CHAPTER VIII 

 THE ANGLER'S PRAYER SAVE THE WOODS AND WATERS 



" Perpetual devotion to what a man calls his business is only 

 to be sustained by perpetual neglect of other things. And it is 

 not by any means certain that a man's business is the most im- 

 portant thing he has to do." 



ROBERT Louis STEVENSON. 



COMMERCE or civilization or whatever you like to 

 call modern man's accumulation of money wealth at 

 the sacrifice of nature is perpetrated with no greater 

 force thato in the wanton waste of our forests the 

 trees given by God to the people and stolen from the 

 people by individuals. It seems all right for man to 

 prudently use our forests in the making of homes and 

 other practical things of actual necessity, but it is a 

 downright shame that the people allow greedy men to 

 destroy the trees for the mere sake of adding dollars 

 to the destroyers' already well-filled purses. And 

 these selfish men even deprive the people of their 

 breathing-air, drinking-water, and fish food. Springs, 

 ponds, and brooks are dried up by the loss of sheltering 

 foliage. Lakes and rivers are ruined by the commer- 

 cial gentry's waste acid, dye, oil, gas, etc., and the 

 very air we breathe is poisoned by the fumes of the 

 money-makers' chimneys. 



The railroads cut down the people's trees to make 

 ties, and they burn the old ties instead of consuming 



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