506 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LIII. No. 1379 



of the resources continue, and the interests 

 of industries and communities are already in 

 many cases jeopardized by the depletion of 

 local sources of raw material. 



Among the obstacles to the more rapid ap- 

 plication of the principles of conservation are 

 ignorance and indifference on the part of those 

 engaged in developing natural resources, un- 

 willingness to change old methods, and self- 

 ishness of individuals who are willing to sac- 

 rifice even the interests of their own industry 

 to immediate gains. But there are also ob- 

 stacles of an economic and public character, 

 that are retarding progress. These relate to 

 the character of ownership and control of 

 natural resources, to the existing organization 

 of certain of the industries, to problems of 

 transportation, and in some cases to questions 

 of taxation and the relation of the public to 

 industry. 



Scientific research furnishes the foundation 

 of conservation. Education wiU solve the 

 problem of ignorance and indifference. The 

 economic and jxilitical obstacles, however, can 

 usually ibe overcome only through action by 

 the public. Thus it is that those who are 

 engaged in promoting the principles of con- 

 servation in their respective fields are urging 

 legislation in the federal Congress and in state 

 legislatures, seeking public aid for private 

 owners of resources and for the industries, 

 public cooperation in marketing and distribu- 

 tion, public action in road building and other 

 transportation problems, and in some in- 

 stances public control over the basic resources 

 themselves, over their exploitation, or over the 

 distribution of their products. 



In studying the situation in the different 

 fields of conservation, I have been increasingly 

 impressed by the inadequacy of the available 

 information about the different resources in 

 their relation to the problems of our national 

 development. This may be surprising in view 

 of the extensive research in different branches 

 of science, and the large amount of reliable 

 data in regard to the quantity of the various 

 resources, their basic qualities, their possible 

 uses, and the general requirements of Ameri- 

 can industry. Yet this information has not 



been assembled and interpreted in a way to 

 show the real meaning of our resources and 

 their conservation to the permanent advance- 

 ment of our industrial and social life. 



Not long ago I asked a prominent leader of 

 forestry in Massachusetts if anyone could in- 

 form me just what the forests in that state 

 mean to its permanent economic life; the re- 

 lation of the forests to wood-using industries, 

 their importance in maintaining successful 

 agriculture, their relation to transportation, to 

 rural life, and to the labor problem of the 

 state. The answer was that no such compre- 

 hensive study had ever been made. In that 

 state as elsewhere, the discussion of forestry 

 has centered chiefly about the problem of the 

 production of board feet for the market. The 

 economic aspects of forestry as a land problem 

 have 'been subordinated or overlooked. For- 

 estry concerns the use and development of 

 nearly one third of the area of the entire 

 country. We have the problem of whether 

 this vast area shall be of service in building up 

 and maintaining i)ermanent rural communi- 

 ties, with all the resulting benefits to the state 

 and to the nation. "When our forest problem 

 is studied in its relation to the concrete eco- 

 nomic needs of the localities where the re- 

 sources are located, it takes on a new aspect, 

 it reveals a more alarming situation than if it 

 concerned only the question of a supply of 

 specified products, and it calls for different 

 considerations in public policy. 



Our economic studies of natural resources 

 have thus been too restricted in their view- 

 point, often overlooking aspects of great im- 

 portance in formulating policies. This is 

 especially true where the service of one natural 

 resource is dependent upon the development 

 and right handling of another. It is the gen- 

 eral rule that a state or a locality is not built 

 up on the basis of a single resource. Its eco- 

 nomic prosperity depends upon many branches 

 of industry using various resources some of 

 which are obtained locally. A permanent in- 

 dustrial organization depends ui)on the right 

 handling of all the various natural resources. 

 The development of one may be dependent 

 upon others; the destruction of one may re- 



