which is but just beginning to yield ground to a more enlightened 

 sentiment. This enlightened sentiment further encounters determined 

 and unscrupulous opposition from the land-grabbers, the lumber 

 stealers, the candidate for free grazing, and all the rest of the various 

 pirates and parasites that prey upon and cling to the rich spoils of our 

 public domain. 



ft. A -4 



A CONTINENT DESPOILED 



Rudolf Cronau is a well-known artist and writer, of German ancestry. 

 Under the above title he has written a vivid article in the American 

 Magazine, with the following introduction: 



On my writing-desk lies a pile of photographs, some taken with my 

 own camera, some obtained from friends or through the courtesy of 



Portion of a city forest. Bavaria. Notice the well-kept nursery and the beautiful 

 stand of spruce in the rear. This forest is grown from seedlings, planted by hand 

 eighty years ago. The revenue from the forest pays for all improvements in the city. 



the United States Forest Service and the Geological Survey. Besides, 

 there are maps and papers covered with statistical figures. 



If you look over this collection, you will be struck with horror, for 

 these views disclose scenes so repulsive, that, if they were not photo- 

 graphs, you would believe them products of the sickly brain of some 

 artist like the famous Belgian painter Wuerz, or the Eussion Were- 

 schagin, who, with cruel pleasure, indulged in portraying only the 

 most unpleasant and disgusting scenes of this world. 



Let us take up a few of these photographs. 



Here we have the gloomy view of a forest destroyed by fire. As far 

 as the eye can penetrate the picture, you see hundreds and thousands 

 of straight black trunks, pointing as so many big needles toward 

 heaven. There is not a limb left on one of the trees. Every branch 



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