35° 



The National Geographic Magazine 



spirit of wisdom, prudence, and fore- 

 sight? There is reason to think we are 

 on the verge of doing this very thing. 

 We are on the verge of saying to our- 

 selves, Let us do the best we can with our 

 natural resources; let us find out what 

 we have, how they can best be used, how 

 they can best be conserved. Above all, 

 let us have clearly in mind the great and 

 fundamental fact that this nation will 

 not end in the year 1950, or a hundred 

 years after that, or five hundred years 

 after that; that we are just beginning a 

 national history the end of which we 

 cannot see, since we are still young. In 

 truth, we are at a critical point in that 

 history. As President Roosevelt has 

 said, we are at the turning of the ways. 

 We may pass on along the line we have 

 been following, exhaust our natural re- 

 sources, continue to let the future take 

 care of itself; or we may do the simple, 

 obvious, common-sense thing in the in- 

 terest of the nation, just as each of us 

 does in his own personal affairs. 



On the way in which we decide to han- 

 dle this great possession which has been 

 given us, on the turning which we take 

 now, hangs the welfare of those who 

 are to come after us. Whatever success 

 we may have in any other line of na- 

 tional endeavor ; whether we regulate 

 trusts properly; whether we control our 



great public-service corporations as we 

 should; whether capital and labor adjust 

 their relations in the best manner or 

 not — whatever we may do with all these 

 and other questions, behind and below 

 them all is this fundamental question, 

 Are we going to protect our springs of 

 prosperity, our sources of well-being, our 

 raw material of industry and commerce 

 and employer of capital and labor com- 

 bined, or are we going to dissipate them ? 



According as we accept or ignore our 

 responsibility as trustees of the nation's 

 welfare, our children and our children's 

 children for uncounted generations will 

 call us blessed or will lay their suffering 

 at our doors. We shall decide whether 

 their lives, on the average, are to be lived 

 in a flourishing country, full of all that 

 helps make men comfortable, happy, 

 strong, and effective, or whether their 

 lives are to be lived in a country like the 

 miserable outworn regions of the earth 

 which other nations before us have pos- 

 sessed without foresight and turned into 

 hopeless deserts. 



We are no more exempt from- the 

 operation of natural laws than are the 

 people of any other part of the world. 



When the facts are squarely before us, 

 when the magnitude of the stake is 

 clearly before our people, surely this 

 question will be decided aright. 



HUNTING BEARS ON HORSEBACK 



THE remarkable illustrations on 

 pages 352-355 were sent to this 

 magazine by Mr Alan D. Wil- 

 son of Philadelphia, a member of the 

 National Geographic Society. They were 

 taken by him in October, 1907, during a 

 hunting trip in Wyoming. In sending 

 the photographs Mr Wilson writes : 



The wolverine and bear we ran with 

 John B. Goff's pack, wnich we followed 

 on horseback, and which, by the way, is 

 the greatest sport I have ever had. I 



send a photograph of the five hounds, 

 but unfortunately I did not get a good 

 photograph of the eighteen terriers and 

 mongrels, who made up the fighting 

 pack, which I regret extremely, as they 

 were the cleverest, gamest lot of little 

 rascals I ever saw, and they were always 

 the ones who had to bear the brunt of the 

 trouble. 



The wolverine is interesting and the 

 photograph is, I think, almost unique, 

 for they are not only rare, but generally 



