July 15, 1921] 



SCIENCE 



41 



associations are of greatest importance to 

 science, and as to which ones are in most 

 urgent need of protection. It is likely, too, 

 that many of our number are in a position 

 to suggest the most promising methods of 

 protection. At least, no others are probably 

 so well qualified to do so. 



Most of all, perhaps, the influence of the 

 biologist is needed in counteracting the 

 dominant utilitarian or materialistic trend of 

 the day. He should be on hand to register his 

 insistence upon the recognition of claims that 

 are not expressible directly or remotely, in 

 dollars and cents, or in the merely quantita- 

 tive expansion of our civilization. If he 

 camouflages his true feelings by talking in 

 the current language of the market-place, he 

 is, to that extent, a traitor to our cause. The 

 conservation of our material resources can be 

 depended upon to take care of itself — in the 

 future, if not in the past Some of the great 

 commercial interests themselves are beginning 

 to insist that a sane policy be adopted in these 

 matters. But the cause of science — genuine 

 science — in the public mind, is still very weak, 

 and needs every ounce of energy which can be 

 thrown into its support. How, let us again 

 ask, can this energy be most effectively brought 

 to bear at the present time? This is, in a 

 large degree, a question which I am asking my 

 readers, rather than attempting to answer 

 here. 



Unlike, as I believe, tlie case of researches 

 which are directed toward the discovery of 

 general principles, a practical project like the 

 one in hand can only be accomplished by the 

 aid of a high d^i-ee of organization. What 

 form this organization will ultimately take, 

 in the present instance, is hard to forecast. 

 It is my belief that sooner or later its ad- 

 ministration must be in the hands of men 

 who are willing and able to make this their 

 life work. Such men will probably be hard to 

 find. The university biologist, however gifted 

 otherwise, is commonly neither willing nor 

 able to achieve success along these lines. On 

 the other hand, a mere high-grade clerk, the 

 counterpart of some of our bureau or division 

 chiefs in the government service, would prob- 



ably make an even more lamentable failure. 

 A broadly trained field naturalist, with a more 

 than usual endowment of public spirit and 

 administrative talent, would doubtless fill the 

 bill. His salary should be commensurate with 

 his great responsibilities. He should have a 

 staff of expert assistants, giving much of their 

 time to first-hand observations of the unequal 

 struggle between man and nature, and to 

 actual surveys of proposed reservations. Fur- 

 thermore, this important official should have 

 an adequate office force. These are minimum 

 requirements. 



Who would foot the bill? I don't know. I 

 have never had anything to do with raising 

 funds for major enterprises. In reply, how- 

 ever, I will ask another question: Is not the 

 preservation of large fractions of our fauna 

 and fiora and landscape, in their natural con- 

 dition, a project calculated to stir the imagi- 

 nation of money-givers of the sort that have 

 endowed various other enterprises for the 

 welfare of mankind? 



The actual administration of any tracts of 

 land, set aside as natural preserves, would 

 doubtless devolve upon the national or the 

 state governments. The cost of purchasing 

 this land might be met either by private 

 donations or by government or state appro- 

 priations. But the cost of conducting such 

 preliminary surveys as I have suggested, to- 

 gether with the necessary nation-wide educa- 

 tional campaign, would doubtless have to be 

 defrayed out of funds from purely private 

 sources. And these funds would need to be 

 large. 



I have deferred to the last the si>ecific pro- 

 posals which I have to make- The type of 

 organization which I have outlined above is 

 not yet in existence. So far as I know, 

 neither the men nor the funds are in sight 

 at present. Furthermore, should any such 

 central bureau or clearing-house for conserva- 

 ation activities be established, it would have 

 to work, in a large degi-ee, through the 

 various existing organizations. Prominent 

 among these, at the present time, is the Eco- 

 logical Society of America, which has devoted 

 much effective labor toward interesting Amer- 



