494 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXIX. No. 743 



plish such an object with success, the maintenance 

 and improvement of public health is a first essen- 

 tial. 



In all steps for the utilization of natural re- 

 sources considerations of public health should 

 always be kept in view. 



Facts which can not be questioned demonstrate 

 that immediate action is necessary to prevent 

 further pollution, mainly by sewage, of the lakes, 

 rivers and streams throughout North America. 

 Such pollution, aside from the enormous loss in 

 fertilizing elements entailed thereby, is an imme- 

 diate and continuous danger to public health, to 

 the health of animals, and, when caused by cer- 

 tain chemical agents, to agriculture. Therefore 

 we recommend that preventive legislation be en- 

 acted. 



Forests. — We recognize the forests as indis- 

 pensable to civilization and public welfare. They 

 furnish material for construction and manufac- 

 ture, and promote the habitability of the earth. 

 We regard the wise use, effective protection, espe- 

 cially from fire, and prompt renewal of the forests 

 on land best adapted to such use, as a public 

 necessity and hence a public duty devolving upon 

 all forest owners alike, whether public, corporate 

 or individual. 



We consider the creation of many and large 

 forest reservations and their permanent main- 

 tenance under government control absolutely es- 

 sential to the public welfare. 



We favor the early completion of inventories 

 of forest resources, in order to ascertain the avail- 

 able supply and the rate of consumption and re- 

 production. 



We recommend the extension of technical educa- 

 tion and practical field instruction in forest con- 

 servation, afforestation and reforestation, so as to 

 provide efficient forest officers whose knowledge 

 will be available for necessary public information 

 on these subjects. 



Believing that excessive taxation on standing 

 timber privately owned is a potent cause of forest 

 destruction by increasing the cost of maintaining 

 growing forests, we agree in the wisdom and 

 justice of separating the taxation of timber land 

 from the taxation of the timber growing upon it, 

 and adjusting both in such a manner as to en- 

 courage forest conservation and forest growing. 



We agree that the ownership of forest lands, 

 either at the headwaters of streams or upon areas 

 better suited for forest growth than for other 

 purposes, entails duties to the public, and that 

 such lands should be protected with equal effect- 



iveness, whether under public or private owner- 

 ship. 



Forests are necessary to protect the sources of 

 streams, moderate floods and equalize the flow of 

 waters, temper the climate and protect the soil; 

 and we agree that all forests neeessaiy for these 

 purposes should be amply safeguarded. We affirm 

 the absolute need of holding for forests, or re- 

 foresting, all lands supplying the headwaters of 

 streams, and we therefore favor the control or 

 acquisition of such lands for the public. 



The private owners of lands unsuited to agri- 

 culture, once forested and now impoverished or 

 denuded, should be encouraged by practical in- 

 struction, adjustment of taxation, and in other 

 proper ways, to undertake the reforesting thereof. 

 Notwithstanding an increasing public interest 

 in forestry, the calamitous aad far-reaching de- 

 struction of forests by fire still continues and 

 demands immediate and decisive action. We be- 

 lieve that systems of fire guardianship and patrol 

 afford the best means of dealing adequately with 

 fires which occur, whether from natural causes, 

 such as lightning, or in other ways; but we affirm 

 that in addition thereto effective laws are urgently 

 needed to reduce the vast damage from prevent- 

 able causes. 



Apart from fire, the principal cause of forest 

 destruction is unwise and improvident cutting, 

 which, in many cases, has resulted in widespread 

 injury to the climate and the streams. It is 

 therefore of the first importance that all lumber- 

 ing operations should be carried on under a sys- 

 tem of rigid regulation. 



Waters. — We recognize the waters as a primary 

 resource, and we regard their use for domestic 

 and municipal supply, irrigation, navigation and 

 power as interrelated public uses and properly 

 subject to public control. We therefore favor the 

 complete and concurrent development of the 

 streams and their sources for evei-y useful pur- 

 pose to which they may be put. 



The highest and most necessary use of water is 

 for domestic and municipal purposes. We there- 

 fore favor the recognition of this principle in 

 legislation and, where necessary, the subordina- 

 tion of other uses of water thereto. 



The superior economy of water transportation 

 over land transportation, as well as its advantages 

 in limiting the consumption of the non-renewable 

 resources, coal and iron, and its effectiveness in 

 the promotion of commerce, are generally acknowl- 

 edged. We therefore favor the development of 

 inland navigation under general plans adapted 



