.■; '■,) •■ 



'_"Act^l-l7 the- opposite thing has o.cc\irred, I^Ian has used. His intelli- 

 gence aJid'grov.dng ingenuity in vavs to hasten the destruction oi"., natural 

 resdurces and' to reduce the interval of tine elapsing oetve-en. the explora- 

 tion of nei"7- fertile territory and the exhaustion of the greater part of its 

 natural wealth,. The rax^age of Asia was a slov; process , .:One that, required 

 thousands of years to accomplish v.dth the crude implements that early man 

 had. "been ahle to invent. In less than four and a half, centuries since 

 Golumhus made the discovery th^t introduced the most profligate .era the 

 world v.dll ever know, the most fertile part 'of the continent of North America 

 has "been reduced to a condition so nearly comparahle with the Asiatic scene 

 as to "be appalling. 



An^ astute E-oropeah v;ho visited our country at a time when the carnival 

 of destruction v;as vrell under v;ay remarked that Americans regarded trees as 

 enemies and felt that they did well to cut them, dov/n. They had the same 

 hostile -attitude toward streams and natural reservoirs of v/ater; toward the 

 tough-rooted grasses that clogged the plow; and tov.^ard every v;ild creature 

 .inhabiting- .the prolific region. It v/as as if the -race , impatient of the 

 slov; -processes of evolutionary doom, seized upon every device and contri- 

 vance that could "be used to hasten the end. In some phases of modern war- 

 fare "scorched earth" is nov.r a recognized weapon for the destruction of an 

 enemy.- Its strategy requires the destruction of every living thing upon 

 the land and even, the organic resources of the soil itself. 'For three cen~ 

 tui-ies Americans have "been emiploying the scorched-earth strategy, not against 

 a hostile power, ."but most effectively against themselves and their institu- 

 tions, - ■; 



.. -^tAmkeijiug to the laiiigshs wuch i^jIacs the EESOUECE ' 



A study of the history of the conservation of organic resources, in- 

 cluding vrildlife in France, Germ.any, and the British Isles ^ furnishes ground 

 for encouragement to cohservationists in this coun-try...' ■ Here we find indica- 

 tions -that at some stage in the process of l^nd utilization the inha"bitants 

 of these -Older countries "became av.^are of the dangers of uncontrolled eiqjloi- 

 tation and were a"ble to enforce corrective measure's in time to v.rard off com- 

 plete disaster. In all these coijintries the pro"blem of v/ater pollution has 

 largely "been solved and the natural reservoirs of v;ater have "been augmented 

 "by artificial works... The technique: of soil conservation is at an advanced 

 stage, and v;hile the preservation .of- forests and v.-ildlife has "been effectively 

 secured, in some instances- it has -.Tjeen acc6m.plished "by the use of methods 

 that v/o-uld "oe repugnant to the average American. 



• There is good reason to conclude that American civilization has at 

 last progressed to the point where the essential values of these organic re- 

 sources is "being recognized. Conservation a.gencies are now asked to develop 

 programs to insure for the future the orderly use and protection of these 

 things. - . ' . 



pQrhaps the most important of the "belated developments is recognition 

 of the fact that all activities concerned v.dth the improvement or replenish- 

 ment of organic resources are related and must "be completely coordinated if 



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