184 FOREST OUTINGS 



In this day of chemical and engineering enlightenment, mankind does 

 not have to destroy beauty, poison water, kill fish, and spread disease in 

 order to have cities and factories. A special report, Water Pollution in the 

 United States, submitted to the President by the National Resources Com- 

 mittee early in 1939, goes into these troubles, and the necessary cures, in 

 detail, State by State. 



Progress has been made, the committee finds, even since 1910, but, "in 

 order to abate the most objectional pollution" within the next decade or 

 two, an expenditure of at least 2 billion dollars will be necessary. Since 

 most of the pollution comes from municipal sewage and some factory 

 waste, the responsibility for the expenditure must fall largely on city govern- 

 ments and private concerns, "supplemented, perhaps," wrote President 

 F. D. Roosevelt, reviewing the report in a foreword, "by a system of Federal 

 grants-in-aid and loans organized with due regard for the integrated use of 

 water resources and for a balanced Federal program for public works of all 

 types." 



Considering the constant contamination of water by towns with inade- 

 quate sewage systems, and the constant pollution of water by industrial 

 wastes, the problem of keeping an increasing swarm of picnickers, campers, 

 and tourists on the national forests from befouling water sources seems 

 relatively slight. 



Signs and instructions that stress the most elementary laws of sanitation, 

 simple outdoor toilets and incinerators, and an indicated supply of drinking 

 water known to be safe — these, in most places, are "improvements" enough. 

 By such simple devices it has thus far been possible to admit millions of 

 persons to enjoy the national forests with no widespread contamination and 

 no evidence of serious pollution as yet. 



Water for Pleasure . . . Man's oldest instincts draw him to the seashore, 

 riverbank, and stream side. Few cities located far from surface water have 

 grown from camps or settlements. Few campers, now as in the past, choose 

 sites remote from water, if water is available. The flash and lap and tinkle 

 of live water in sea or brook adds to the charm and serenity of the site, and 

 gives the camper more quiet things to do: Fish, swim, boat, wade, or per- 



