56 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis 
sixty years ago as a calamity, a loss which must be cor- 
rected before it is too late—if it is not already too late. 
All we can do is keep on trying and working with the 
ambition that if there is something radically wrong with 
present conditions, perhaps here is one thing which will 
help put thinking people straight. If we can just accom- 
plish that much—put a few thinking people straight, it 
will be worth all the time, the money, the labor and the 
heartaches it has cost us. 
This, to my notion, is what is wrong with the Natural 
History Museum movement. Nobody knows anything 
about a Natural History Museum in St. Louis and no 
one will see any advantage in first-hand information when 
second-hand information is so accessible. We want 
people to know things first hand, and a proper museum 
with a proper staff will make the direct appeal for the 
conservation of natural resources. It will stimulate a 
familiarity that breeds respect. It will encourage and 
develop the interest and attention of the one man in the 
thousand whom the other 999 will gladly follow. Let 
us introduce the element of truth into the artificialities 
of life that our children may gain a knowledge of the 
past; that they may realize and appreciate the possibili- 
ties of the future; that they may better understand the 
responsibilities of the present. 
