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SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. II. No. 35. 



national resources economically and avoid 

 the waste of that which they produce can 

 maintain their power or even secure the 

 continuance of their separate existence. A 

 nation may cease to exist as well by the de- 

 cay of its resources as by the extinction of 

 its patriotic spirit. 



Whether we have a high tariff or no 

 tariff, an income tax or a head tax, direct 

 or indirect taxation, bimetalism or a single 

 standard, national banks or state banks, 

 are matters which concern, to be sure, the 

 temporary convenience of the members of 

 society, but their prejudicial adjustment is 

 easily remediable ; when ill effects become 

 apparent, the inconveniences may be re- 

 moved with but little harm to the com- 

 munity and none to mankind at large or to 

 the future. But whether fertile lands are 

 turned into deserts, forests into waste places, 

 brooks into torrents, rivers changed from 

 means of power and intercourse into means 

 of destruction and desolation, these are 

 questions which concern the material ex- 

 istence itself of society, and since such 

 changes become often irreversible, the dam- 

 age irremediable, and at the same time the 

 extent of avaUableresourcesbecomessmaller 

 in propoi'tion to population, their consider- 

 ation is finally much more important than 

 those other questions of the day. 



It is true that as individijals the knowl- 

 edge of the near exhaustion of the anthra- 

 cite coal fields does not induce any of us to 

 deny ourselves a single scuttle of coal so as 

 to make the coal field last for one more gen- 

 eration, unless this knowledge is reflected 

 in increased price. But we can conceive that, 

 as members of society, we may for that very 

 purpose refuse to allow each other or the 

 miner to waste unnecessarily. That this 

 conception is not absurd and may be practic- 

 ally realized without any strain in our con- 

 ceptions of government functions, is proved 

 by the fact that it has been carried out in 

 practice iu several cases without opposition. 



Absurdly enough we have begun such 

 action with reference to our resources where 

 it is perhaps of least consequence, as for in- 

 stance, when by the establishment of hunt- 

 ing and fishing seasons and by other restric- 

 tions we seek to prevent the exhaustion of 

 the fish and game resources. This is a good 

 illustration of the fact that emotion rather 

 than reason, sentiment rather than argu- 

 ment, are the prime movers of society. It 

 was hardlj^ fear of the exhaustion of this 

 readily restorable resource, and economic 

 reasons that lead to this protection of our 

 fisheries and game, but love of sport that 

 gave the incentive. And again it needed the 

 love of sport, to set on foot the movement for 

 the improvement of the roads in the United 

 States, which the realization of true economy 

 had not the power to bring about. 



In some countries the waste of forest re- 

 sources is more or less guarded against and 

 the waste of water is at least to some ex- 

 tent a matter of control by society. 



While we do not prevent single individ- 

 iials from ruining themselves financially 

 and hazarding the future of theii- families, 

 we do prevent associated portions of the 

 communitj', corporations, towns and cities, 

 from jeopardizing their future by prevent- 

 ing them from extravagant expenditures 

 and contracting of debts. This, too, is per- 

 haps less designed for the future than to 

 protect present members against undesi- 

 rable burdens. 



There are enough precedents established 

 to show that whatever the greed and selfish- 

 ness of the individual may dictate, society 

 recognizes its right to interfere with the in- 

 dividual not onljr for its present objects, 

 but even for considerations of the future. 



To recognize how far any of the resources 

 must become objects of national concern, it 

 is necessary to understand their relative 

 significance for the present and for the fu- 

 ture development of society or of the pai'- 

 ticular nation From this point of view I 



