INTRODUCTION xix 



hide to our present conviction that we must con- 

 serve all of our natural resources. And to-day the 

 tree that we plant on Arbor Day is to our larger 

 consciousness a mere symbol of the larger con- 

 servation which must hand down to our children 

 an unimpoverished America. 



If, therefore, the young trees of our young holiday 

 are only expressive and highly poetic symbols of the 

 new wave of unselfish foresight in which America is 

 being baptized, would it not be more fitting, more 

 significant and more beautiful if we should re- 

 christen our new festival with the name CONSER- 

 VATION DAY? 



February, 1909. ** ** ^ 



