632 



CONSERVATION 



The people do not impute infalli- 

 bility even to former President Roose- 

 velt, but the constant implication that 

 he was able to save some shreds of our 

 common heritage only by wading knee- 

 deep through the statutes, smashing the 

 Constitution, and functioning generally 

 as an irresponsible anarchist is not 

 gratifying. 



There is even the feeling that if Mr. 

 Roosevelt were still in the White House 

 instead of in the wilds of darkest Africa 

 such declarations would be less fash- 

 ionable. 



Again, law, to be of value, must be 

 enforced, and with all their veneration 

 and love for the law, the people know 

 there is enforcement and enforcement. 



They know that there is such a thing 

 as "the spirit of law ;" and that one 

 who, Shylock-like, occupies himself in 

 searching for the letter, may wholly 

 miss this spirit. 



They know that at an earlier age 

 men, eminently respectable, tithed mint, 

 anise, and cummin, and, at the same 

 time, neglected the weightier matters 

 of the law, including judgment, justice, 

 and a square deal. 



They know that law enacted nom- 

 inally to serve a certain end has been 

 used to serve an end directly opposite. 



They know that lawyers, of a certain 

 type and training, have grown rich by 

 finding or making holes in laws through 

 which corporations and special interests 

 have been enabled to drive their coach- 

 and-four. 



Again, the suggestion that if the 

 people do not like the law as it is they 

 may apply to Congress for a better 

 quality of law is not wholly satisfying. 



Such applications have been made 

 before. The history is long and not 

 encouraging. 



Everybody knows what it means, 

 nowadays, to apply to the American 

 Congress for la\v in the people's in- 

 terest. They know who controls both 

 Senate and House, and they remember 

 the treatment usually accorded such 

 measures by both bodies. 



Some of these measures, it is true, 

 have passed ; but after how much effort 

 from outside? And how manv bills 



that should have passed have fallen by 

 the wayside ? And how many more 

 that did pass have met their Waterloo 

 in the courts ? 



So the people do not place all their 

 eggs in the Congressional basket. Con- 

 gress has its place, they know, but so 

 has the Executive Department. 



Now what the people want to know 

 in regard to this conservation business 

 is, Is the administration, in all its 

 branches, on their side, or on some 

 other side ? 



Is any branch of the administration 

 saying, "Law, law ;" and, at the same 

 time, casting encouraging glances at the 

 spoilers ? 



Is the administration, as a whole, do- 

 ing its utmost for the people with the 

 law as it is ; and is it preparing to 

 do its utmost to secure for them, from 

 Congress, such additional legislation as 

 their interests demand? 



These are questions which are not to 

 be answered merely by words ; words 

 have already been multiplied ; what is 

 now wanted is deeds. 



The man from Missouri is abroad in 

 the land ; he wants to be "shown." 



On this conservation question he is 

 at last awake. His eyes are wide open. 



He knows what has been going on, 

 and what it means ; and he demands the 

 turning over of a new leaf. 



He has heard of the conservationist 

 who is "just as good," or a little better; 

 now he wants an exhibition of him in 

 action. 



He wants to see a whole-hearted, 

 genuine, earnest, aggressive carrying 

 out of the conservation policies launched 

 by the preceding administration and in- 

 dorsed and adopted, under pledges the 

 most solemn, by the present one. 



If the demonstration is forthcoming, 

 all will be forgiven and forgotten. 



For this demonstration he has been 

 patiently waiting and earnestly watch- 

 ing during the last half-year. 



What he has seen thus far has by no 

 means reassured him. Henceforth he 

 will watch more eagerly and more crit- 

 ically than ever. 



He wants the goods delivered, and 

 nothing else will suffice. 



