560 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. LVI, No. 1455 



That there is real need for the conserving of 

 our material resources no one, I feel confident, 

 will dispute. We may classify these resources 

 as those which subserve the necessities of our 

 physical beings and those which minister to 

 our inner and higher needs. I realize, of 

 course, that no hard and fast line can be drawn 

 between these. There is a sense in which all 

 are necessary, since symmetrical development 

 and well-poised usefulness of the human life 

 can be attained only when all the ministry of 

 nature has been offered and received. There 

 are, however, a few materials which ai-e basic 

 and necessary for bodily existence. Such are 

 the soil, the water supply, the coal and iron 

 reserves, the vegetal and animal kingdoms, 

 together with other less conspicuous but per- 

 haps equally vital components of the earth's 

 structure. Life in any form, much less in the 

 highly complex types, can continue and thrive 

 only where these are abundantly available and 

 are put to constant use. Because of this theii- 

 intelligent application to the needs of modern 

 living and their equally intelligent reservation 

 for the needs of future generations are alike 

 imperative. 



I do not propose to burden you with a mass 

 of statistics but I do wish to present just a 

 few facts and figures to show you how 

 important a matter the careful use and hus- 

 banding of our natural resources has become. 

 The soil is, of course, the basis of all wealth 

 and civilization. Upon its intelligent cultiva- 

 tion depends the very life of the people. The 

 United States proper includes 1,937,144,960 

 acres of land, of which 838,591,774 acres are 

 classed as farm land. About 50 per cent, of 

 this area is under cultivation, or about one 

 fifth of the total acreage of the coiintry. On 

 this one fifth, then, the population must de- 

 pend in large measure for its sustenance. How 

 careful the tillers of the soil should be that this 

 small fraction is put to its best use. Intensive 

 farming, proper rotation of crops, more intelli- 

 gent tillage, prevention of soil wastage, both 

 mechanical and chemical, increased use of fer- 

 tilizers — all means must be utUized if the neces- 

 sary crop yields are to be maintained. At 

 present the western states and Canada are 

 among the foremost exporters of foodstuffs for 



other lands. What will happen when our own 

 population demands all the food our farms 

 can produce? What will happen when a still 

 further increased population finds that the 

 farming states can not supply its needs? It 

 will not suffice to say that that day will never 

 come. Unless our farms maintain and increase 

 their yields that day will most surely come to 

 us as it has come to other nations. The means 

 I have already suggested will help to postpone 

 that unfortunate time, and in addition the till- 

 able acreage may be increased by irrigation 

 and drainage, the losses due to injurious in- 

 sects and mammals and to plant diseases may 

 be lessened by increased knowledge, care and 

 skill, and increasingly intelligent animal hus- 

 bandry may improve the quality and quantity 

 of our meat and dairy products. 



Iowa may be proud of having both the 

 largest acreage of improved land of any state 

 in the Union, about 30,000,000 acres, and also 

 the largest percentage of unproved land to 

 total area, nearly 90 per cent. This improved 

 acreage is about one and one half times that 

 of Texas and about two and one half times 

 that of California. While Texas may boast of 

 her oil booms and California of her climate 

 Iowa must nevertheless produce the crops that 

 shaU help feed the world, for she is in the 

 center of the richest land of the globe. The 

 yield of the farms of the Union in 1920, 

 including live stock on the farms, was 

 $12,974,461,000 and that of Iowa dui-ing the 

 same year was $1,175,504,318, about one twelfth 

 of the total. My point in citing these figures 

 is to emphasize Iowa's importance as a food 

 producer and the necessity of maintaining and 

 raising the high standard already set. 



In mineral resources our country is wonder- 

 fully supplied. Probably no other land has 

 such wide variety in such great abundance. 

 This places upon us a stewardship of mag- 

 nificent proportions and the responsibility is 

 increased by the fact that to a degree far be- 

 yond what is true of the soil, these resources 

 if once dissipated are gone forever. The field 

 that has just raised a crop of oats may raise 

 an equally good crop of corn next year, but 

 the land from which our coal was mined last 

 winter will never yield another such harvest. 



