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Conservation News and Notes 
By RAYMOND MOSTEK 
In His IMMorRTAL Walden, Thoreau wrote: “I do not propose to write an 
ode to dejection, but to brag as lustily as chanticleer in the morning.” But 
as conservationists assess the record of non-achievement of this past session 
of Congress, they are more likely to assume a pose of dejection than of 
cheer. In their eagerness to adjourn before Mr. Khrushchev arrived, our 
Congressmen left many vital pieces of conservation legislation in the ash- 
can. Months of debate and hearings brought forth more sound than sub- 
stance. Among the bills still pending are: The Douglas-O’Hara Bill to estab- 
lish the Indiana Sand Dunes National Monument; the Humphrey Bill to 
establish a Youth Conservation Corps; the National Wilderness Preserva- 
tion Act; the Save Our Shorelines Bill (which would set aside a half-dozen 
areas as national parks or recreation areas); the C. & O. National Histori- 
cal Park Bill; the Cannon Bill to establish a Great Basin National Park in 
Nevada; and scores of others. However, Congress did act favorably to end 
the inhumane killing of wild mustangs on federal lands; it passed the Met- 
calf Bill to step up federal research on the effect of pesticides on fish and 
wildlife; and it voted $45,000,000 for assistance to cities and towns for con- 
struction of sewage treatment facilities. 
In the past Congress has often been disposed to put the axe to requests 
for more money for conservation, health, education and welfare measures, 
while sparing nothing for the darlings of the Pentagon. However, with 
$51.6 billion of the federal budget going to defense or veterans’ affairs, 
more and more Congressmen are becoming alarmed over inflation and the 
high cost of the cold war. For example — last year $6 billion worth of ob- 
solete army surplus goods was sold for less than $200 million. Yet Congress 
always makes excuses about lacking funds for worthy conservation 
measures. 
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THE RUMBLINGS FOR peace are becoming louder. Professor Isaac Asimov 
of Boston University recently wrote: “We have an enemy worth ten times 
the Soviet Union called ‘exploding population.’ We have another one, equal- 
ly formidable, called ‘declining natural resources.’ And we have developed 
a world population consisting of people who have either attained a high 
standard of living and want more of the same, or have not yet attained a 
high standard of living and are determined to do so. We’ll need scientists 
and engineers for more than missiles and satellites. We’ll need them for 
such everyday things as finding sufficient food, pure water, and uncon- 
taminated air.” ; a 
It is encouraging that one no longer hears the phrase, ‘“‘We must economize 
on everything except national defense.” Consider these figures: in 1958 we 
spent $45.9 billions on war preparations, $9.9 billions on alcoholic beverages 
and $2.8 billions on conservation and natural resources development. 
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