32 SCIENCE 
of the Saco, a stream so capricious and boul- 
der-strewn that it would be an impossibility 
to drive logs down it. But spruce and hem- 
lock are exceedingly valuable nowadays, and, 
morever, that Weeks bill threatens—or would 
threaten if it were not for that little joker— 
to prevent the slaughter of trees so near Mount 
Washington. So a lumber railroad has been 
driven with great energy up to the very center 
of this last refuge of the forest primeval.” 
In the Crawford Notch the cutting has 
been carried as far up as the Frankenstein 
Trestle. “The whole easterly slope of the 
Franconia Range and the valleys among the 
foothills of this range have been denuded. 
Indeed, from the summit of Lafayette almost 
all that the eye can see of the lower and 
western part of the Pemigewasset Valley has 
been swept clean and left a leafless, brown 
desert of slash. So from Carrigan Summit 
it shows on the southerly slopes of Bemis, 
Anderson, Lowell and Nancy.” 
It is evident from the above that the cutting 
of the forest is progressing at an unprece- 
dented rate, and this, not merely on the lower 
and more gentle slopes where there is a possi- 
bility that the growth of spruce may be re- 
newed, but also on the upper and steeper in- 
clines where the forest, when once removed, 
is gone, if not forever, still at least until the 
next Ice Age wipes out the relics of human 
folly, renews the mantle of drift, and restores, 
after the recession of the ice, those climatic 
conditions which make the initiation of ever- 
green forests possible in such situations. 
At the conference of governors, called by 
President Roosevelt to consider the conserva- 
tion of our natural resources, after reciting 
the axiom: “The great natural resources sup- 
ply the material basis upon which our civiliza- 
tion must continue to depend and upon which 
the perpetuity of the nation itself rests,” the 
conference made the following unanimous 
declaration: 
“We agree, in the light of the facts brought 
to our knowledge and from information re- 
ceived from sources which we can not doubt, 
that this material basis is threatened with 
[N.S. Vou. XXXV. No. 888 
exhaustion. Even as each succeeding genera- 
tion from the birth of the nation has per- 
formed its part in promoting the progress and. 
development of the republic, so do we in this 
generation recognize it as a high duty to per- 
form our part; and this duty in large degree 
lies in the adoption of measures for the con- 
servation of the natural wealth of the coun- 
try.” It was further declared that “this con- 
servation of our natural resources is a subject 
of transcendent importance, which should en- 
gage unuremittingly the attention of the na- 
tion, the states and the people in earnest 
cooperation.” 
All of this is matter for consideration in the 
light of science. As abstract questions, these 
declarations received universal acquiescence; 
but diversity of opinion arises in their appli- 
cation, and here we enter upon a sphere of 
action where science and politics must com- 
bine. Distasteful as it may be to men of 
science to enter into the sphere of politics, the 
lesson which the laborers have been slowly 
learning, that the needs of industry receive no 
attention until pushed to the center of the 
political arena, must apparently be taken 
home by science also. 
One of the declarations of the governors 
reads: “ That sources of national wealth exist 
for the benefit of the people, and that mon- 
opoly thereof should not be tolerated.” Here 
this honorable body touches the crux of the 
whole matter. 
As soon as remedial legislation is attempted. 
the forees of monopoly show themselves to be 
stronger than science, stronger than governors 
or presidents. In fact, there is only one power 
that is greater—that of the people. Whenever 
the nation becomes so thoroughly aroused that 
its people act together as one man, monopoly 
will be overthrown. Until that time arrives, 
there is need for science to continue a cam- 
paign of education and to continue it wnre- 
mittingly as the governors advise. 
After the first flush of enthusiasm has 
cooled, look for reaction and apparent back 
track to make way for the next wave of ad- 
vance. The need of a new movement is 
