 tiers came, from forty to sixty bushels 

 ,of wheat an acre. How many farmers 

 get that now? The temptation is almost 

 irresistible in a country like this, where 

 the new soil needs but the touch of 

 water to burst into wonderful fertility, 

 to grasp a present profit without thought 

 of the future. But this apparently ex- 

 haustless soil acts like all others when 

 abused. Treat it as those of our older 

 states have been treated, take away all 

 and give nothing back, and it is only a 

 question of time how soon your lands, 

 too, will decline in productivity and re- 



