EDITORIAL 701 



creasing bulk of other and more profit- tion;" while others may see in it the 



able classes of freight. germ of the town meeting far removed 



The development here, as everywhere from its habitat in New England, Old 



among living and growing things, of England, or the German forest as seen 



the need for "differentiation and spe- by Caesar and Tacitus, 



cialization" has from the first been in- By whatever "ism" it be character- 



evitable and is now evident. ized, it is good, hard sense. 



Our friends, however, who are so Governments, national, state, and 



deeply concerned in the development of municipal, have a vast work to do 



our inland waterways must not over- vaster far than any of them have as yet 



look the intimate and vital connection undertaken. 



existing between those waterways and But this does not exclude initiative 



our forests. They cannot ponder too on t h e part of individuals or interested 



earnestly the words of Ambassador groups. 



Jusserand : "It is an absolute prin- ' Schiller's maxim, "Do the duty next 

 ciple : no forests, no waterways. to hand," applies not simply to indi- 

 The question is as clear as can be : do v iduals or to Governments, but to all 

 you want to have navigable rivers, or to w i lorn duty may seem clear, and who 

 do you prefer to have torrents that will may not be barred by laws "strictly con- 

 destroy your crops and never bear a strued." 



boat? If you prefer the first, then mind T he wOrk which mig i lt be accom - 

 your forests. We can tell you, for we plished locally and without waiting for 

 know. If the Mississippi is the Father furt i ier legislation is unquestionably 

 of Waters/ the^forest is the father of vast At our last annua i meeting See- 

 the Mississippi." retary Wilson urged that everybody, 



Unfortunately, not all waterways ad- whether Government did its duty or 



vocates have grasped this fundamental not> shou]d lant trees _ 



truth. For example, one of the leading Jn Hke manner manVj while urging 



advocates in Congress of internal wa- ~ overnmental action but not wa i t i n g for 



terways voted last March against the { enormously promote the good 



Weeks bill, a measure absolutely essen- roads movement b attack i ng the prob- 



tial to the protection f eastern and lem where th are 

 southern waterways. All of which 



proves the need of increasing educa- & ^ % 

 tion, even in high places, as to the im- The Dryfarming Congress at Billings 

 portance, breadth, and depth of the for- 

 estry movement. D EFORE this issue reaches the 



D readers of CONSERVATION, the Dry- 

 farming Congress, due at Billings, 



Farmers Building Their Own Roads Mont., October 26-8, will have been 



held. This Congress has been thor- 



A DESPATCH from Brenham, Tex., oug hi y advertised by a most efficient 



tells of a mass meeting of the peo- press agent The prospect for a large 



pie of Washington County, of that state, attendance is excellent. Those enlisted 



to devise ways and means to establish in the movement are pressing enthusi- 



good roads. astically for the conquest of the desert, 



As a result, an organization was not a \\ o f w hich is expected to be re- 

 effected called the Good Roads Asso- claimed by irrigation, 

 ciation of R. F. D. No. 9. The Department of Agriculture, as 



We are told that there were over 100 Secretary Wilson writes Governor 



progressive men present, that they Norris, is scouring the world for plants 



agreed to tax themselves 50 cents per that will grow and put organic matter 



month, and that nearly all the members into the soil during the year that is 



paid the first assessment. now occupied in fallowing. Others are 



Some may style this "individualism ;" working industriously to ascertain the 



some, "communism ;" some, "coopera- best methods of conserving such moist- 



